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The Communist Lib/E: Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mentor
"I admire Russia for wiping out an economic system which permitted a handful of rich to exploit and beat gold from the millions of plain people. . . . As one who believes in freedom and democracy for all, I honor the Red nation." --FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS, 1947"
In his memoir, Barack Obama omits the full name of his mentor, simply calling him "Frank." Now, the truth is 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 Frank Marshall Davis was a pro-Soviet, pro-Red China communist. His Communist Party USA card number, revealed in FBI files, was CP #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 Paul Kengor's "The Communist, "Americans can finally weigh the evidence and decide for themselves.
***
There were hundreds of thousands of American communists like Frank who agitated throughout the twentieth century. They chose the wrong side of history, a horrendously bloody side that left a wake of more than 100 million corpses from the streets of the Bolshevik Revolution to the base of the Berlin Wall--double the combined dead of the century's two world wars. And they never apologized. Quite the contrary, they cursed their accusers for daring to charge (correctly) that they were communists whose ideology threatened the American way and the greater world and all of humanity. They took their denials to the grave, and still today their liberal/progressive dupes continue to conceal their crimes and curse their accusers for them. We need hundreds and thousands of more books on American communists like Frank, so we can finally start to get this history right-- and, more so, learn its vital lessons. To fail to do so is a great historical injustice.
We especially need to flesh out these lessons, which are morality tales in the truest sense of the word, when we find the rarest case of a man like "Frank" managing to influence someone as influential as the current president of the United States of America--the leader of the free world and driver of the mightiest political/economic engine in history. Such figures canno...
In his memoir, Barack Obama omits the full name of his mentor, simply calling him "Frank." Now, the truth is 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 Frank Marshall Davis was a pro-Soviet, pro-Red China communist. His Communist Party USA card number, revealed in FBI files, was CP #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 Paul Kengor's "The Communist, "Americans can finally weigh the evidence and decide for themselves.
***
There were hundreds of thousands of American communists like Frank who agitated throughout the twentieth century. They chose the wrong side of history, a horrendously bloody side that left a wake of more than 100 million corpses from the streets of the Bolshevik Revolution to the base of the Berlin Wall--double the combined dead of the century's two world wars. And they never apologized. Quite the contrary, they cursed their accusers for daring to charge (correctly) that they were communists whose ideology threatened the American way and the greater world and all of humanity. They took their denials to the grave, and still today their liberal/progressive dupes continue to conceal their crimes and curse their accusers for them. We need hundreds and thousands of more books on American communists like Frank, so we can finally start to get this history right-- and, more so, learn its vital lessons. To fail to do so is a great historical injustice.
We especially need to flesh out these lessons, which are morality tales in the truest sense of the word, when we find the rarest case of a man like "Frank" managing to influence someone as influential as the current president of the United States of America--the leader of the free world and driver of the mightiest political/economic engine in history. Such figures canno...
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First published July 17, 2012
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About the author
Paul Kengor
35 books146 followersPaul G. Kengor is an author and professor of political science at Grove City College and the senior director of the Institute for Faith and Freedom, a Grove City College think tank. He is a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. Kengor has focused much of his work on Ronald Reagan, faith and the presidency, conservative politics, the Cold War, Communism, and Catholicism.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 21, 2012
This is a well-documented book with lots of notes and an extensive index. The primary purpose seems to be to tell the story of Frank Marshall Davis, who was a member of the CPUSA (Communist Party of the USA) and a Marxist.
It is a narrative that follows Frank through his life, showed when he became a card carrying Communist who wrote a column called Frank-ly Speaking. It follows him from Atlanta, to Chicago, to Honolulu and back. He made the watch-list of the FBI and Congress. Frank had an ideal view of Communism that didn't fit with the reality. In Frank’s view, Stalin could do no wrong. Frank had no qualms about throwing down the race card when he was challenged.
Barack Obama's family knew Frank. This is the Frank who Barack Obama mentions quite a bit in his book, Dreams of My Father. For Barack Obama, Frank was a father figure—someone whose advise was sought out. Later, at Occidental College, Obama would declare himself a Marxist.
It is Frank's constant call for change that seems to echo through Barack Obama. That was the buzz-word in the 2008 campaign: Change. Bailing out General Motors is only a step away from Frank's desire to nationalize it. And socialized health care is certainly a socialist's dream.
So it's easy to see where Barack Obama got his ideas; easy to see who his mentor was.
Whenever someone makes a major change in their own life, they generally want everyone to know. If someone switches gears from Muslim to Christian, everybody is sold on the idea because that person who just made the change is sold on it and it is new and exciting. The same goes for someone who changes from Marxist to Democrat. It is a change made because of newfound convictions and not a change made lightly.
