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The Home Front

By Bradley R. Smith ∙ July 1, 1996

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Sixty-six years old and never been kissed.

Sixty-six years old and never been kissed.

Summer is here and the nectarine tree, the peach tree, the orange tree, the apple tree and the two little plum trees are all scarggly messes but they’re all producing wildly too and their fruit is good. Magaly is home from San Diego State for the summer and has a temp job at the local mall selling cosmetics. Paloma has been to cheerleader “camp” for ten-year olds and when she’s not practicing she’s a Nickelodeon TV fanatic. Irene is in remission after her ten-month cancer wrestling match and the prognosis is good. I was in the backyard this afternoon when she came out with a hand mirror grinning from ear to ear and saying: “Look, Gordo, one of my eyebrows is growing in.” Good news is good news.

For my part, all is well. I'm carrying a huge accumulation of debt ($22,000) but it looks like I can do it. I feel good, I have a lot of energy and a little ambition, a good combination. I like my work, it’s no work at all, and every morning I look forward to the day. What the hell, eh?

  • Bradley R. Smith

    Bradley R. Smith was born in Los Angeles on February 18, 1930. At 18 he joined the army and in 1951 served with the infantry in Korea where he was twice wounded. After three decades of a variety of professional activities, it suddenly hit him: In 1979 he read a leaflet by Professor Robert Faurisson, "The Problem of the Gas Chambers." Then, Arthur Butz’s The Hoax of the Twentieth Century did it for him. He understood from the beginning that he would address the censorship, the suppression of independent thought, the taboo against publishing and debating revisionist arguments—not the arguments themselves. That has remained his position. In 1989, Smith founded Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust (CODOH) dedicated to defending free speech and free inquiry into the Holocaust question. He handed over CODOH's helm in late 2014. He passed away on his 86th birthday, February 18, 2016. Read a series of obituaries here.

Bibliographic information about this document: Smith's Report, no. 34, July 1996, p. 7
Other contributors to this document: n/a
Editor’s comments: n/a

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