Solzhenitsyn Biographer: Cross-In-Dirt Gulag Story Never Happened

[NYCGirl]

There's been a ton of buzz on the web for the last day or so -- beginning with this Daily Kos diary -- suggesting that John McCain patterned his story about a Vietamese captor drawing a cross in the dirt before him on a similar episode from Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn's time in the Soviet gulags.

But it turns out that this episode probably never happened to Solzhenitsyn at all, and according to a Solzhenitsyn biographer it appears nowhere in his published writing. Columbia University professor Michael Scammell, the author of Solzhenitsyn: A Biography, says the episode "never happened," and didn't appear in Solzhenitsyn's book, Gulag Archipelago, either.

This only solves a piece of the mystery, but it's a key piece. It doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility that McCain or his biographer, Mark Salter, picked up the tale that this happened to Solzhenitsyn elsewhere and embellished it for their own purposes.

But it takes one well-trafficked theory off the table: That McCain, a fan of Solzhenitsyn, picked it up straight from his works. More broadly, it also skewers once and for all the cherished right-wing falsehood that this happened to Solzhenitsyn at all.

Of course, it's still possible that McCain or Salter picked this up from the sort of right-wing circles that it first originated in. After all, this tale was bandied about by Chuck Colson and many other wingnuts for years; McCain or Salter could have picked it up from such circles, as the notes from Colson's 1983 book, Loving God, explain:

"The story about Alexander Solzhenitsen and the old man who made the sign of the cross was first told by Solzhenitsyn to a group of Christian leaders and later recounted by Billy Graham in his New Year's telecast, 1977. It has been retold subsequently, most publicly by Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC)."

MUCH MORE AT LINK

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/solzhenitsyn_biographer_crossi.php

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. That kind of Christian awakening is common in Russian novels

I believe there was a Christian awakening in Crime and Punishment, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denosivitch (sp) and War and Peace. I only read them a few times, so I can't remember the details, but I'm pretty sure that Christian awakenings were common in such novels of that era.

[MarianJack]

2. Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) & the Cross in the Dirt.

This is the sequel to "The Robe" (1953).

Victor Mature is Demetrius, a freed Christian slave re=captured and put into gladiator training. In one scene, Ernest Borgnine, playing a slave serving food to the gladiators, draws a cross in the dust (or whatever) on the table. He then makes brief eye contact with Demetrius and wipes it away.

That is one of the few things about that movie, which I haven't seen in 20+ years, but it was the first thing I said to my lovely ChicaAzul when McSame told that story.

HMMM...I might just post this in GDP for the S&Gs!

PEACE!

[goodgd_yall]

4. Ernest Borgnine!

The truth revealed----McCain got his story not from so lofty a source as Solzhenitzen (sic), but from Ernie who he undoubtedly identifies with.

[NYCGirl]

5. Great catch! And send it to Keith Olbermann, too!

:thumbsup:

[Benhurst]

6. Great find/memory!

All I remember from that film was thinking Susan Hayward deserved an Oscar for having to project barely-restrained lust as she watched a fat, middle-aged Victor Mature waddle out of her life on his way to meet up with The Big Fisherman outside on the steps of the palace.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Also used in 1933 Sign of the Cross, apparently,

which had a 1944 re-release as WW2 propaganda.

[starroute]

8. That flick also had girls being raped by gorillas

So add a second item to the McCain checklist.

[Benhurst]

3. Chuck Colson, Jesse Helms and Billy Graham:

There can be no doubt the story is true.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[starroute]

9. McCain praised Colson in his 'agents of intolerance' speech

This is from February 2000, not long after McCain first used the cross story.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/28/se.01.html

Let me be clear, let me be clear. Evangelical leaders are changing America for the better. Chuck Colson, head of Prison Fellowship, is saving men from life -- from a lifetime behind bars by bringing them the good news of redemption. James Dobson, who does not support me, has devoted his life to rebuilding America's families. Others are leading the fight against pornography, cultural decline and for life. I stand with them. I am a pro-life, pro-family fiscal conservative, an advocate of a strong defense, and yet Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and a few Washington leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate.

[discopants]

10. McCain stole the story from Colson!!!!

The Solzhenitsen reference is wrong because Colson made it up -- it's a red herring to let the "Gulag" accuracy derail the story that McCain lied.

Colson had a much wider sphere of influence in Washington (than Solzhenitzen !!) with Graham and Helms. Colson was pushing his "born again" agenda for twenty-some years -- McCain and Salter stole the story as their own.

[Celebration]

11. Christian urban legend LOL

[bluethruandthru]

13. HAH! McCain steals an urban legend

and makes it about him! Next he'll tell us how Cindy's hairdresser once found a nest of spiders in her hair, or that if you play the Beatles Abbey Road album backward...it says "John is Pres, John is pres.

[K8-EEE]

12. Classic Xtian propaganda, IMO

Phony as all get out. But you can count on the Freepers to gobble it up, hook line and sinker. LOL!! Natch the ones who SWORE the would never vote for "RINO" Juan Maqueno are completely transformed by the moldy old CITD story.

[mcg]

14. The story is from a newsletter article (maybe) ...

from
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/08/mccains-cross-story-ripped-off.php

This question-- is this quoted passage we're seeing everywhere actually in the book?-- needs to get more attention. Andrew Sullivan is asserting the quoted block at the top of this diary doesn't appear in The Gulag Archipelago at all. The original DailyKos diary has since been updated to claim that the story is not from The Gulag Archipelago, but rather from someone named Luke Veronis, in a newsletter article titled "The Sign of the Cross" (recounting a purported story about, but not written by, Solzhenitsyn). If we are going to be repeating this story we need to have our facts straight or else the progressive movement will be made to look like... you know... right-wingers.

[zbdent]

15. expect a tearful story (around October) about how one of his kids nearly died

when he mixed Pop Rocks and Coke ...