George Orwell wrote in 1984 that one of the totalitarian regime’s principles was stated in the slogan, “Whoever controls the present controls the past. Whoever controls the past controls the future.” A moment’s consideration will validate this axiom.

Leftists have a long, well-documented record of mutilating history and eradicating historical facts that do not conform, or that contradict, their ideology. The Soviet Union was particularly famous for this practice, carried to an even greater extreme under the rule of The Friend of All Humanity . . . Josef Stalin (be sure to see David King’s excellent The Commissar Vanishes; another, similar, one is Art Under Stalin by Matthew Cullerne Bown). This practice was, of course, also present in all the various communist countries, from North Korea to East Germany. National Socialism, another leftist ideology, also had this outlook. To all of them, the existence and purpose of history, science, sports, art, theater, films was/is to glorify and justify the regime, particularly the current dictator. The only difference was that, for ideological reasons, (since History was deified and personified as being judgmental), the communists paid particular attention to history. You may remember that in 1984, the protagonist works in the Ministry of Truth, where past newspaper stories and historical facts are systematically eradicated and altered.

But one did not, or rather I should say, does not, have to travel to those dictatorships in order to witness the leftists’ attack on historical facts, not when they can do it right here at the local university, or on one’s television set, or in the nearby movie theater. You will almost certainly have come across such instances, though in all probability you did not pay particular attention to them, since I have noticed they are often uttered in passing (somewhat like intellectual drive-by shootings) during a conversation (and also because few Americans have a good knowledge of history, since it’s “useless”). Here, then, briefly, are a handful of historical distortions:

Columbus Carried Out Genocide

Christopher Columbus was the European explorer who discovered America. Although there is archaeological evidence that the Vikings were actually the first, their discovery was a dead end in many ways. Regardless, Columbus made four voyages of exploration in the New World and established a few primitive settlements. At no time did he engage in genocide or initiate harsh treatment of the natives. True, when he was once bedridden, his men attacked the natives, but it is often forgotten that Columbus had no control over his men; they often did whatever they wanted; although he was the admiral, the other ships’ captains would go their separate way (discipline was nonexistent in those days). He has even been accused of taking back 1,500 Indian slaves to Spain; anyone who believes that a tiny caravel could accommodate 1,500 slaves, on top of the crew, has never stepped foot on a caravel. I have.

Blankets Infected by Smallpox Were Given to Indians by the U.S. Cavalry

You have all heard of this and it is a lie. The only such incident on record occured in the 1760s during the French and Indian war, when British General Jeffrey Amherst presented a vicious gift of such blankets to the Miami tribe of Ohio. Fortunately for them, the Miamis had been previously exposed to smallpox and were immune.

Incidentally, a corollary of this is the additional myth that Native Americans were harmless, essentially an early version of the hippies, “being at one with Nature,” prancing through the woods. In truth, they practiced slavery, engaged in warfare, and in a few instances were successful at genocide of weaker, tribes. In short, they were ordinary people.

America Lost the Vietnam War, the First War it Ever Lost

This is usually told by a liberal with a gleam in the eye, relishing the “fact” that America was defeated, since their hate for their country is bottomless. The fact of the matter was that Nixon had a plan for "Vietnamizing" the Vietnam War, by steadily removing American forces, instead of having Americans bleed for the sake of South Vietnam. But in 1975, North Vietnam attacked the South in a minor battle on the border and some South Vietnamese units collapsed like a house of cards. The Republic of Vietnam might still have been saved by quick use of U.S. airpower, but congressional leftists elected in the wake of Watergate acted to forbid use of any American forces whatsoever.

Incidentally, the North Vietnamese Army’s back had been broken earlier in their all-out Tet offensive in 1968; thereafter, the NVA’s attacks were minor by comparison. The communists in the American media then declared the Tet victory an American defeat. Which may be why when Col. Harry G.Summers remarked to Le Duc Tho that: "You know, we never lost a battle in the field," the icy North Vietnamese commissar replied, "That is true, and it is irrelevant." Both campaigns were aimed at demoralizing the home front---and were successful.

The Nazis Were Right Wing

Yes, they were monsters, but they were hardly conservative. The National Socialist Workers Party took its Socialism very, very seriously. Socialism was implemented throughout the Third Reich (make sure to read David Schoenbaum’s eye opening Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany 1933-1939). The Horst Wessel song, the anthem of the National Socialists, blasts both the communists and the reactionaries. James Pool’s Who Financed Hitler shows that, far from receiving financial aid by industrialists in order to combat the German communists, as the myth has been propagated for decades (you saw Cabaret, right?), the Party was perpetually on the brink of bankruptcy. It is also a well-known fact that the aristocracy had barely concealed contempt for the Nazis and the army was itching to be let loose on the Brown Shirts and clean their clocks.

Nelson Mandela Ended Apartheid and Everybody Lived Happily Ever After

No, he did not. Frederik Willem de Klerk, the president of South Africa, ended Apartheid. Forget what a drooling Michelle Obama may have said. Mandela was simply a jailbird at the time.

As for living happily ever after, South Africa became overwhelmed by a tsunami of crime and the subsequent black politicians have engaged in corruption. As in the rest of Africa.

