1963 the communist goals were entered into congressional record.
Executive summary
On January 10, 1963 Representative A. S. (Syd) Herlong, Jr. entered into the Congressional Record a list titled “Current Communist Goals,” saying it was submitted at the request of his constituent Patricia Nordman and identifying the list as an excerpt from W. Cleon Skousen’s book The Naked Communist; that entry appears in the Record’s Appendix on pages A34–A35 [1] [2] [3]. The list—commonly described as 45 goals—has since been widely reproduced online and cited in political commentary, though its presence in the Congressional Record was as an extension of remarks and not as a congressional finding or endorsement [2] [4] [5].
1. How the list reached the official record
The item appears as an “Extension of Remarks” by Representative Herlong on January 10, 1963, submitted under unanimous consent and printed in the Congressional Record Appendix as “Current Communist Goals,” with Herlong attributing the text to Mrs. Patricia Nordman and noting it as an excerpt from Skousen’s The Naked Communist [2] [1] [3]. The Library of Congress copy of the January 10, 1963 House section confirms Herlong’s entry in the day’s bound Congressional Record [4] [6].
2. What the document actually is—and is not
The printed Appendix entry reproduces text identified by Herlong as coming from a popular anti-communist source rather than from a committee report, congressional investigation, or authenticated Soviet policy paper; the original author credited is W. Cleon Skousen, a former FBI agent and anti-communist writer, whose chapter enumerated a set of “goals” he attributed to communist strategy [7] [2]. Multiple contemporary and later observers stress that reading material into the Record is a means of publicizing a viewpoint, not a formal endorsement by Congress, and that inclusion “under unanimous consent” does not transform a book excerpt into a verified government finding [5] [4].
3. The list’s composition and modern circulation
The items widely quoted as the “45 goals” track with a chapter in Skousen’s book and address cultural, educational, legal, and foreign-policy topics; the text has been reprinted in numerous repositories and fringe archives, and preserved in scanned Congressional Record PDFs and mirror sites that reproduce the Appendix pages A34–A35 [3] [8] [9]. Academic and policy-minded commentators note that popular circulation since 1963 often strips the passage of its provenance—Skousen’s authorship and the limited procedural context—and treats it as an authoritative Soviet manifesto, a leap that the documentary record does not support [5].
4. Competing interpretations and political uses
Since its appearance in the Record, the list has been used by anti-communist activists to argue that various social changes were deliberate communist strategies, while critics point out that many items reflect broad policy debates or conservative anxieties of the Cold War era rather than documented Soviet plans; organizations republishing the list frequently have ideological aims, which affects how the document is framed and weaponized politically [5] [7]. The Record entry itself makes clear who submitted the text and where it came from, but subsequent reproductions frequently omit that context, creating the impression of a congressional declaration rather than a constituent-supplied excerpt [1] [2].
5. What the historical record does—and does not—prove
Primary source evidence shows conclusively that the list was entered into the Congressional Record Appendix on January 10, 1963 at Herlong’s request and attributed to Skousen via Patricia Nordman [2] [1]. What the sources do not prove—nor do they claim to in the Record entry—is that Congress investigated, verified, or endorsed the list as an official statement of communist organization strategy; the textual provenance and later scholarly assessments caution against treating the Appendix entry as a documentary proof of a Kremlin-authored plan [4] [5].