Monday, January 06, 2014

SOMETHING ELSE I DON'T REMEMBER ABOUT THE 60s

I've heard of the Rat Pack but Kabaservice (p. 161) has really done his homework to find out about a conservative faction of the New Jersey Young Republicans in 1966:
In late January 1966, American newspaper readers made the acquaintance of the Rat Finks, the conservative faction of the New Jersey Young Republicans. Stories revealed that the self-styled Rat Finks had enlivened YR gatherings throughout the previous year with renditions from their song book, which gave lyric form to the youthful conservative worldview.

One song advocated hanging moderate Republicans such as William Scranton, Nelson Rockefeller and New Jersey Senator Clifford Case from a sour apple tree.

One mock-lamented, in thick minstrel dialect, the killings of civil rights workers in Alabama, while another extolled the joys of "Riding through the Reich/In my Mercedes-Benz/Shooting all the kikes..."

Still another, sung to the tune of "Where have all the flowers gone?", inquired:
"Where has all the money gone? Gone to taxes/
Where have all the taxes gone? Gone to welfare/
Where has all the welfare gone?  Gone to niggers."

1 comment:

Ken Hoop said...

Yes, and their foreign policy and anti-labor stances served plutocratic interests which killed in unnecessary wars and impoverished and markedly diminished the standard of living of a good chunk of the white working-middle class.

Who was pulling the strings?