Nancy Milford Quote

Jack Reed, whom The New York Times had labeled the Bolshevik agitator, hesitated and then equivocated on the stand. But by then the defense of The Masses was plain: criticism of the government didn't amount to a desire to overthrow it. If all hostile opinion were suppressed, how could Americans believe they lived in a free country? Dissent was a safeguard to freedom, not an impediment.

Nancy Milford

Jack Reed, whom The New York Times had labeled the Bolshevik agitator, hesitated and then equivocated on the stand. But by then the defense of The Masses was plain: criticism of the government didn't amount to a desire to overthrow it. If all hostile opinion were suppressed, how could Americans believe they lived in a free country? Dissent was a safeguard to freedom, not an impediment.

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About Nancy Milford

Nancy Lee Milford (née Winston; March 26, 1938 – March 29, 2022) was an American biographer. She was noted for her biographies on Zelda Fitzgerald and Edna St. Vincent Millay.