Anderson Says…

For about a decade, starting in December 1939, William J. Anderson had a regular column in The Tennessean.  When he started the column, he was Council Executive, but he continued with the column for a time after he retired and Ward Akers took over the position in 1947.  Many of the articles were obviously on Scouting and its benefits, but Anderson discussed a variety of things, including education, parenting, juvenile crime, and often religion.

This week’s article is one of Anderson’s pieces.  The piece is from December 1946.  For those of you who aren’t up to speed on your American history, World War II is over and the Cold War has begun.  By this point in the year, there is a strong fear of the growth of Communism.  “The Long Telegram” has been written; Churchill has identified the “Iron Curtain”; the Bikini Atoll atomic test occur over the summer; and, Greece and Turkey are threatened by communist forces (soon to lead to the Truman Doctrine).  With this background in mind, take a look at Anderson’s commentary.  (Walter Winchell was a journalist/gossip columnist, who would go on to support Senator Joseph McCarthy’s hunt for communists.)

Anderson, William J. “Anderson Says: Scouting Will Not Tolerate Communist Infiltration,” The Tennessean, December 1, 1946, pg. 18.

Article by William J. Anderson, 1946