&#62; Neither Truman nor FDR were intellectuals.<p>The point was that leaders are responsible, not that those specific leaders were intellectuals.<p>It's interesting that you defend intellectuals against the charges of mass murder by using your definition of intellectual, but don't mention that the folks in question, while not intellectuals according to your definition, got their ideas and justifications from folks who do satisfy your definition of intellectuals.  And, that went both ways - they were also supported and praised by intellectuals.<p>The whole point of being an intellectual is that words have consequences.<p>I'm not saying that a leadership's intellectual advisors and supporters are as responsible for the purges as the leadership, but it's absurd to claim that they had no responsibility.  That claim is especially absurd coming from someone who tried to argue that the leadership was far less responsible than the folks who carried out their bidding.