We never saw any of that with Obama. Maybe that's because nothing really changed inside the man. Maybe Barack Obama can lay claim to many more firsts than we give him credit for; first black president, first Muslim president, first Marxist president. May-be, huh?
Read the book. Become informed.
It is a narrative that follows Frank through his life, showed when he became a card carrying Communist who wrote a column called Frank-ly Speaking. It follows him from Atlanta, to Chicago, to Honolulu and back. He made the watch-list of the FBI and Congress. Frank had an ideal view of Communism that didn't fit with the reality. In Frank’s view, Stalin could do no wrong. Frank had no qualms about throwing down the race card when he was challenged.
Barack Obama's family knew Frank. This is the Frank who Barack Obama mentions quite a bit in his book, Dreams of My Father. For Barack Obama, Frank was a father figure—someone whose advise was sought out. Later, at Occidental College, Obama would declare himself a Marxist.
It is Frank's constant call for change that seems to echo through Barack Obama. That was the buzz-word in the 2008 campaign: Change. Bailing out General Motors is only a step away from Frank's desire to nationalize it. And socialized health care is certainly a socialist's dream.
So it's easy to see where Barack Obama got his ideas; easy to see who his mentor was.
Whenever someone makes a major change in their own life, they generally want everyone to know. If someone switches gears from Muslim to Christian, everybody is sold on the idea because that person who just made the change is sold on it and it is new and exciting. The same goes for someone who changes from Marxist to Democrat. It is a change made because of newfound convictions and not a change made lightly.
We never saw any of that with Obama. Maybe that's because nothing really changed inside the man. Maybe Barack Obama can lay claim to many more firsts than we give him credit for; first black president, first Muslim president, first Marxist president. May-be, huh?
Read the book. Become informed.
July 22, 2012
"The Communist" is well-documented, highly readable, and another Cold War insight with modern day relevance by one of the premier scholars, Dr. Paul Kengor, Professor at Grove City College and Director of the Center for Vision and Values. This, with "Dupes," firmly establishes Dr. Kengor as a top historian and writer for Cold War politics and its continuing impact on our nation today. I highly recommend it.
February 19, 2013
Hard to believe the liberal strategy has been going on for the number of years begining before WWII.A real eye opener.I hope Mr.Kengor is looking out for drones!
July 18, 2013
I read this book at the request of several ultra-conservative friends. How sad to see so much fear and ignorance in the 21st century. I found this book to be wholly un-American and un-Christian.
October 17, 2021
Wtf, another alt-right B.S. The problem with this, as always, lies in the fact that imbeciles imagine they know something. Like those imbeciles on the left, who talk shit about Keynes, or those imbeciles on the right who talk shit about Marx, - no one ever tried to read originals :-D Reality, in this case is much more prosaic and than their ideologically brainwashed brains paint them.
On this case:
* "Davis promoted the ideal of a "raceless" society, based on his belief that race as a biological or social construct was illogical and a fallacy."
* Genetics agrees, no such thing as race in genes.
* Then comes some idiot, who has nothing else to do and "finds" the "truth", exactly like Hitler in Mein Kampf.
* Hundreds of idiots applaud.
Welcome to 21st century idiocracy.
On this case:
* "Davis promoted the ideal of a "raceless" society, based on his belief that race as a biological or social construct was illogical and a fallacy."
* Genetics agrees, no such thing as race in genes.
* Then comes some idiot, who has nothing else to do and "finds" the "truth", exactly like Hitler in Mein Kampf.
* Hundreds of idiots applaud.
Welcome to 21st century idiocracy.
February 26, 2022
This is an excellent and interesting biography of Frank Marshall Davis, former President Obama's boyhood mentor in Hawaii. Marshall, having survived an attempted lynching as a boy and growing up under Jim Crow, became a devout Communist (officially a member of the CPUSA) and a disciple of Stalinism. Marshall was also a fine writer and poet, and these abilities landed him jobs first with African-American and then Socialist newspapers in the South, Chicago, and, finally, Hawaii, where he edited the paper of the Soviet-aligned Longshoreman's Union.
Kengor of course discusses Marshall's influence over Obama: a major theme of the book is that mentors matter in the development of a young man, and that by understanding the mentor, we better understand the young man as an adult. Kengor's conclusion is that, based on Obama's writings and policy goals, Marshall had quite a bit of influence over the 44th president.
The author, though himself a conservative Catholic and strong anti-communist, is very fair and even sympathetic at times to Marshall. The book is easy to read and heavily footnoted with references. Highly recommended
Kengor of course discusses Marshall's influence over Obama: a major theme of the book is that mentors matter in the development of a young man, and that by understanding the mentor, we better understand the young man as an adult. Kengor's conclusion is that, based on Obama's writings and policy goals, Marshall had quite a bit of influence over the 44th president.
