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| Zinn Mythology |
which included his best-selling and influential [Communist Propaganda Revisionist
Socialism
"Let's talk about socialism. I think it's very important to bring back the idea of socialism into the national discussion to where it was at the turn of the [last] century before the Soviet Union gave it a bad name. Socialism had a good name in this country. Socialism had Eugene Debs. It had Clarence Darrow. It had Mother Jones. It had Emma Goldman. It had several million people reading socialist newspapers around the country. Socialism basically said, hey, let's have a kinder, gentler society. Let's share things. Let's have an economic system that produces things not because they're profitable for some corporation, but produces things that people need. People should not be retreating from the word socialism because you have to go beyond capitalism."[52]
Awards Zinn Received
Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award (1996)
Zinn was awarded the
Prix des Amis du Monde diplomatique[61] (2003) for the French version of his seminal work,
Une histoire populaire des Etats-Unis.Zinn received the Haven's Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship in
Madison,
Wisconsin.
[62] (2006)In 2008 Howard Zinn was selected as a special senior advisor to Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, the President of the United Nations General Assembly 63rd session
World War II
On a post-doctoral research mission nine years after those bombing missions, Zinn visited the seaside resort near
Bordeaux in southwest France where he interviewed residents, reviewed municipal documents and read wartime newspaper clippings at the local library. In 1966, Zinn returned to Royan after which he gave his fullest account of that research in his book,
The Politics of History. On the ground, Zinn learned that the aerial bombing attacks—in which he participated—had killed more than 1000 French civilians as well as some German soldiers hiding near Royan to await the war's end, events that are described "in all accounts" he found as
"une tragique erreur" that leveled a small but ancient city and
"its population that was, at least officially, friend, not foe." In two books,
The Politics of History and
The Zinn Reader, Zinn described how the bombing was ordered—three weeks before the war in Europe ended—by military officials who were, in part, motivated more by the desire for career advancement than legitimate military objectives. He quotes the official history of the U.S. Army Air Forces' brief reference to the
Eighth Air Force attack on Royan and also, in the same chapter, to the bombing of
Pilsen in what was then
Czechoslovakia. The official history stated, that the famous
Skoda works in Pilsen "received 500 well-placed tons, and that "Because of a warning sent out ahead of time the workers were able to escape, except for five persons."
Zinn wrote, "I recalled flying on that mission, too, as deputy lead bombardier, and that we did not aim specifically at the "skoda works" (which I would have noted, because it was the one target in Czechoslovakia I had read about) but dropped our bombs, without much precision, on the city of Pilsen. Two Czech citizens who lived in Pilsen at the time told me, recently, that several hundred people were killed in that raid (that is, Czechs)--not five."
[10]Zinn said his experience as a wartime bombardier, combined with his research into the reasons for, and effects of the bombing of Royan and Pilsen, sensitized him to the ethical dilemmas faced by
G.I.s during wartime.
[11] Zinn questioned the justifications for military operations that inflicted massive civilian casualties during the
Allied bombing of cities such as
Dresden, Royan,
Tokyo, and
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
World War II,
Hanoi during the U.S.
War in Vietnam, and
Baghdad during the U.S. war in
Iraq and the civilian casualties during bombings in
Afghanistan during the U.S.'s current and nearly decade old war there. In his pamphlet,
Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence[12] written in 1995, he laid out the case against targeting civilians with aerial bombing.
Six years later, he wrote: "Recall that in the midst of the
Gulf War, the U.S. military bombed an
air raid shelter, killing 400 to 500 men, women, and children who were huddled to escape bombs. The claim was that it was a military target, housing a communications center, but reporters going through the ruins immediately afterward said there was no sign of anything like that. I suggest that the history of bombing—and no one has bombed more than this nation—is a history of endless
atrocities, all calmly explained by deceptive and deadly language like "accident," "military target," and "
collateral damage".
[13]Education
While at Columbia, his professors included
Harry Carman,
Henry Steele Commager, and
David Donald.
[14] But it was Columbia historian
Richard Hofstadter's
The American Political Tradition that made the most lasting impression. Zinn regularly included it in his lists of recommended readings, and after
Barack Obama was elected
President of the United States, Zinn wrote, "If Richard Hofstadter were adding to his book
The American Political Tradition, in which he found both "
conservative" and "
liberal" presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, maintaining for dear life the two critical characteristics of the American system,
nationalism and
capitalism, Obama would fit the pattern."
[16]Academic career
Fresh from writing two books about his research, observations, and participation in the Civil Rights movement in the South, Zinn accepted a position at
Boston University in 1964. His classes in
civil liberties were among the most popular at the university with as many as 400 students subscribing each semester to the non-required class. A Professor of
Political Science, he taught at BU for 24 years and retired in 1988.
