- Playing
- A True American Hero
- From
- Dick Meister
A commentary on Gene Debs, one of the most influential leaders in U.S. history. He died 80 years ago this month, yet his proposed cures for the economic ills that infect American society are as valid, vital and essential as ever. He was many things -- a highly popular labor leader, spellbinding orator, founder of the Socialist Party of America, five times a candidate for president, and much more during his life-long battle in behalf of ordinary people against the corporate entities that dominate their lives.
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Piece Description
A commentary on Gene Debs, one of the most influential leaders in U.S. history. He died 80 years ago this month, yet his proposed cures for the economic ills that infect American society are as valid, vital and essential as ever. He was many things -- a highly popular labor leader, spellbinding orator, founder of the Socialist Party of America, five times a candidate for president, and much more during his life-long battle in behalf of ordinary people against the corporate entities that dominate their lives.
Broadcast History
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Transcript
Few American leaders have been more influential than Eugene V. Debs. He died 80 years ago this month, yet his proposed cures for the economic ills that infect American society are as valid, as vital, and as essential as ever.
Union organizer and strike leader, spellbinding orator , founder of the Socialist Party of America , five times a candidate for president. Gene Debs was all that, and more.
He realized, back in the late 1880s, that ordinary people were at the mercy of the corporate entities that had come to control the political and economic life of the country. They?re still in control, of course ? but those who seek to loosen their hold could find no better guide than debs.
Debs tried first to bring together in a single union all of the workers in the railroad industry, then one of the country?s largest and most important industries . That would arm the railroad worke...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
INTRO: Commentator Dick Meister remembers an extraordinary American on the 80th anniversary of his death.
OUTRO: Dick Meister is a veteran labor journalist.
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Bill Anderson
Posted on October 26, 2006 at 03:18 PM | Permalink
Review of A True American Hero
I liked this for two reasons: Dick, although he read too fast at times, read this with an enthusiasm for his subject and he offered some surprises. For example, I had no idea that Gene Debs garnered nearly one-million votes in a Presidential election and I had no idea how significant his contributions were on behalf of working Americans.
There are little nuggets in here that say much about the time period and an overlooked American.