"In one memorable exchange with Russ Nixon, one of Kennedy’s former Harvard professors, Kennedy asked Nixon to defend the communists’ willingness to “resort to all sorts of artifices, evasions, subterfuges, only so as to get into the trade unions and remain in them and to carry on Communist work into the trade unions and remain in them and to carry on Communist work in them, at all costs.” Nixon replied, “I didn’t teach you that at Harvard did I?” To which Kennedy retorted, “No, you did not. I am reading from Lenin, in which is described the procedure which should be adapted to get into trade unions and how they conduct themselves once they are in.” http://jfkckp.weebly.com/the-cold-war.html
"Dr. Nixon was born July 27, 1913, in St. Paul, graduated from the University of Southern California in 1934 and received a Ph.D. degree in economics from Harvard in 1940.
"From 1937 to 1941 he was an instructor and tutor in economics at Harvard, where John F. Kennedy was among his students. In Theodore C. Sorensen's biography, “Kennedy,” the late President is quoted as saying that he was not a professional economist “but [one] who knows a hell of a lot about it after taking Ec‐A under Russ, Nixon at Harvard.”"
www.nytimes.com
"Nixon took office on December 1, 1941, as UE legislative representative. He had previously been chief national legislative representative for Labor's Non-Partisan League, was a Harvard Ph.D, and had taught at both Harvard and MIT. There was little doubt that he was a Communist." https://books.google.com/books?id=XkNmcyA9EfsC&pg=PA67
"Representative John F. Kennedy grilled his old Harvard economics instructor, Russ Nixon, on the extent of Communist influence in the UE..." https://books.google.com/books?id=6lYknn0_biAC&pg=PA102
"Discussing the topic, "Is this America's War?" Nixon said "under the leadership of England and France this war does not promise to save democracy. The efforts of the laboring classes in European countries after the last war to hold off Fascism and preserve a democracy that came from the hearts of the people were frustrated by the selfish interests of the two great western democracies." Nixon citied Spain as a good example of this situation." https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1940/5/24/nixon-urges-america-to-stay-out/
"Indicating that the decision of the CIO chieftain was motivated by a whole cluster of considerations, Nixon maintained that it was not a sell-out as it had been interpreted by some. "Lewis is sincerely convinced that support of F. D. R. is the path to war," said Nixon, since his election might be interpreted as a mandate of labor to proceed along that course''.... As for the long run, Nixon doubts that Lewis and Willkie are permanently mated, and feels that the CIO president may by 1944 be ready for a third-party move. This will particularly be the case if the next administration--whether Roosevelt's or Willkie's--does not "come through" as far as Lewis and labor are concerned. "It may be necessary to learn the hard way that a labor party is needed," Nixon stated." https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1940/10/28/lewis-move-aims-to-restore-labor/
"In June 1953 the committee heard Russell Arthur Nixon, legislative representative of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America. The committee is aware that the extent of Communist infiltration into the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America was sufficiently strong to have caused the Congress of Industrial Organizations to expel it, along with certain other unions, for Communist activities. Russell Arthur Nixon, who was identified this year by Mrs. Dorothy K. Funn as having been a member of an underground group of legislative representatives of various unions and other organizations, was earlier identified in 1952 in the course of hearings in Philadelphia, Pa. In calling Mr. Nixon before the committee, there was a twofold interest, both of government and labor, since the committee had developed information that Russell Nixon was attached to the American Military Government in Germany, along with other individuals who have been identified as members of the Communist Party. The operation in which Mr. Nixon was employed in the American Military Government was under the direction of officials in the United States Treasury Department, including Harry Dexter White, William Ludwig Ullmann, and V. Frank Coe, all of whom were identified in 1948 by Elizabeth Bentley as having been individuals in a Communist operation within the Government who supplied her with information as a Soviet espionage courier. Mr. Nixon was questioned concerning this operation and the individuals with whom he had associated, but declined to answer, on constitutional grounds, whether he knew these individuals to be members of the Communist Party or whether he himself was a member of the Communist Party." https://books.google.com/books?id=pltbAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA2-PA55
Now I do not know whether Russell Nixon was an actual member of the Communist Party, or merely a "progressive" who was national legislative director for the UE (the strongest of the "left-wing" unions of the CIO, and which was expelled from the CIO in 1949 because of alleged Communist domination) who seems to have agreed with the Communists on most significant issues, including the imperialist nature of the Second World War before June 22, 1941. But let's say that he *was* a Communist--and that he actually converts his student John F. Kennedy to the cause! (There were after all some very rich young men who broke with their families over Communism in the 1930s...)
More specifically, sometime in 1940, Nixon tells JFK, "Jack, I think your dad is doing a great job opposing the war. But to oppose war effectively, it's not enough to be anti-war; you have to understand the social roots of war. There's this discussion group I'm leading you might be interested in joining..."
