Plain Talk (magazine)
| Editor | Isaac Don Levine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | monthly |
| Founder | Isaac Don Levine, Alfred Kohlberg |
| First issue | October 1946 |
| Final issue | January 1950 |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0190-4140 |
| OCLC | 1604676 |
Plain Talk was an American monthly anticommunist magazine that lasted for 44 months (1946–1950). Its editor-in-chief was Isaac Don Levine.[1]
Description
Plain Talk featured articles by many conservative writers of the time, including John Chamberlain, Suzanne La Follette, Eugene Lyons, George S. Schuyler, and Ralph de Toledano.[2][3] The magazine was published on a monthly basis.[4]
History
In the 1970s, Levine wrote that in July 1946, Benjamin Mandel (a "guide to the mission" of the magazine), accompanied by Father John F. Cronin and Alfred Kohlberg, approached Levine at home in Norwalk, Connecticut. Kohlberg funded $25,000 for it, a free office, and funding for five staffers.[1]
The magazine was established in 1946,[2] and the first issue appeared in October 1946.[3] Its low circulation and readership levels made the magazine cease publication in May 1950. Former US President Herbert Hoover had provided some "half-hearted" funding, but it did not succeed in shoring up the magazine.[1]
Connected to the magazine was the name Theodore Cooper Kirkpatrick, who, with fellow ex-FBI agent Kenneth M. Bierly, was implicated in "pirating" of security informants for Plain Talk magazine and soon for Counterattack newsletter. Kirkpatrick and Bierly also used FBI information to capitalize upon their association. Kirkpatrick and Bierly joined with a third ex-FBI agent, John G. Keenan, to form "John Quincy Adams Associates" in Washington, DC, and then "American Business Consultants, Inc.," in New York City, the publisher of Counterattack newsletter.[5][6][7]
In 1950, several writers and editors from Plain Talk stated to work for The Freeman, which was founded later that year and acquired the Plain Talk subscription list.[2][3]
Personnel
- Isaac Don Levine, editor
- John Chamberlain
- Suzanne La Follette
- Eugene Lyons
- Guenther Reinhardt[8]
- George S. Schuyler
- Ralph de Toledano
Works
An anthology of articles from the magazine was published in 1976.[3]
- Plain Talk magazine (October 1946–May 1950)
- Plain Talk: An Anthology from the Leading Anti-Communist Magazine of the 40s (1976)[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Don Levine, Isaac (1976). Plain Talk: An Anthology from the Leading Anti-Communist Magazine of the 40s. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. pp. xii–xiv. ISBN 9780870003486.
- ^ a b c Critchlow, Donald T. (2007). The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-674-02620-9.
- ^ a b c d de Rosa, Peter L. (1999). "Plain Talk 1946-1950". In Lora, Ronald; Henry, William Longton (eds.). The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 461–469. ISBN 0-313-21390-9.
- ^ "Isaac Don Levine, 89, Foe of Soviet". The New York Times. 17 February 1981. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "Guide to the Ernie Lazar FBI FOIA Files on Anti-Communism and Right Wing Movements TAM.576". Tamiment Librdary. March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
- ^ "Guide to the Church League of America Collection of the Research Files of Counterattack, the Wackenhut Corporation, and Karl Baarslag TAM.148: Descriptive Summary". Tamiment Library. July 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
- ^ "Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television". Billboard. 9 September 1950. pp. 4, 18, 59, 61 (John Quincy Adams Associates).
- ^ Robb, David L. (2012). The Gumshoe and the Shrink: Guenther Reinhardt, Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, and the Secret History of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Election. Santa Monica Press. p. 21. ISBN 9781595808509.