USCF President John McCrary responds Re: USCF Plans to expunge the name "Bobby Fischer" from chess
My attempt to post to "FIDE" group again seems to have failed for some technical reason, so I am using this message as an alternate way, with the request that Sam pass it on. I agree with Frank Camaratta'a comments. There is nothing in the transcript that indicates any attempt to rewrite history. Transcripts lack the tones of voice and total context necessary to judge subtleties of meaning and intent accurately, so misinterpretations, especially of intent and of attitude, are easy to derive. Chess History needs to be correctly portrayed, and its great players should be remembered as great players. However, there is one great player whose place in history should be limited to his chess achievments, for his sake! I developed some of the exhibits at the Hall of Fame including ones recognizing the player in question, and I am certainly not recommending any changes to them. In fact, I have an artifact regarding that player, ( an item once owned by him) on permanent loan to the museum.
Regards, John McCrary
Fischer Expulsion: Doesn't the USCF Executive Board have anything better to do?
Dear John McCrary,
There are about 26,000 adult members of the USCF. Every last one of them has opinions you would find objectionable. Are there plans to rescind the memberships of all of them? Claude Bloodgood murdered his mother with an ax. Which is worse: stating one's opinion or murdering one's mother? Was Claude's USCF membership ever rescinded? There are tens of millions of people worldwide, including several million in this country, who agree with Fischer. It's easy to see why the USCF is falling apart, when the EB sits around debating stuff like this. I'm sure very few people confuse Fischer with the USCF. It is in no way incumbent upon the USCF to respond to Fischer's remarks. Do you really think Fischer cares one way or the other?
Best Regards, Mike Goodall
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