The author, though himself a conservative Catholic and strong anti-communist, is very fair and even sympathetic at times to Marshall. The book is easy to read and heavily footnoted with references. Highly recommended
December 6, 2013
Well researched and disturbing, this collection of evidence on the background of Frank Marshall Davis and resulting biography makes for a stimulating read.
What makes this compelling is the apparent relationship between Davis and the current US President, Barack Obama. The Democrats and the Left have accumulated a significant history of communist sympathizers and Marxist admirers. Obama may not be a Manchurian candidate but he is obviously a Neo-Marxist. His unbridled faith in the efficacy of central planning and state control at the behest of an intellectual elite is an homage to the Leninist faction of that bloody political view.
Disturbing, very disturbing.
What makes this compelling is the apparent relationship between Davis and the current US President, Barack Obama. The Democrats and the Left have accumulated a significant history of communist sympathizers and Marxist admirers. Obama may not be a Manchurian candidate but he is obviously a Neo-Marxist. His unbridled faith in the efficacy of central planning and state control at the behest of an intellectual elite is an homage to the Leninist faction of that bloody political view.
Disturbing, very disturbing.
December 25, 2020
If you want to understand the subversive nature of communism and how Communists have infiltrated our government, read this book. In particular, this book shows how Frank Marshall Davis, a card-carrying Communist, mentored Barrack Obama. It demonstrates also how Communists use the race card to divide in order to promote unrest, and wealth inequality to stoke envy. The fall of the Soviet Union opened up files that give proof to fact of many of the targets on the committee on unamerican activities were in fact really Communists.
March 30, 2015
This is an excellent overview of the Communist Party in America from the early twentieth century and beyond. I highly recommend this book and it's even better read in conjunction with Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father.
October 30, 2013
Paul Kengor, PH.D "Given that I came into possession of Frank's political writings, and that my area of research is the Cold War and the American communist movement, I took up the task, for better or worse. I could not ignore it." It's too bad others who had this information didn't feel the same way.
May 15, 2013
An excellent book that not only describes the background of Davis but also his influence on Mr. Obama. It is also interesting to learn the backgrounds of many people very close to Obama. No wonder the country is moving in its current direction.
June 2, 2015
Well-researched, well-documented, analytical account of the political views of Frank Marshall Davis, a long-time mentor of Barack Obama during his formative years. Truly unbelievable that this scholarly book is so hard to find, as it explains so much of Obama's worldviews and policies.
November 7, 2013
The Communist is, in essence, a bibliography of Frank Marshall Davis, late and longtime member of the United States Communist party. In it Paul Kengor details Frank Marshall Davis's writings, which are often critical of the United States and very pro Soviet Union. I think their can be little doubt that he was a communist. The question Dr. Kengor raises is about his relationship to our current president, Barak Obama. Was he the mysterious "Frank" mentioned in President Obama's memoir? I can only suggest you read it and come to your own conclusion.
September 18, 2012
This book will add to your knowledge of how the Communist movement was able to get a strong foothold in the U.S. When you connect the dots, it is not a bit surprising how Obama became enamored with it.
January 10, 2013
Wow the things I learned in this book were simply mind blowing. I thought I knew history but I realize now that I know a lot less then I thought, well written and very informative with out being dry or boring.
September 18, 2012
Scary reading. We all know the ending with Obama.
Read
November 1, 2012Scary to think that the current president of the US had a mentor so far to the left as Frank Marshall Davis. Even scarier to think that the media continues to hide and even deny that relationship!
Read
October 2, 2016Informative (not for entertainment). Paul Kengor has done his research well and makes a coherent, logical case for regarding Frank Marshall Davis as a major communist influence on the president.
January 31, 2016
Compulsively readable account of one of the figures that loomed large in Obama's early political development. Kengor makes an argument about conversion stories (and Obama's lack of one) that I had been rolling around in my own head, and I agree with his take on it.
October 2, 2012
Everyone should read it.
Read
August 5, 2016Read it again 04 AUG 2016
August 8, 2025
Although I read this long after Obama left the Oval Office, I am not surprised that he was mentored by a card-carrying communist. I don’t understand why these people who hate capitalism and America just move to Russia. They could all live happier lives instead of going through life in the U.S. bitter and angry. Great writing and thorough research by the author. 👍🏻
May 31, 2019
For those up to learning about Barack Obama's mentor, card-carrying Communist Frank Marshall Davis.
February 5, 2020
A little bias and he made some leaps to conclusions, but interesting.
February 23, 2022
“The people who influence our presidents matter”
February 17, 2024
Well researched and a true eye-opener.I recommend this book.
March 18, 2024
Well documented and necessary read.
February 19, 2024
Interesting detailed biography of Obama’s communist mentor Frank Marshall Davis
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews