William Mandel

William "Bill" Mandel, born June 4, 1917 in New York City, is a broadcast journalist, political activist, and author of many books, including "Soviet Marxism and Social Science," "Soviet Women," "Soviet But Not Russian," and his autobiography, "Saying No To Power".

Considered a leading Sovietologist during the 1940s and 1950s, Mandel was a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, but lost his position there due to the political pressures of the so called "McCarthy era". He is perhaps best known for standing up to Senator Joseph McCarthy during a televised [Victor Navasky, "Naming Names" (New York: Viking, 1980), 118.] 1953 Senate committee hearing in which Mandel pointedly told the senator, "This is a book-burning! You lack only the tinder to set fire to the books as Hitler did twenty years ago, and I am going to get that across to the American people!" [ [http://www.billmandel.net/h/mcc.shtml Quote taken from Billmandel.net] ]

In 1959, Mandel was again subpoenaed, this time by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Newsreel cameras recorded his passionate response to the question posed by Lead Counsel Richard Arens, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?":

Honorable beaters of children, sadists, uniformed and in plain clothes, distinguished Dixiecrat wearing the clothing of a gentleman, eminent Republican who opposes an accommodation with the one country with which we must live at peace in order for us and all our children to survive. My boy of fifteen left this room a few minutes ago in sound health and not jailed, solely because I asked him to be in here to learn something about the procedures of the United States government and one of its committees. Had he been outside where a son of a friend of mine had his head split by these goons operating under your orders, my boy today might have paid the penalty of permanent injury or a police record for desiring to come here and hear how this committee operates. If you think that I am going to cooperate with this collection of Judases, of men who sit there in violation of the United States Constitution, if you think I will cooperate with you in any way, you are insane!" [U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities, "The Northern California District of the Communist Party: Structure, Objectives, Leadership" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960), 2066.]

Mandel "spent the remainder of his testimony respectfully telling his inquisitors to go to hell." [Matthew Lasar, "Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network" (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999), 186.] William F. Buckley later characterized Mandel's testimony as "a histrionic speech." [William F. Buckley, "The Committee and Its Critics: A Calm Review of the House Un-American Activities Committee" (New York: Putnam, 1962), 198.]

Recordings of the hearing were aired repeatedly on KPFA and "literally represented the final hours of the 1950s" for young people who had come of age in the McCarthy era. [Lasar, 187.]

Mandel began his career as a broadcaster in 1958, with an hour-long weekly program on Pacifica Radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California. Originally called "Soviet Press and Periodicals", the program stayed on the air under various names until 1995, when it was abruptly cancelled due to internal conflicts at the station. Mandel appears in the documentary film "KPFA On the Air" (Independent Television Service, 2000). Subsequently, Mandel hosted a weekly show on Free Radio Berkeley. [Robert Selna, "No Longer on the Left of Your Dial: Bill Mandel. Berkeley Radio Legend Still Fighting for Free Speech." "San Francisco Examiner" (26 July 1998): D-1. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1998/07/26/METRO7614.dtl&hw=bill+mandel&sn=001&sc=1000] ]

In his book, "In Battle for Peace," the noted Black American scholar and activist Dr. W.E.B. DuBois referred to William Mandel's "defense" of him when DuBois was "under federal indictment for heading the circulation of a peace petition". [Bill Mandel, "Saying No To Power" (Berkeley: Creative Arts, 1999), 204-205.]

Mandel is also known for his support of the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley, California, in the early 1960s. He continues to write and do limited radio broadcasts. (see also the March 24, 2004, San Francisco Bay Guardian article entitled "We Will Not Obey").

The introduction to Mandel's autobiography, "Saying No To Power," was written by the noted historian and author Howard Zinn. The book received critical acclaim from notables, including author and senior editor of "The Black Scholar," Robert L. Allen; renowned musician and activist Pete Seeger; and the internationally respected poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

The Hoover Institution Archives and the Bancroft Library at the University of California both have collections of Mandel's papers.

References

External links

* [http://www.kpfahistory.info/conv/conv014_mandel.mp3 William Mandel talks to John Whiting about his life and work] , included in [http://www.kpfahistory.info/ KPFA: A Historical Footnote (Seventy five hours of programs and interviews from the 1960s)]