John Wayne was interviewed in Playboy back during 1971 (pdf warning). Here are some of the things he had to say:
- I believe in welfare—a welfare work program. I don’t think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare.
- I’d like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.
- I’d like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters.
- I can’t understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet have no thought for the innocent victim.
He even had an answer for all of those people who make the claim that opposing socialism means opposing things like the post office and fire department:
I know all about that. In the late Twenties, when I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist myself—but not when I left. The average college kid idealistically wishes everybody could have ice cream and cake for every meal. But as he gets older and gives more thought to his and his fellow man’s responsibilities, he finds that it can’t work out that way—that some people just won’t carry their load.
He went on to talk about Communist activists using young people in college as pawns:
I know communism’s a horrible word to some people. They laugh and say, “He’ll be finding them under his bed tomorrow.” But perhaps that’s because their kid hasn’t been inculcated yet. Dr. Herbert Marcuse, the
political philosopher at the University of California at San Diego, who is quite obviously a Marxist, put it very succinctly when he said, “We will use the anarchists.”
He went on to complain about homosexuality, calling it perverted.
Oh, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy—that kind of thing. Wouldn’t you say that the wonderful love of those two men in Midnight Cowboy, a story about two fags, qualifies? But don’t get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman is concerned, I’m awfully happy there’s a thing called sex. It’s an extra something God gave us. I see no reason why it shouldn’t be in pictures. Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful.
He even talked about Blacks demanding equal positions, even though many remained uneducated.
With a lot of blacks, there’s quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.
It’s not my judgment. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically. But some blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they haven’t passed the tests and don’t have the requisite background.
That interview was largely forgotten about until it resurfaced during the Floyd protests in 2020, when Democrats demanded that the John Wayne Airport be renamed. Imagine that we are holding people who have been dead for more than 40 years accountable to today’s standards for something that they said half a century ago.
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