George Sokolsky

George Ephraim Sokolsky was born on September 5, 1893, in Utica, New York. His father was a Russian-born rabbi. In 1917, Sokolsky received a BA from Columbia University's School of Journalism. ==Career==

Russia 1917-1918 While at Columbia University, Sokolsky became a leader among student radicals and headed the welcoming committee for Leon Trotsky who arrived in New York in early January 1917. In February 1917, Sokolsky was attracted by the February Revolution and went to Russia to write for Russian Daily News, an English-language newspaper. US 1935–1962 After returning to the US in 1935, Sokolsky strongly aligned himself with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in touting its conception of the American way of life. NAM followed the New Deal in laying claim to "the greatest good for the greatest number." Sokolsky encouraged the NAM to reach out and awaken the passions of the American middle class in opposition to the "collectivistic" current of the New Dealers. According to Victor S. Navasky, "Newspaper columnists such as George Sokolsky, Victor Riesel, Walter Winchell, Jack O'Brian, and Hedda Hopper were as happy to fill their spaces by getting the deserved off the list as by putting the blameworthy on." {{cite book In a March 1954 Hearst newspaper column, Sokolsky denounced the exposure of McCarthy by Fred W. Friendly and Edward R. Murrow on a See It Now episode that had been broadcast on March 9, 1954. Later in that year, Time magazine characterized Sokolsky as a man who "can be called the high priest of militant U.S. anti-Communism." Sokolsky never relented in his animadversions against world communism and its self-appointed standard bearer, the Soviet Union. In February 1962, he startled his readers by asserting that "if Khrushchev falls, we shall have immediate war." {{cite magazine ==Personal life and death==

In 1922, Sokolsky broke a social taboo by marrying Rosalind Phang, a woman of mixed Caribbean-Chinese descent. She died in 1933. From 1953 to 1974, the Federal Bureau of Investigation collected records about him. {{cite web During the Cuban Missile Crisis. Sokolsky advocated a vigorous American response by asking: "Do we have to stand still until Soviet Russia has established a missile and submarine base in Cuba?" At a dinner laid on in his honor in 1962 by the American Jewish League Against Communism, Sokolsky found a bright side to Russia's heavy-handed treatment of its Jewish citizens, pointing out: {{blockquote|It is inevitable that a movement based on atheism be anti-Semitic. The Communists must hate us. We want them to hate us. It gives us pride and dignity that we don't count them among our friends. {{cite magazine ==Awards==

• Honorary degree, Notre Dame University • Honorary degree, St. Bonaventure University • Honorary degree, University of Montana ==Works==

In January 1932, Sokolsky was touring the States and lecturing on topics that included (here, taken from his appearance at the Fountain Street Baptist Church): • The Struggle for Manchuria • The Rise of Communism in China • Japan's Search for Power and Security • The "White Man" in the Far East • Russia's Ambitions in Asia • Current Leaders in China, Japan, and Other Far Eastern Countries • The New Womanhood in the Far East • The Open Door Policy • Will Russia's Five Year Plan Affect American Exports to Far Eastern Countries? • Can Communism Replace Capitalism in Far Eastern Countries? • Is There an Oriental Mind? • Is the East Different? • The Jews of China • Can the United States Succeed as an Exporter? Books included: • An Outline of Universal History, The Commercial Press, 1928 • The Story of the Chinese Eastern Railway, North-China Daily News & Herald, Ltd, 1929 • The Tinder Box of Asia, Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1933 • ''Labor's Fight for Power'', Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1934 • We Jews, Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1935 • Platform Pioneering by the N.A.M., National Association of Manufacturers, 1937 • The American Way of Life, Farrar & Rinehart, 1939 • Is Communism a Menace? A Debate Between Earl Browder and George E. Sokolsky, New York, New Masses, 1943 • The Reminiscences of George Sokolsky, Oral History Research Office, Columbia University, 1972 ==See also==