by Paul Kengor
First published 2012
Paul Kengor exposes the hidden influence of Frank Marshall Davis, a card-carrying Communist Party member who mentored Barack Obama during his formative years in Hawaii. Davis carried Communist Party USA card number 47544 and landed on the FBI's Security Index for his pro-Soviet activities. He supported Stalin and Mao, opposed American foreign policy, and edited communist newspapers in Chicago and Honolulu. Through newly declassified FBI files and Soviet archives, Kengor traces how Davis's radical worldview reached Obama in the 1970s. The author examines connections between Davis's newspaper columns advocating wealth redistribution, universal healthcare, and government stimulus projects and later Obama administration policies. Kengor presents Davis as both a dangerous radical and a victim of Jim Crow racism whose justified anger led him down a destructive political path. The book argues that Davis's influence on Obama has been deliberately obscured and provides evidence for readers to judge whether Obama's presidency reflects his mentor's communist vision.
Genres: history, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, activism, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: hidden-influence
Setting: Chicago, Hawaii, Honolulu
Period: 1970s
388 pages · Hardcover · Mercury Ink