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Howard Zinn: My Courageous Friend
What can I say about my friend Howard Zinn? I met Howard at Boston University, where I attended his classes in the mid-1970s.
To this day, I can quote chapter and verse from his lectures. The man could be spellbinding in a gentle, whimsical way.
One lecture stands out because it says so much about Howard. It was the last lecture of the semester, and he said, "Enough of me; let's turn it over to you. Let's talk about whatever you want to talk about." His lecture attracted 500-plus students, so I was quick to hold up my hand.
I liked to challenge Howard, so I gave it my best shot: "Howard, we just finished an entire semester on American politics, but we've never talked about compromise, and compromise is fundamental to the American system. Could you talk about the fine art of compromise and tenure?"
With his Buddha-like manner, he nodded and said: "So, you want to know what I compromised for tenure? Is that the question?" Essentially, that was the question.
"Well, I have a funny story about that. When I was nominated for tenure in the mid-1960s, the rules at BU were pretty simple. If the political science department voted to extend tenure, the rest of the bureaucracy would rubber-stamp it."
The department finally voted, and it was tied. A second vote gave Howard a one-vote majority, so he was now on the fast track for tenure. And said tenure would be confirmed at the annual Founders Day banquet. But that event was still months away.
Around the same time, a few students asked him to speak at an anti-Vietnam War rally at Copley Plaza in downtown Boston. Howard immediately said yes but didn't ask for any details.
Make no mistake, the Vietnam War enjoyed wide public support in the mid-1960s, and dissenters were considered traitors, communists or both. This didn't deter Howard for a second.
He finally realized the anti-war protest was focused on Dean Rusk, President Lyndon Johnson's secretary of state. And why was Rusk in Boston? To speak at BU's annual Founders Day banquet.
Howard picks it up from there: "Well, I slowly figured out my academic future was in serious jeopardy." Speech day/tenure day finally came, and Howard arrived at Copley Plaza and asked who else was speaking. "Well, we've had a lot of cancellations, Howard, so you're it ... can you stretch your talk to 45 minutes or longer?"
At that point, Howard knew his goose was cooked, so, in his words, he decided to go all out. "I was in great form that day. I denounced the war, I denounced the secretary of state, the president. ... I even denounced the founders."
The creme de la creme of polite Boston society, the BU trustees, turned up in black tie to discover one of their own at a microphone loudly denouncing anything and everything.
Howard went back to campus and began to think about his next teaching assignment - in another state or another country.
A few days later, a certified letter arrived from the Board of Trustees. It read something like: "Dear Dr. Zinn: Congratulations, the board has extended tenure" - on the morning of the annual Founders Day event.
To me, this was vintage Howard Zinn: honest, courageous and right on target.
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17 Comments so far
Show AllZinn shined his light into the deceitful darkness,
a liar’s pretense of good hiding misery being darkness,
and such was his brightness that he gave the darkness no choice,
it had to give way.
“If you don’t know history, its like you were born yesterday.”
Howard Zinn
Cool...
Howard Zinn always "put it all out there." He dared shine a light under the rocks of American history and expose the Great Men having no clothes. He dared give voice to the underclasses, to the poor, to the unions, and the activists, and yes radicals.
His was a courageous voice, even at 87, cut off too soon.
Gary
"We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had -- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it, all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism."
-- Howard Zinn, "Patriotism & The Fourth of July"
This is a great story. Thank you.
If Howard Zinn had had access to the Internet 50 years ago, he would have never been popular. You're a great man Zinn. Some people will bash Obama all day everyday while people like you and me will do something about it. The truth is marching on.
That's damn right on!
AD
Interesting story -- but . . .
Would Howard Zinn gain tenure from the BU of today?
A more corporate BU?
.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Fusion
The Trustees approved him...that's interesting...any more about that, Mr H?
John Ellis, 4:18, quoting Zinn, "If you don't know history, it's like you were born yesterday." That's why so many corporatists and their sympathizers keep busy rewriting history (ala 1984) and nihilating events and people down the memory hole (ala the Soviet Union). The most recent example is their treatment of Howard himself.
I was lucky enough to see and hear Howard Zinn at a huge anti-Viet Nam War rally at Cornell. This was the same rally at which Daniel Berrigan (a fugitive from justice at the time, for burning draft records) spoke briefly on stage, and then (as chronicled in The People's History...) escaped by hiding inside one of The Bread and Puppet Theater's huge puppets.
I only remember one thing Howard said that night. He said that we sociologists (he called himself a sociologist) have a term for a man like Johnson. "He's a fuckin' liar."
History is coming at us in a tunnel of deceit because we failed to listen more deeply to Dr Zinn et al, and heed their predictions and requests.
i was raised behind iron curtain, so for me zinn's people history read like my school text book
edweg
No, if Dr Zinn had had access to the net 50 years ago he would have been president.
People would have listened to truth back then, now they watch the Grammys.
Two Russian historians are shoulder to shoulder drinking vodka by the pail. Finally one says to the other: "The problem is this: From day to day it is impossible to predict the past."
Howard Zinn took an active role in the underground railroad keeping Dan Berrigan out of a government steel cage. He admitted that case in my favorite Zinn essay: "Accept Your Punishment!"
Your post reminded me of Tom Paxton and his song, "Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation:"
I got a letter from L. B. J.
It said this is your lucky day.
It's time to put your khaki trousers on.
Though it may seem very queer
We've got no jobs to give you here
So we are sending you to Viet Nam
[Cho:]
Lyndon Johnson told the nation,
"Have no fear of escalation.
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn't really war,
We're sending fifty thousand more,
To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese."
I jumped off the old troop ship,
And sank in mud up to my hips.
I cussed until the captain called me down.
Never mind how hard it's raining,
Think of all the ground we're gaining,
Just don't take one step outside of town.
[Cho:]
Every night the local gentry,
Sneak out past the sleeping sentry.
They go to join the old VC.
In their nightly little dramas,
They put on their black pajamas,
And come lobbing mortar shells at me.
[Cho:]
We go round in helicopters,
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers,
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain.
They left a note that they had gone.
They had to get down to Saigon,
Their government positions to maintain.
[Cho:]
Well here I sit in this rice paddy,
Wondering about Big Daddy,
And I know that Lyndon loves me so.
Yet how sadly I remember,
Way back yonder in November,
When he said I'd never have to go.
I was forwarded this link by my friends at ZinnEducationProject.org. They asked me to answer one of your questions.
Between the Chronicle piece and this reprint, one key word was not italicized-- MORNING-- so it was easy to miss.
So, put another way, Howard's tenure was approved in the MORNING and then the trustees went to the Founders Day banquet. Had it been the other way around, his tenure would have vaporized.
I ask you, how many of us would put a life-long job on the line for one speech? How many of would have feined a cold or created a 'family emergency' to dodge this predicament?
Not Howard. To my knowledge, he never pulled a punch; never backed down. His courage and integrity were second to none.
Would Howard get tenure today? Doubtful!
I urge you to visit our site: ZinnEducationProject.org.
It's LOADED with teaching material that helps teachers demonstrate some of Howard's fundamental points. The material is interactive and PURE ZINN.
You can also listen to our "Ask Howard" session where teachers called in and had a dialogue with Howard. We did this one week before he died...it might have been his last 'public' event.
I have to tell you...losing Howard is a huge blow...and the tears keep on coming...BUT...you know what Howard would say-- "don't mourn, organize"
Sincerely,
William Holtzman
Thank you for sharing this poignant story, the links, and the clarification!