Plain Talk


Plain Talk was a monthly, American, anti-Communist magazine that lasted for 44 months. The editor-in-chief was Isaac Don Levine.

Description

Plain Talk featured articles by many conservative writers of the time, including John Chamberlain, Suzanne La Follette, Eugene Lyons, George S. Schuyler, and Ralph de Toledano. The magazine was published on a monthly basis.

History

In the 1970s, Levine wrote that in July 1946 Benjamin Mandel, had accompanied by Father John F. Cronin and Alfred Kohlberg, approached Levine at his Norwalk, Connecticut, home. Kohlberg funded $25,000 for it plus a free office, plus funding for five staffers.
The magazine was established in 1946 and the first issue appeared in October 1946. Due to low circulation and readership levels the magazine ceased publication in May 1950. Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover had provided some funding, but, "half-hearted," it did not succeed in shoring up the magazine.
Connected to the magazine was the name Theodore Cooper Kirkpatrick, who, with fellow ex-FBI agent Kenneth M. Bierly, was implicated in "pirating" of security informants for Plain Talk magazine and soon thereafter for Counterattack newsletter. Kirkpatrick and Bierly also used FBI information to capitalize upon their FBI association. Kirkpatrick and Bierly joined with a third ex-FBI agent, John G. Keenan, first to form "John Quincy Adams Associates" in Washington, DC, and then "American Business Consultants, Inc.," in New York City, publisher of Counterattack newsletter.

Demise

Starting in 1950, several writers and editors from Plain Talk subsequently worked for The Freeman, which was founded later that year and acquired the Plain Talk subscription list.

Personnel

An anthology of articles from the magazine was published in 1976.