Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson
Reality Check: Carson on Saul Alinsky, Lucifer and Clinton role model
By Julie Block, CNN
Carson claimed that one of Clinton's "mentors was Saul Alinsky ... someone that she greatly admired and that affected all of her philosophies subsequently." He also said Clinton wrote her college thesis on Alinsky's writings, and that the dedication page for Alinsky's book, entitled, "Rules for Radicals," acknowledges Lucifer.
Alinksy was a community activist, regarded as a radical in the mid-20th century for his teachings about people's empowerment.
Clinton did write her college thesis on Alinsky's life, writings and political views, though much of her thesis was analytical. The conclusion of the thesis reads: "In the first chapter it was pointed out that Alinsky is regarded by many as the proponent of a dangerous socio/political philosophy. As such, he has been feared -- just as Eugene Debs or Walt Whitman or Martin Luther King has been feared, because each embraced the most radical of political faiths -- democracy." This comparison to Debs, Whitman and King, along with Clinton's continued exchange of letters with Alinsky well into her law school years, suggests that Clinton had a deep respect for Alinsky.
Indeed, Alinsky personally acknowledged Lucifer in his book, published in 1971. He wrote, "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom."
Additionally, a Washington Post piece written in 2007 suggests Alinsky had great influence over Clinton's political ideology, causing her to switch from a Republican to a Democrat. The article reads, "Arriving at Wellesley, she became president of the Young Republicans, but she soon drifted left. She said that 1968, the year she met Alinsky in Chicago, was a watershed in her 'personal and political evolution,' marked by the escalation of the Vietnam War and the killings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy." The paper also noted, however, that Clinton wrote in her 2003 memoir, "Living History," that Clinton and Alinsky had a "fundamental disagreement" about how to change the system. Because of this, it is a stretch for Carson to say that Alinsky affected "all of her philosophies subsequently."
Verdict: Mostly true.