"He had a deep sense of fairness and justice for the underdog. But he always kept his sense of humor. He was a happy warrior," said Caryl Rivers,
journalism professor at Boston University. Rivers and Zinn were among a group of faculty members who in 1979 defended the right of the school's clerical workers to strike and were threatened with dismissal after refusing to cross a picket line.
[18]In the years since the first edition of
A People's History was published in 1980, it has been used as an alternative to standard textbooks in many high school and college history courses, and it is one of the most widely known examples of
critical pedagogy. According to the
New York Times Book Review it "routinely sells more than 100,000 copies a year".
[20]The People Speak, scheduled for release on DVD in February 2010, is a documentary movie inspired by the lives of ordinary people who fought back against oppressive conditions over the course of the history of the United States. The film includes performances by Zinn,
Matt Damon,
Morgan Freeman,
Bob Dylan,
Bruce Springsteen,
Eddie Vedder,
Viggo Mortensen,
Josh Brolin,
Danny Glover,
Marisa Tomei,
Don Cheadle, and
Sandra Oh.
[21][22][23]
Civil Rights movement
Although Zinn was a tenured professor, he was dismissed in June 1963, after siding with students in the struggle against segregation. As Zinn described
[28] in
The Nation, though Spelman administrators prided themselves for turning out refined "young ladies, its students were likely to be found on the picket line, or in jail for participating in the greater effort to break down segregation in public places in Atlanta. Zinn's years at Spelman are recounted in his autobiography
You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times.His seven years at Spelman College, Zinn said, "are probably the most interesting, exciting, most educational years for me. I learned more from my students than my students learned from me."
[29]Zinn wrote about the struggle for civil rights, both as participant and historian
[32] His second book,
The Southern Mystique[33] was published in 1964, the same year as his
SNCC: The New Abolitionists in which he describes how the sit-ins against segregation were initiated by students and, in that sense, were independent of the efforts of the older, more established civil rights organizations.
In 2005, forty-one years after his firing, Zinn returned to Spelman where he was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and gave the commencement address
[34][35] where he said in part, during his speech titled, "Against Discouragement," that "The lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."
[36]Anti-war efforts
Zinn wrote one of the earliest books calling for the U.S. withdrawal from its war in
Vietnam.
Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal was published by Beacon Press in 1967 based on his articles in
Commonwealth,
The Nation, and
Ramparts.In
Noam Chomsky's view,
The Logic of Withdrawal, was Zinn's most important book. "He was the first person to say—loudly, publicly, very persuasively—that this simply has to stop; we should get out, period, no conditions; we have no right to be there; it's an act of aggression; pull out. That was so surprising at the time—it became more commonplace later—that he couldn't even—there wasn't even a review of the book. In fact, he asked me if I would review it in
Ramparts just so that people would know about the book."
[37]In December 1969, radical historians tried unsuccessfully to persuade the
American Historical Association to pass an anti-Vietnam War resolution. "A debacle unfolded as
Harvardhistorian (and AHA president in 1968)
John Fairbank literally wrestled the microphone from Zinn's hands."
[38] Correspondence by Fairbank, Zinn and other historians, published by the AHA in 1970, is online in what Fairbank called "our briefly-famous Struggle for the Mike".
[39]In later years, Zinn was an adviser to the Disarm Education Fund.
[40]Vietnam
Zinn's diplomatic visit to Hanoi with Rev.
Daniel Berrigan, during the Tet Offensive in January 1968, resulted in the return of three American airmen, the first American
POWs released by the North Vietnamese since the U.S. bombing of that nation had begun. The event was widely reported in the news media and discussed in a variety of books including
Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam 1963–1975 by Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan.
[41] Zinn and the Berrigan brothers, Dan and
Philip, remained friends and allies over the years.
Daniel Ellsberg, a former
RAND consultant who had secretly copied
The Pentagon Papers, which described the internal planning and policy decisions of the United States government during the Vietnam War, gave a copy of them to Howard and Roslyn Zinn.
[42] Along with
Noam Chomsky, Zinn edited and annotated the copy of
The Pentagon Papers that Ellsberg entrusted to him. Zinn's longtime publisher, Beacon Press, published what has come to be known as the Senator
Mike Gravel edition of
The Pentagon Papers, four volumes plus a fifth volume with analysis by Chomsky and Zinn.
