Aaron J Leonard

@ajleonard.bsky.social

Author | Historian

Over the next period I will be posting on my Substack page my writing for Truthout on music and musicians – with a particular focus on those of whom I’ve obtained FBI files. _______ Newly Unearthed FBI File Exposes Targeting of Folk Singer Dave Van Ronk open.substack.com/pub/aaronjle...

Newly Unearthed FBI File Exposes Targeting of Folk Singer Dave Van Ronk

Files on the late musician offer a disturbing window into the US’s long tradition of political suppression.

open.substack.com

This is Woody talking to "Weaver's" Fred Hellerman and Lee Hayes, who asked how he was doing -- while being hospitalized for Huntington's Chorea during the Second Red Scare. (From my book Folksingers & the Bureau)

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Aaron Libson, a closeted gay communist was a target of the FBI’s COINTELPRO-CPUSA. When they facilitated publicizing his arrest on sodomy charges, he tried to kill himself but was thankfully unsuccessful. For the FBI... it was a win, he was driven out of the CP, and the group was “embarrassed.”

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A generous endorsement from Professor Roberts: "The sordid story of the intense and prolonged repression of American communists has never been told better. Aaron J. Leonard’s compelling and highly illuminating book is a must-read for everyone interested in US political history."

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