Post
NYT Nov 1961:
THE Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, which in recent months has been attracting substantial audiences in Southern California, came to New York last night by means of a three-hour telecast over Station WPIX (Channel 11). The time on the independent outlet was purchased by the Schick Safety Razor Company and the Technicolor Corporation for the presentation of taped excerpts from the Crusade's rally on Oct. 16 in the Hollywood Bowl and from earlier meetings of the California School of Anti-Communism. The school now has a New York City mailing address at Post Office Box 2312, Grand Central Station. The presentation was believed to be the first time in the New York City area that substantial video time had been purchased in behalf of an anti-Communist movement. On the West Coast the Crusade's rally was carried over a network of thirty-three stations. Last night's program, entitled "Hollywood's Answer to Communism," was of interest on a variety of grounds. It served to introduce in the East Dr. Fred C. Schwarz, director of the Crusade, whose potential national influence has been described in dispatches from the West Coast as probably greater than the leadership of the John Birch Society; it reflected the Crusade's greater degree of sophistication in comparison with some earlier anti-Communist movements; it posed some new problems for the video medium. Dr. Schwarz, who came to the United States from Australia in 1950 and has applied for citizenship in this country, speaks with a "Down Under," twang and a mixture of understatement and fervor that hold attention. The theme of his book, entitled "You Can Trust the Communists to Do What They Say," was echoed by all the program's speakers: that the United States and the West face disaster if they do not recognize that the Communists cynically play only by their own rules and that it is naïve to base policy on the expectation that they will do otherwise. Treatment of the Soviet Union and communism as a clearly established enemy was recommended by many of the speakers, while Dr. Schwarz called for a world-wide crusade to counter communism. Also appearing on the program were C. D. Jackson, publisher of Life magazine, who strongly allied his publication with the Crusade; Senator Thomas J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Representative Walter H. Judd, Republican of Minnesota. One of the other principal speakers was W. Cleon Skousen, author of "The Naked Communist” and a former agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He criticized the State Department for thinking it could negotiate nuclear agreements with the Soviet Union, assailed Alger Hiss and many other officials and called for a complete overhaul of the United Nations. The program was closed by a WPIX announcer who merely said that the preceding material had been furnished by the sponsor. Such a disclaimer; however, is not likely to meet the serious issues that are apt to come to the fore with respect to such a program. While the evil of communism is something on which there can be agreement certainly, the reasons for its rise and, more particularly, how it should be combated must allow for more than one opinion. And unquestionably there will be those only too eager to challenge the accuracy of some of last night's contentions of a historical nature. In a matter of such controversial importance, it would not seem wise for a TV station to turn over the subject of the "cold war" to sponsors who have the desire and resources to put their viewpoints on the air. There would also seem to be a necessity on the part of a station to take affirmative steps assuring that differing opinions will be represented on the publicly owned airwaves. The absence of any statement of policy by WPIX on the air was disturbing.
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