At Ellsberg's criminal trial for theft, conspiracy, and espionage in connection with the publication of the
Pentagon Papers by
The New York Times, defense attorneys called Zinn as an expert witness to explain to the jury the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam from World War II to 1963. Zinn discussed that history for several hours, later reflecting on his time before the jury. "I explained there was nothing in the papers of military significance that could be used to harm the defense of the United States, that the information in them was simply embarrassing to our government because what was revealed, in the government's own interoffice memos, was how it had lied to the American public. The secrets disclosed in the Pentagon Papers might embarrass politicians, might hurt the profits of corporations wanting tin, rubber, oil, in far-off places. But this was not the same as hurting the nation, the people," Zinn wrote in his autobiography. Most of the jurors later said that they voted for acquittal. [p. 161] However, the federal judge dismissed the case on the ground that it had been tainted by the
Nixon administration's
burglary of the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist.
Zinn's testimony as to the motivation for government secrecy was confirmed in 1989 by
Erwin Griswold, who as U.S. solicitor general during the Nixon administration, prosecuted
The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971.
[43] Griswold persuaded three Supreme Court justices to vote to stop
The New York Times from continuing to publish the Pentagon Papers, an order known as "prior restraint" that has been held to be illegal under the
First Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution. The papers were simultaneously published in
The Washington Post, effectively nulling the effect of the prior restraint order. In 1989, Griswold admitted that there was no national security damage resulting from the publication of the papers.
[43] In a column in the
Washington Post, Griswold wrote: "It quickly becomes apparent to any person who has considerable experience with classified material that there is massive over classification and that the principal concern of the classifiers is not with national security, but with governmental embarrassment of one sort or another."
Zinn supported the G.I. antiwar movement during the U.S. war in Vietnam. In the 2001 film
Unfinished Symphony, Zinn provides a historical context for the 1971 antiwar march by
Vietnam Veterans against the War. The marchers traveled from
Lexington,
Massachusetts, to
Bunker Hill, "which retraced
Paul Revere's ride of 1775 and ended in the massive arrest of 410 veterans and civilians by the Lexington police." The film depicts "scenes from the 1971 Winter Soldier hearings,
[44] during which former G.I.s testified about atrocities" they either participated in or witnessed in Vietnam.
[45]
Iraq
Zinn opposed the invasion and "
occupation" of Iraq,
[A military presence defending against terrorism & ensuring legitimate elections is not an "Occupation"] and wrote several books about it. He asserted that the U.S. would end its war with, and "
occupation" of, Iraq when resistance within the military increased, in the same way resistance within the military contributed to ending the U.S. war in Vietnam
Which by 2005 lead to [7.5 Million Dead].
He compared the demand by a growing number of contemporary U.S. military families to end the war in Iraq to the parallel "in the Confederacy in the Civil War, when the wives of soldiers rioted because their husbands were dying and the plantation owners were profiting from the sale of cotton, refusing to grow grains for civilians to eat."
[46] Zinn argued that "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable."
[47] [Of course the North Vietnamese admitted that the reported US atrocities were propaganda]Jean-Christophe Agnew, Professor of History and American Studies at
Yale University, told the
Yale Daily News in May 2007 that Zinn’s historical work is "highly influential and widely used".
[48] He observed that it is not unusual for prominent professors such as Zinn to weigh in on current events, citing a resolution opposing the war in Iraq that was recently ratified by the
American Historical Association.
[49] Agnew added, “In these moments of crisis, when the country is split — so historians are split.”
[50]
FBI files
Due to the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the FBI released on July 30, 2010 a file with 423 pages of information on Howard Zinn's life and activities. The FBI first opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (
FBI File # 100-360217) in
1949, based on Zinn’s activities in communist
front groups and informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the
Communist Party of the United States (
CPUSA).
Zinn has denied ever being a member. In the 1960s, the agency kept tabs on Zinn's efforts campaigning for the victory of
North Vietnam against the South Vietnamese and U.S. forces during the
Vietnam War.
[53] Which by 2005 lead to [7.5 Million Dead]
Death
In one of his last interviews[56] he said he'd like to be remembered "for introducing a different way of thinking about the world, about war, about human rights, about equality," and "for getting more people to realize that the power which rests so far in the hands of people with wealth and guns, that the power ultimately rests in people themselves and that they can use it. At certain points in history, they have used it. Black people in the South used it. People in the women's movement used it. People in the anti-war movement used it. People in other countries who have overthrown tyrannies have used it." He said he wanted to be known as "somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn't have before."[57] Zinn is survived by his daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn, son Jeff Zinn and five grandchildren.
[58]"
Author
- Artists in Times of War (2003) ISBN 1-58322-602-8.
