An American legend has passed on:

Terkel's politics were liberal, vintage FDR. He would never forget the many New Deal programs from the Great Depression and worried that the country suffered from "a national Alzheimer's disease" that made government the perceived enemy.

He was looking forward to an Obama landslide, but he knew that progressives would need to hold his feet to the fire.

So you know what? Obama can't be a moderate! He's got to remember where he comes from! Obama, he has got to be pushed!

I'm still struggling with whether I can help him with that first objective, but he can count on me for the second.

"I'm very excited by the idea of a black guy in the White House, that's very exciting," Studs said as [he] said goodbye. "I just wish he was more progressive!"

I'm not sure anyone ever said that about Mr. Terkel.

A man comes from New York. He says, "These petitions, your name is on all of them: anti-poll tax, anti-lynching, friendship with the Soviet Union.... don't you know the communists were behind them?" And he said, "Look, you can get out of this pretty easy. All you got to do is say the communists duped you. You were dumb. You didn't mean it." I said, "But I did mean it!" To this day people say, "Oh, Studs, you were so heroic." Heroic? I was scared shitless! But my ego was at stake. My vanity. "Whaddya mean, I'm dumb?"