Carl Oglesby
b. : 30 July 1935
d. : 13 September 2011
Carl Oglesby was a powerful speaker for the Left Wing, and was president of the Students for a Democratic Society (better known as "SDS") 1965-1966.
SDS was a high-profile student political force when I was a freshman at Penn State (1968). That year, students took over the Dean's office at PSU, and occupied it for several days. I'm sure SDS was a major player in the protest.
Alas, my main aim my freshman year was to get as drunk as I could, and as often as I could; and it's hard to protest when you're passed out on the floor. To boot, my political leanings were decidedly right-wing. By the time my politics changed leftward (1971), SDS was kaput, Oglesbly had been kicked out, and I had transferred to ASU.
So this is more of a requiem for SDS, using Carl Oglesby's passing to put a face on them. They did influence my life, but not until my junior year.
We'll leave you with a quote from him. There were quite a few to choose from, given his mastery of speech-giving.
"It isn't the rebels who cause the troubles of the world, it's the troubles that cause the rebels."
3 comments:
nice..reading carl's bio ;Ravens in the storm".....being much younger (53)I have always been fascinated by college kids of that era....I was radicalised not by vietnam at all, but by national lampoon magazine! Then came Watergate, and I was hooked! What a complex and driven man...
Hi Oreo! "Ravens in the Storm" looks like a fascinating book. And fortunately, my local library has a copy. I am going to put a hold on it (someone's reading it ATM), and when finished, I will write a review on my Book blog. Look for it in about a month or so. There will be an excerpt on this blog.
Thanks for the tip! The 60's and early 70's were a unique time. And if you were radicalized by Watergate, you were a part of the overall movement.
Hi Oreo! i just finished (and posted) a review of "Ravens in the Storm". what a fantastic book! thanks for the heads-up on it.
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