- The Cold War & the University: Toward an Intellectual History of the Postwar Years (Noam Chomsky (Editor) Authors: Ira Katznelson, R. C. Lewontin, David Montgomery, Laura Nader, Richard Ohmann,[63] Ray Siever, Immanuel Wallerstein, Howard Zinn (1997) ISBN 1-56584-005-4.
- Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1991) ISBN 0-06-092108-0.[64]
- Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order (1968, re-issued 2002) ISBN 0-89608-675-5.
- Emma: A Play in Two Acts About Emma Goldman, American Anarchist (2002) ISBN 0-89608-664-X.
- Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian (1993) ISBN 0-89608-676-3.
- The Future of History: Interviews With David Barsamian (1999) ISBN 1-56751-157-0.
- Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence (pamphlet, 1995) ISBN 1-884519-14-8.
- Howard Zinn On Democratic Education Donaldo Macedo, Editor (2004) ISBN 1-59451-054-7.
- Howard Zinn on History (2000) ISBN 1-58322-048-8.
- Howard Zinn on War (2000) ISBN 1-58322-049-6.
- You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times (1994) ISBN 0-8070-7127-7
- Justice in Everyday Life: The Way It Really Works (Editor) (1974) ISBN 0-89608-677-1.
- Justice? Eyewitness Accounts (1977) ISBN 0-8070-4479-2.
- La Otra Historia De Los Estados Unidos (2000) ISBN 1-58322-054-2.
- LaGuardia in Congress (1959) ISBN 0-8371-6434-6, ISBN 0-393-00488-0.
- Marx in Soho: A Play on History (1999) ISBN 0-89608-593-7.
- New Deal Thought (editor) (1965) ISBN 0-87220-685-8.
- Original Zinn: Conversations on History and Politics (2006) Howard Zinn and David Barsamian.
- Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice (2003) ISBN 0-06-055767-2.
- The Pentagon Papers Senator Gravel Edition. Vol. Five. Critical Essays. Boston. Beacon Press, 1972. 341p. plus 72p. of Index to Vol. I-IV of the Papers, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, editors.
- A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom by David Williams, Howard Zinn (Series Editor) (2005) ISBN 1-59558-018-2.
- A People's History of the United States: 1492 – Present (1980), revised (1995)(1998)(1999)(2003) ISBN 0-06-052837-0.
- A People's History of the United States: Teaching Edition Abridged (2003 updated) ISBN 1-56584-826-8.
- A People's History of the United States: The Civil War to the Present Kathy Emery and Ellen Reeves, Howard Zinn (2003 teaching edition) ISBN 1-56584-725-3.
- A People's History of the United States: The Wall Charts by Howard Zinn and George Kirschner (1995) ISBN 1-56584-171-9.
- A People's History of American Empire (2008) by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki and Paul Buhle. ISBN 978-0-8050-8744-4.
- The People Speak: American Voices, Some Famous, Some Little Known (2004) ISBN 0-06-057826-2.
- Playbook by Maxine Klein, Lydia Sargent and Howard Zinn (1986) ISBN 0-89608-309-8.
- The Politics of History (1970) (2nd edition 1990) ISBN 0-252-06122-5.
- Postwar America: 1945–1971 (1973) ISBN 0-89608-678-X.
- A Power Governments Cannot Suppress (2006) ISBN 978-0-87286-475-7.
- The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace Editor (2002) ISBN 0-8070-1407-9.
- SNCC: The New Abolitionists (1964) ISBN 0-89608-679-8.
- The Southern Mystique (1962) ISBN 0-89608-680-1.
- Terrorism and War (2002) ISBN 1-58322-493-9 (interviews, Anthony Arnove (Ed.)).
- The Twentieth Century: A People's History (2003) ISBN 0-06-053034-0.
- Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century (Dana Frank, Robin Kelley, and Howard Zinn) (2002) ISBN 0-8070-5013-X.
- Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal (1967) ISBN 0-89608-681-X.
- Voices of a People’s History of the United States (with Anthony Arnove, 2004) ISBN 1-58322-647-8; 2nd edition (2009) ISBN 978-1-58322-916-3.
- A Young People's History of the United States, adapted from the original text by Rebecca Stefoff; illustrated and updated through 2006, with new introduction and afterword by Howard Zinn; two volumes, Seven Stories Press, New York, 2007.
- The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy (1997) ISBN 1-888363-54-1; 2nd edition (2009) ISBN 978-1-58322-870-8.
- The Bomb (City Lights Publishers, 2010) ISBN 978-0-87286-509-9
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AIM: Accuracy In Media; Leftist "Historian" Zinn Lied About Red Ties by Cliff Kincaid
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