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Obama’s Purge: Why Has Frank Marshall Davis Been Quietly Removed From Dreams From My Father?

Oct. 3, 2012 3:21pm
Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College, executive director of The Center for Vision & Values, and author of the book,  […]
Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College, executive director of The Center for Vision & Values, and author of the book, “The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor.” His other books include "The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism" and "Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century."
[ x ]
visandvals@gcc.edu
Author's Website

In 1995, an aspiring politician named Barack Obama published an autobiography called Dreams from My Father. There, Obama acknowledged the people who influenced him throughout his life. Among the most prominent influences was a figure that Obama gingerly acknowledged only as “Frank.” Remarkably, however, not once in the entire book did Obama divulge Frank’s full name. Even more mysterious, in 2005, a presidential aspirant named Barack Obama released the audio version of Dreams from My Father where, this time, “Frank” was purged altogether, as Jack Cashill called attention to in column on my book last July.

How did this happen? And who is “Frank?” The answer helps explains Obama’s concealment.

As readers of The Blaze know, Frank Marshall Davis (1905-87) was a mentor to a young Barack Obama throughout the 1970s, the period of Obama’s adolescence. Davis was also a literal card-carrying member of the Communist Party—Party number 47544. My book on Davis, The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor, was published this summer by Mercury Ink.

Davis edited and wrote for Party-line publications such as the Honolulu Record and the Chicago Star, which included contributors who served as actual agents to Stalin’s Soviet Union. Davis did outrageous Soviet propaganda work in his columns, at every juncture agitating and opposing U.S. attempts to slow Joseph Stalin. He argued that U.S. officials under President Harry Truman—who he portrayed as a racist, fascist, imperialist, and colonialist—and under secretaries of state George Marshall and Dean Acheson were handing West Germany back to the Nazis, while Stalin was pursuing “democracy” in East Germany and the Communist Bloc. He referred to the Marshall Plan as a form of “white imperialism” and “colonial slavery.” He portrayed America’s leaders as “aching for an excuse to launch a nuclear nightmare of mass murder and extermination” against the Soviets and communist Chinese. Davis also harbored a special contempt for Winston Churchill.

Davis’s political antics were so radical that the FBI placed him on the federal government’s Security Index, which meant he could be immediately detained in the event of a national emergency, such as a war breaking out between the United States and USSR.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone could see Davis as a mentor. And yet, in the autumn of 1970, Davis was introduced to Obama by Obama’s grandfather, who was seeking a role model/father figure to mentor his grandson. Davis and Obama would meet throughout the 1970s, right up until Obama left Hawaii for Occidental College in 1979. In fact, in Dreams from My Father, Obama notes the parting advice he got from Davis before leaving for Occidental; it was a classic Davis diatribe trashing “the American way.”

Given these shocking facts, it’s no surprise that Barack Obama was hesitant about divulging Frank Marshall Davis’s full name anywhere in his memoirs—even as Davis was such an influence that Obama could not ignore him. In Dreams from My Father, “Frank” is mentioned twenty-two times by name, and far more via pronouns and other forms of reference. He is a consistent theme, appearing repeatedly and meaningfully in all three parts of the book. He is part of Obama’s life and mind, by Obama’s own extended recounting, from Hawaii—the site of visits and late evenings together—to Los Angeles to Chicago to Germany to Africa, from adolescence to college to community organizing. “Frank” is always one of the few (and first) names mentioned by Obama in each mile-marker upon his historic path from Hawaii to Washington. When Obama at last arrived in Chicago, where he would find himself politically, professionally, and ideologically—precisely as Frank Marshall Davis had 50 years earlier—the first thing he did was think of “Frank,” literally visualizing him, picturing him there.

Even then, Obama was smart enough to never once use Frank’s full name anywhere in his book, no doubt understanding the political danger of conceding such a close, abiding association with a man of Frank’s political past and proclivity.

As Obama got closer to the presidency, particularly during his meteoric rise upon the national scene from 2004 to 2007, he sought even safer distance from “Frank.” This is most evident in the 2005 audio version of Dreams, which is narrated by Obama himself, and for which Obama won a Grammy for “Best Spoken Word.” As noted on the back cover, the audio version was personally “approved” by Obama himself. The audio version is abridged, but the abridgment somehow excludes every single mention of “Frank” that appeared throughout all parts of the original print edition. That’s right, all of them; they’re all gone. The old communist is purged, blacklisted.

This was no easy task. It isn’t like “Frank” appeared in a cluster of, say, six or seven consecutive pages in Part One of the original version. No, Davis, as noted, appeared in every section of the original. Here’s one example of the selective exclusion of “Frank” in the audio version:

            Original text version (1995): “It was the same dilemma that old Frank had posed to me the year I left Hawaii.”

            Audio version (2005): “It was the same dilemma posed to me the year I left Hawaii.”

So, how did this happen? Obviously, it’s no coincidence.

I’d love to hear President Obama’s explanation. Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of access. But there are people in the media who do. Could one of them ask the president? Or, more generally, could one of them simply ask about Obama’s relationship with Frank Marshall Davis, or about the many other elements of his cloudy past?

Barack Obama has covered up these relationships, and his doting media is aiding and abetting the cover up.

 

Dr. Paul Kengor is author of The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor. Read more about the absence of “Frank” in the audio version of Dreams From My Father in a Blaze report by Tiffany Gabbay. 

