The Communist and the Catholics
He blasted big business, Wall Street, big oil, General Motors, “excess profits,” “millionaires” and the “wealthy.”
He called out the “corporation executive” for not paying his “fair” share.
He attacked “GOP” tax cuts that “spare the rich” and “benefit millionaires.”
He advocated wealth redistribution from greedy “corporations” to “health insurance” and “public works projects.”
He described himself as “progressive,” while his detractors accused him of being a communist.
He adopted slogans like “Forward” and “Change.” He wanted to transform America through “fundamental change.”
He was skeptical of preachers and their effect on God-and-gun clinging Americans, and saw the Catholic Church as an obstacle to his vision for the state. He argued that Christians should support his ideas and enthusiastically sought the support of the “social justice” Religious Left. Moreover, many people were unclear about his personal religious beliefs, including whether he was a Christian.
Frank Marshall Davis
Who is this man?
If you answered “Barack Obama,” you’re only half right. The answer is Frank Marshall Davis, Hawaii mentor to a young Barack Obama, and Communist Party member 47544. Long ignored, Davis is the subject of my new book—and Catholics should pay attention, given that Davis had some choice words for them and their church. Not unlike the young man he mentored, Barack Obama, Davis saw the Catholic Church as an obstacle to his vision for the state.
Frank Marshall Davis’s vision was a communist one. He pushed the federal government to adopt socialist policies, with more and more power concentrated in Washington. He wanted the United States to go the way of the Soviet Union. And Davis understood that the one institution standing in the way most strongly was the Roman Catholic Church. “The Catholic hierarchy,” he sneered, had launched a “holy war against communism.”
Indeed it had—and deservedly so. But Frank Marshall Davis, President Obama’s mentor, fully disagreed, and he would target the Church as an obstacle to his plans to fundamentally change America.
In my next commentary, I’ll tell you about some of those targets.
For Catholic Exchange dot com and Ave Maria Radio, I’m Paul Kengor.
Editor’s Note: this has been Part 1 of an exclusive series based on Paul Kengor’s new book, The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor. To read Part 2, go here.
Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values. His books include “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” and “Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.”
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