The Centennial of Norman Thomas

I should like to argue with Norman Thomas who, I will assume, is present in absentia. As Irving Howe said earlier, in Norman Thomas’s later years, this celebrated socialist leader concluded that his career had been a failure. So I say to you, Norman, if that’s the way you feel, it is not the first time you’ve been wrong.

I claim the right to quarrel with Norman now because I believe that no one in this room quarreled more with him than I did. In all the years that I�...