 

Comments (13)

  • tomcalwriter
    Posted on October 27, 2012 at 8:49am

    Saw the Gilbert film last night, Dreams from My Real Father. While the facts about Obama’s past are compelling, the conclusions that he has a socialist agenda are ridiculous and pure progaganda. If anything, Obama is a tool of the corporate autocracy. Does anyone in their right mind think a socialist would approve the bailout of the big banks and corporations? Would a socialist make deals behind the scenes with Big Pharma in revising a healthcare plan? Would a socialist increase military spending and continue a senseless war in the Middle East that has destroyed the lives of millions of innocent people?

    That does not mean the truth of Obama’s past is not as Gilbert portrays it. So what if Frank Marshall Davis was a Communist. What does that mean? He also believed in integration and human rights. You could say he was on the wrong side of history in supporting the Soviet Union, but who’s to say that U.S. policies that have suppressed democratic governments in third world countries since World War II to support the economic aims of American corporation through its military and CIA have been any less oppressive. While Stalin’s purges killed millions, U.S. military adventures have done likewise since 1950 — all in the name of the so-called Cold War, which was a huge hoax perpetrated on the American people to maintain a military economy that was made official U.S. policy during the Truman Presidency.

    Obama is no socialist; he has fooled his detractors as well.

    Report this comment

    tomcalwriter  
  • cvbqwe
    Posted on October 6, 2012 at 11:50pm

    know that all the people in his life; mother,father, grandfather, grandfather, stepfather,frank,and others they have passed way? all before 2009, only one sister,noone have ask her? not even the schools he went to?

    Report this comment

    cvbqwe  
  • NoVampires
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:42pm

    Actually, the film ‘Dreams of My Real Father’ is more telling. It may seem some kind of dark comedy or a joke, but the underpinnnings is laden with a certain truth and that is truly scary. I think FMD took advantange of a starry eye Ann and got her pregos. In steps BHO who played the convenient patsy for Ann’s father to help them sort out the mess. Barry’s real childhood history is not his fault. His marxist education was very clear. If the American people knew then what is still not out, he would not have become president. His second term if he gets it will be his coming out party.

    Report this comment

    NoVampires  
  • wtd
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 4:23pm

    Typically, even the staunchest critics shy away from addressing issues clearly out of the control of a child, as with Obama and the alleged behaviors of his mother. The salaciousness of his mother’s alleged behaviors are not what resonate with people like me who continue persuing this topic. The issue is integrity. I, and many others, continue to question the integrity of something as basic as Obama’s identity, just as the question of Elizabeth “Faux-cahontas” Warren’s identity is questioned. Warren and her supporters insist that Warren cannot be held to account for a [mis]characterization her mother inflicted upon her – which is nonsense since Warren used – and continues to use the ‘native American’ identity for advancements to her sole benefit. The same appears to be the case with Obama. His mother created an identity for him which Barry may have taken advantage of to advance his career . Obama has yet to be vetted to the same standard that every single American is expected to fulfill when applying for a drivers license or obtain a passport, register for military service, buy alcohol or even to register to vote.
    These are valid questions and thanks to persistent citizens like Dr. Kengor these questions will continue to be asked.

    Report this comment

    wtd  
    • Goldi-lox
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 4:32pm

      Thanks for a well-written post. For some reason, somebody at Blaze (or elsewhere) kept blocking posts that basically said much the same.

      –Anyway, KUDOS to Kengor! :-)

      Report this comment

      Goldi-lox  
  • Goldi-lox
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 4:03pm

    OK, WHO is it that is doing REAL-TIME CENSORING on this Blaze page?

    Have tried to post a message, reworded, twice on this thread, and that one is still not showing up. Ironically, it was a compliment to the Blaze folks and to Dr. Kengor, for providing Kengor’s thought-provoking, well-researched articles. SOMEBODY apparently does not want such “outrageous” commentary to appear! Now WHO would that be?!

    Report this comment

    Goldi-lox  
    • kalli
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 4:27pm

      Don’t give up, Goldi. I’ve had a number of posts not show up. I blame this system they use. Sometimes I’ve gone back the next day, and it’s posted. I posted a comment 3 times once, and the third finally showed up. I wish they would get a better system with an ability to edit your comment rather than having to post a correction.

      Report this comment

       
    • Goldi-lox
      Posted on October 4, 2012 at 4:38pm

      To Kalli:
      Thanks–and yes, Blaze really needs to UPDATE & IMPROVE this commenting system. All the more up-to-date sites have the ability to edit/delete and also ability to “grade” (“like” or “vote for”) comments and to REPLY directly to the commenter, instead of having to bury a reply within an originating post, like this one has done.

      Also, other sites allow you to follow the thread of your postings, within your Profile Page. This site does not–so it’s really hard to know if anyone has responded or asked questions directed at one’s postings.

      Another thing that is VERY annoying and should be FIXED/eliminated: That “Guru Meditation” error! No other site seems to have that “problem,” and we are wondering if it is really a glitch, or if it’s the Blaze’s way of preventing “problem posters” (in their eyes) from commenting?

      Hope someone at Blaze is reading this and will consider IMPROVING the Commenting feature here.

      Report this comment

      Goldi-lox  
  • afellowpatriot
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 2:25pm

    Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar.

    Report this comment

    afellowpatriot  
  • wtd
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:24am

    Are we to believe this purge is just a mere coincidence given one MILLION “free” copies of Frank Gilbert’s film, “Dreams From My REAL Father” were mailed to Ohio voters and 100k copies of the film were mailed to Ohio last week? Frank Gilbert’s film plausibly suggests communist, Frank Marshall Davis is Obama’s real father. Read about it and preview the film at obamasrealfather.com .

    Report this comment

    wtd  
  • theLarry
    Posted on October 4, 2012 at 8:13am

    Are my eyes playing a trick or does Barak junior resemble Frank more than he does Barak senior?

    Report this comment

    theLarry  

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