The Los Angeles Times obit pages ran the news of the passng of Dixon Gayer, a former newspaper columnist and journalism professor, who was a liberal in OC long before it was fashionable.
From the Times piece:
“He created the Webster Quimmley Society, named for a fictitious hero whose motto was “Sanity and Freedom,” which gained Gayer a measure of national attention for his satirical response to his political opponents.
“We abhor communism and its front organizations and we are violently opposed to the John Birch Society and similar ultraconservative groups,” Gayer told Newsweek magazine in 1961. “We think either extreme threatens the American way of life. Frankly, I don’t see how you can disagree with us unless you’re a Communist or a Bircher.”
Dixon reported getting late night phone calls from heavy breathers accusing him of being a Communist; the more things change, the more they stay the same.