Commentary
When I was a kid growing up in New York City in the 1950s, my parents were liberal Democrats. They were “Gladly for Adlai” (Stevenson) in the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956 and therefore, their loyal child, so was I. (Dwight Eisenhower, the winner in those elections, turned out to be one of the better presidents in American history.)
They of course supported Freedom of Speech, that pillar of American democracy. All members of the Democratic Party did then, at least publicly.
By the time I was in high school, I had gone, like many in my generation, to the left of my parents, but never—not once—did I or my friends of the time think to forego free speech. We were exercising it.
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