(I'l admit this is unlikely: if Harold Laski couldn't convert Jack to Socialism, Russ Nixon probably couldn't convert him to Communism.)
"Dr. Nixon was born July 27, 1913, in St. Paul, graduated from the University of Southern California in 1934 and received a Ph.D. degree in economics from Harvard in 1940.
"From 1937 to 1941 he was an instructor and tutor in economics at Harvard, where John F. Kennedy was among his students. In Theodore C. Sorensen's biography, “Kennedy,” the late President is quoted as saying that he was not a professional economist “but [one] who knows a hell of a lot about it after taking Ec‐A under Russ, Nixon at Harvard.”"
Dr. Russell A. Nixon Dies at 60; Columbia Manpower Economist (Published 1973)
Nixon, Russell A (Prof)
"Nixon took office on December 1, 1941, as UE legislative representative. He had previously been chief national legislative representative for Labor's Non-Partisan League, was a Harvard Ph.D, and had taught at both Harvard and MIT. There was little doubt that he was a Communist." https://books.google.com/books?id=XkNmcyA9EfsC&pg=PA67
"Representative John F. Kennedy grilled his old Harvard economics instructor, Russ Nixon, on the extent of Communist influence in the UE..." https://books.google.com/books?id=6lYknn0_biAC&pg=PA102
"Discussing the topic, "Is this America's War?" Nixon said "under the leadership of England and France this war does not promise to save democracy. The efforts of the laboring classes in European countries after the last war to hold off Fascism and preserve a democracy that came from the hearts of the people were frustrated by the selfish interests of the two great western democracies." Nixon citied Spain as a good example of this situation." https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1940/5/24/nixon-urges-america-to-stay-out/
"Indicating that the decision of the CIO chieftain was motivated by a whole cluster of considerations, Nixon maintained that it was not a sell-out as it had been interpreted by some. "Lewis is sincerely convinced that support of F. D. R. is the path to war," said Nixon, since his election might be interpreted as a mandate of labor to proceed along that course''.... As for the long run, Nixon doubts that Lewis and Willkie are permanently mated, and feels that the CIO president may by 1944 be ready for a third-party move. This will particularly be the case if the next administration--whether Roosevelt's or Willkie's--does not "come through" as far as Lewis and labor are concerned. "It may be necessary to learn the hard way that a labor party is needed," Nixon stated." https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1940/10/28/lewis-move-aims-to-restore-labor/
"In June 1953 the committee heard Russell Arthur Nixon, legislative representative of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America. The committee is aware that the extent of Communist infiltration into the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America was sufficiently strong to have caused the Congress of Industrial Organizations to expel it, along with certain other unions, for Communist activities. Russell Arthur Nixon, who was identified this year by Mrs. Dorothy K. Funn as having been a member of an underground group of legislative representatives of various unions and other organizations, was earlier identified in 1952 in the course of hearings in Philadelphia, Pa. In calling Mr. Nixon before the committee, there was a twofold interest, both of government and labor, since the committee had developed information that Russell Nixon was attached to the American Military Government in Germany, along with other individuals who have been identified as members of the Communist Party. The operation in which Mr. Nixon was employed in the American Military Government was under the direction of officials in the United States Treasury Department, including Harry Dexter White, William Ludwig Ullmann, and V. Frank Coe, all of whom were identified in 1948 by Elizabeth Bentley as having been individuals in a Communist operation within the Government who supplied her with information as a Soviet espionage courier. Mr. Nixon was questioned concerning this operation and the individuals with whom he had associated, but declined to answer, on constitutional grounds, whether he knew these individuals to be members of the Communist Party or whether he himself was a member of the Communist Party." https://books.google.com/books?id=pltbAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA2-PA55
Now I do not know whether Russell Nixon was an actual member of the Communist Party, or merely a "progressive" who was national legislative director for the UE (the strongest of the "left-wing" unions of the CIO, and which was expelled from the CIO in 1949 because of alleged Communist domination) who seems to have agreed with the Communists on most significant issues, including the imperialist nature of the Second World War before June 22, 1941. But let's say that he *was* a Communist--and that he actually converts his student John F. Kennedy to the cause! (There were after all some very rich young men who broke with their families over Communism in the 1930s...)
More specifically, sometime in 1940, Nixon tells JFK, "Jack, I think your dad is doing a great job opposing the war. But to oppose war effectively, it's not enough to be anti-war; you have to understand the social roots of war. There's this discussion group I'm leading you might be interested in joining..."
(I'l admit this is unlikely: if Harold Laski couldn't convert Jack to Socialism, Russ Nixon probably couldn't convert him to Communism.)
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