I have a friend of Pete's generation of the same persuasions who also regrets his single minded support of Stalin and being denied his NYC teachers job. Growing up in the 50s and only being half awake was so "nice".

If you're not a liberal at 20 you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at 40 you have no brain." - Winston Churchill

Got to meet him when the kids were young and he was performing at Flushing Meadows Corona Park one summer. The kids all went on stage for Puff.
Always interesting when politics and views can muddle with performers. Still recall that the author of Ohio danced some with a different President of the same party he was critical of in 1970.

Similar to Churchill. No homeowner is a liberal.

He was a great kid entertainer and a great adult entertainer. We had a lot of his albums growing up. I loved the weavers and listened to their carnegie hall album again yesterday

Pete was a special, unique humanitarian and environmentalist. He was right about the Vietnam War and I was lucky enough to see him perform at a fund raiser in the early 70's at Great Neck North High School and then to see him at his 90th Birthday Party-curated by Bruce Springsteen at the Garden. He literally ran on stage--and played and sang damn well
I was disappointed that Pres. Obama did not mention his death last night during his State of the Union. Considering Pete played at his first inauguration, invoking his iconic words "We Shall Overcome" would have worked perfectly.
Odey Raviv

As I recall, Pete Seeger's acknowledgment of his error of his ways in so outspokenly supporting Stalin was rather tepid, especially in light of the enormity of Stalin's genocide and oppression. I've alway found it so sadly surprising that good-hearted liberals have so open-heartedly supported the monstrous ideology known as socialism/communism. The great socialist utopias of the 20th century were directly responsible for the murder of over a 100 million people. Stalin and Mao made the Nazis look like pikers in comparison.

I find it interesting how the "conversation" is focusing on his viewpoint and not his music. Or, do the two go hand in hand?

I can appreciate Fred's saying "half awake"....in college I had Pete as a guest music professor. He sat in front of me and the small class of maybe 10 girls and sang his heart out....not many of us appreciated him or his music at the time....but than it was the mid 50's and he wasn't yet Pete Seeger....

While there were no complaints, let me defer to both Rona's recognition and Fred's perhaps accidental half-awake reference when I apologize for my blog. I have been working/coaching/playing incredible hours recently and I literally fell asleep three times while writing a blog that I had thought about hours earlier while listening to a radio program about Pete Seeger featuring an alleged friend of his. Eventually, I literally gave up, saved it and fell asleep. Rather than editing and re-posting it, please let me expand.

My point wasn't to focus on his politics, but rather his humanity and decency. My point about regret over Stalin (no matter how tepid) reflects a self-examination and humility that these days are more foreign than a $0.25 an hour production line employee.

When I heard his reporter friend describing their relationship, he spoke about how they would talk at length, disagreeing, yet at no point harboring ill will towards each other. If any of you have ever or would ever like to sit with me over a beer and talk politics, ideology and life...I'd like to think you would feel the same about me.

I loved Dylan, but he repeatedly proclaimed himself to be non-political. Although I probably disagreed with many of Pete Seeger's political beliefs, I can't help but respect him and yearn that we all weren't more like him. Can you imagine the power, energy and prosperity our great nation would flourish in if we could all engage each other with Pete Seeger's blend of courage, commitment and decency.

Thanks for the redux. If you want a laugh, my wife, who is new to Gotham, remarked at how bad my blog was and wondered whether the woman who blasted it out to all of Gotham (Nancy's weekly set-up) did it to highlight its ineptitude. I suppose I should be proud and thankful that she has similar expectations of my efforts as I do.

Peace!

As a liberal homeowner, I'd like to also commend the great work Pete Seeger did later in life regarding the environment. He was founder of, and remained very involved with, the environmental group Clearwater (which was honored by Gotham Green a few years ago). Not to mention that he wrote the most wonderful "Puff the Magic Dragon!"

I'm sorry, but Pete Seeger's behavior with regard to his adulation of Stalin is beyond the pale. Stalin (to say nothing of Mao) caused the deaths of over a hundred million people. That makes Hitler look like a piker. And as for his "repentance" that's a canard. Never happened.

I must have been about five years old, and my parents and I were at Croton Point Park at the mouth of the Croton River in 1964 (I was all of five years old). The occasion was nothing less than the kickoff of the environmentalist movement. I remember holding my father's hand when someone came up to him and said, "Hey, Cal, shake hands with Pete Seeger." And Father whirled around to see the singer's bony hand outstretched and a big smile on his face. And Father, who was a staunch, staunch anti-communist slapped Seeger's hand away from him and hissed, "Get your stinking hand out of my face you commie traitor!" And you could have heard a pin drop. Mother, of course, was horrified, but Father always said he'd done the right thing, and would never have anything to do with the environmental movement after that.