The Spanish Civil War

The historical lies begin like this: Spain was emerging from the Dark Ages and embracing democracy, at which point the Catholic Church and the Spanish fascists decided to overthrow the republic. Fortunately, the valiant Spanish people foiled the coup d’état and a civil war ensued. At this point, the evil Nazis in Germany and the evil Fascists of Italy intervened in favor of Franco, but the weak-kneed democracies failed to support the Republic and only the Soviet Union was magnanimous in its support.

(Where to begin?) First, Spain (along with Italy and Russia) for decades had a very strong anarchist presence. The reason that the army revolted was because the deputies to the Spanish parliament (and lesser persons) who would criticize the socialists, communists, and anarchists were being dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night and shot (by the way, this is what some leftist professors have advocated should be done here in America) and the government refused to solve the situation or even investigate and arrest the culprits. Add to this the fact that churches were daily being invaded and looted by the anarchists and the communists and the priests hung inside the churches -- again with no recourse from the leftist government. Germany, Italy and Russia intervened for their own purposes, except that Russia began to gain more and more control of the government and began persecuting exterminating rival political parties (like the Trotskyites).

Richard Nixon

Everything bad that you have been told about Richard Nixon is bullshit. Everything. It would take too long here to dissect, point by point. Everything.

But in a nutshell, the reason for the relentless persecution of Nixon by leftists began in the late 1940s when he was closely involved in the investigation and prosecution of Alger Hiss, who had for years operated a widespread and effective Soviet spy network in the State Department. Nixon's intervention in favor of Whittaker Chambers, a former Soviet courier who had for nearly a decade attempted to expose Hiss, resulted in Hiss being imprisoned for perjury after he denied being a Soviet agent. It also infuriated the American left on all levels, who then bided their time until the opportunity arose to punish Nixon for his effrontery in opposing the progressive cause.

There are some parallels between the leftist media hatred of Richard Nixon and their hatred of Donald Trump.

The Haymarket Riots

It has been forgotten by many that in the late 1800s, many terrorists who were causing havoc in Europe emigrated to America and continued their destructive acts here. One of these resulted in the Haymarket bombing. The perpetrators were caught, tried, and convicted. However, leftist professors have declared ever since that the accused were found guilty on absolutely no evidence and were innocent victims and martyrs, just like Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

A student asked his non-leftist professor, T. Messer-Kruse, if there was, indeed, no evidence, then why did the trial take so long. The latter decided to take a close look at the trial and it turned out that there was an overabundance of evidence. So he went to Wikipedia and made a correction. And the correction was deleted. And he did so again and it was deleted again and he was informed that he would be excluded from contributing to Wikipedia. He fought it and the correction remained. He detailed both the trial and the Wikipedia censorship in The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists: Terrorism and Justice in the Gilded Age.

Cuba

This is a subject near and dear to my heart, and I could write fifty pages on the topic, beginning with the fact that the leftists in Hollywood have cranked out numerous propaganda films praising the totalitarian dictatorship like, Cuban Rebel Girls, Cuba, Havana, Creature from the Haunted Sea, The Godfather 2, The Motorcycle Diaries, Che, Che and still more Che.

In Havana, starring Robert Redford, Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista is portrayed as a blonde white man. In reality he was of mixed race, and in the U.S. would be recognized as Black.

Instead of the fifty pages, let me instead summarize communist Cuba thusly: starvation, persecution, executions, censorship, militarization, cult of personality, crumbling infrastructure, propaganda, exodus, mediocrity, psychotic leader, brainwashing schools, economic collapse.

Berkeley University was the Birth of the Free Speech Movement

Yeah, right. Apparently, the Bill of Rights did not go into effect until the 1960s. Even conservatives like Milo Yiannopolous have swallowed this tripe (along with some of the above as well).

In reality “the free speech movement” of the 1960s in Berkeley consisted exclusively in yelling obscene words and in welcoming communist speakers while simultaneously refusing anti-communist speakers to attend the college to lecture.

Slavery

This particular fake history is not stated outright, but it is implied. The concept is that slavery was practiced principally, or exclusively by whites. In reality, slavery has always been part of human history throughout the world, including by black Africans and Native Americans. But the emphasis of slavery is always on whites.

However, it is white Europeans, particularly the Anglo-Saxons, who led the crusade in the late 1800s to abolish slavery throughout the world. It has been as successful as wiping out polio. That is, polio still holds out in Afghanistan and Pakistan, thanks to the Taliban, and slavery is still very much practiced openly in many Muslim countries.

But if you want to rail against slavery, then rail against Islam. Islam condones it. It is practiced in many Muslim countries. And Mohammed was a slave owning pedophile. That is historical fact.

The Heroic Blacklisted Hollywood 10

Here I will simply write that you should do yourself a big favor and buy and read Allan H. Ryskind’s Hollywood Traitors. Don’t be afraid. You can do it. Buy and read the book.

In short, just a we see fake news being spread, there is such a thing as fake history. I could continue to give (better detailed) examples of historical mutilation carried out by leftists in colleges and Hollywood (which explains to a large degree why so many students end up worshiping totalitarianism and see nothing wrong with communism): Sacco and Vanzetti, the Spanish-American War, blacks ruling Egypt, the 1960s, and on and on and on. The all-important question, then, now becomes: why are you letting this happen?

Armando Simón is a retired college professor and is the author of A Cuban from Kansas, Very Peculiar Stories and The U.