Life Molding
Ann Lane
— Rhoda was the one who said, at the last reunion she got up and said, "Look around the room. We're all still politically engaged." Now, part of that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The people who've dropped away they don't find. They can't track them down. But she said, "We're all still Democrats or a little to the left. We all haven't changed much."
Bill Taylor
— I got a great education at Brooklyn College and this was, you know, sort of an unanticipated life-experience part of my education. So I think it all worked out pretty well, as far as I'm concerned. Plus, I met my wife.
Ann Lane
— I never looked back and said, “Oh, Vanguard did it.” It was just another step on the road to political radicalism.
Bill Taylor
— I mean, the view of people like Joe Rauh and Arthur Schlesinger and Bob Nathan and others was that the Communists had tried to infiltrate unions, that they were not sympathetic with the aims of progressives and liberals, and that you were ill-advised to have them in your midst because they didn't subscribe to your objectives. And I have to say I came to much the same conclusion because, as I said, I got wooed by a lot of groups, including Communist — avowedly Communist — groups. Schactmanites, Trotskyites, and so on. I got the feeling, which was later reinforced by readings that I did, that, you know, they weren't terribly interested in my plight. They were interested in what they could do to exploit it. So I got sort of an early taste of all of that. And when I worked for Thurgood Marshall, he would never have anything to do with the support of the Communist groups for civil rights causes because he thought they were using it to their own purposes too.
Geri Stevens
— It was a tremendous educational experience and I think it really formed my thinking in many ways. I mean, I came from a family where social justice was something that was talked about, and a family that was really kind of non-materialistic in many ways, not that we had a choice. But even so, being on Vanguard reinforced a lot of my feelings about social justice and crystallized my thinking in many, many ways. And a lot of the relationships that I formed when I was there I still have.
Herb Dorfman
— My first job, which was at ABC News, and my Fulbright, that group, neither one had as much staying power as the group that was at Vanguard. And we're having a reunion soon. I mean, we could have them every year. Just before you came I was on the phone with Norman Gelb, who was one of the Vanguard people. And he lives in London and I call him just to sort of bring him up to date on what's happening.
Harry Baron
— You know what it was like? It was like guys who had been in the Battle of the Bulge. You didn't have to talk about it. You were buddies. You had gone through something together, as simple as that. We've been friends along time, not close friends necessarily, but we have certain moments that it all comes back. You know?
Al Lasher
— A common enemy, fighting a war together, fighting against unfairness, and so on, that creates a certain connection. When you're in the trenches together you bond. That's why this group continues as close as it has to this day and it's all of fifty years later.
Geri Stevens
— And it's a group that's very loyal to each other. You know? We help each others' kids. When Amy graduated and she was looking for a permanent job, there was no question I alerted the Vanguard network. I mean, just, “Hey, my kid's looking for a job. Keep your eyes open.” And as it turned out one of the Vanguard people was instrumental in her ending up where she did. She happens to be very good and would have gotten a good job, but I think that access made it a little more immediate for her.
Mike Lutzker
— It was an education we received, but not only in the content of our courses but in intimidation. Harry Gideonse in his way helped radicalize me and made me appreciate the need to defend academic freedom.
Herb Dorfman
— It left a bitter taste -you know- it left a bitter taste. Which I must tell you, when I talk to Vanguard people today, it's there- you can hear it. Some of them are just ready for battle, you know. Fifty years after the fact, c'mon guys. They've all had careers, they've all done great things, but they remember being betrayed...that act of deceit.