The Communist

Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mentor

By: Paul Kengor

Narrated by: Pete Larkin

In his memoir, Barack Obama omits the full name of his mentor, simply calling him "Frank." Now, the truth is out: Never has a figure as deeply troubling and controversial as Frank Marshall Davis had such an impact on the development of an American president.

Although other radical influences on Obama - from Jeremiah Wright to Bill Ayers-have been scrutinized, the public knows little about Davis, a card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA, cited by the Associated Press as an "important influence" on Obama, one whom he "looked to" not merely for "advice on living" but as a "father" figure.

While the Left has willingly dismissed Davis (with good reason), here are the indisputable, eye-opening facts: Frank Marshall Davis was a pro-Soviet, pro–Red China communist. His Communist Party USA card number, revealed in FBI files, was CP number 47544. He was a prototype of the loyal Soviet patriot, so radical that the FBI placed him on the federal government's Security Index. In the early 1950s, Davis opposed U.S. attempts to slow Stalin and Mao. He favored Red Army takeovers of Central and Eastern Europe, and communist control in Korea and Vietnam. Dutifully serving the cause, he edited and wrote for communist newspapers in both Chicago and Honolulu, courting contributors who were Soviet agents. In the 1970s, amid this dangerous political theater, Frank Marshall Davis came into Barack Obama's life.Aided by access to explosive declassified FBI files, Soviet archives, and Davis's original newspaper columns, Paul Kengor explores how Obama sought out Davis and how Davis found in Obama an impressionable young man, one susceptible to Davis's worldview that opposed American policy and traditional values while praising communist regimes. Kengor sees remnants of this worldview in Obama's early life and even, ultimately, his presidency.

Kengor charts with definitive accuracy the progression of Davis's communist ideas from Chicago to Hawaii. He explores how certain elements of the Obama administration's agenda reflect Davis's columns advocating wealth redistribution, government stimulus for "public works projects," taxpayer-funding of universal health care, and nationalizing General Motors. Davis's writings excoriated the "tentacles of big business," blasted Wall Street and "greedy" millionaires, lambasted GOP tax cuts that "spare the rich," attacked "excess profits" and oil companies, and perceived the Catholic Church as an obstacle to his vision for the state-all the while echoing Davis's often repeated mantra for transformational and fundamental "change."And yet, The Communist is not unsympathetic to Davis, revealing him as something of a victim, an African American who suffered devastating racial persecution in the Jim Crow era, steering this justly angered young man on a misguided political track. That Davis supported violent and heartless communist regimes over his own country is impossible to defend. That he was a source of inspiration to President Barack Obama is impossible to ignore.

Is Obama working to fulfill the dreams of Frank Marshall Davis? That question has been impossible to answer, since Davis's writings and relationship with Obama have either been deliberately obscured or dismissed as irrelevant. With Kengor's The Communist, Americans can finally weigh the evidence and decide for themselves.

©2012 Paul Kengor (P)2012 Tantor

MUST READING Especially now.

Staggering and stunning how the COMMUNIST is alive and moving on our country. Frank Marshall Davis is still destroying the USA. Through his acolytes.

The research and context.

The author writes an engaging biography of a person who influenced a future POTUS, but whose Communist ideology was kept hidden from most of the public. It’s a fascinating indictment of the mainstream media and BIG biographies of that POTUS, and further proof that freedom of the press is not to be found in large media outlets. The story of FMD would stand on its own merits as a fellow traveler in the communist socialist march through the institutions.

A story every American should know

Any additional comments?

The Communists/Progressives set an agenda at the beginning of the 20th Century. Bit by bit they set the stage for dismantling America. Now all of their dreams are being realized with the election of Obama. This is the story of those who he has been associated with, and who he has brought to Washington to "fundamentally transform" this country.

Excellent summary of Communism in the U.S.

Outstanding and interesting biography of the man most influential to our country's first red diaper president.

One of the most important books you could read.

Any additional comments?

There's a lot of clear, undeniable truth in here, and it is profoundly disturbing. Unfortunately, the people who need to read it the most won't. It tells too much about who is running our country, and where they're running it to.