Passing: Radio Pioneer, Moral Colossus, American, Studs Terkel
by C. L. Cook
 We lost another one yesterday. Studs Terkel, the conscience of the American airwaves for more than half a century died Friday (Oct. 31) at age 96. Difficult to call the end of a man of Studs' advanced years a tragedy, but the leave-taking of one of those too rare commodities in America, an unapologetic populist, (dare we say "socialist") and successful member of the media is a tragedy for those of us who remain to struggle with neither Terkel's talent, nor courage.
I never knew Studs personally, though I attempted fruitlessly to interview him for my own modest radio program. I was frustrated in my attempts to gain contact due to Terkel's disdain of e:mail, and the other accoutrements of modern communications, but I felt I knew him.
Around the socialist home of my upbringing, Studs Terkel's name was iconic. He had stood for the full inclusion of Black America in American life, had defended "accused" socialists and communists during the McCarthy witch hunts, and always spoke out for the working men and women of a system that to this day refuses to recognize America's class divisions.
One of the first assignments in my young days in theatre school was taken from Studs' seminal sociological text, 'Working.' In that book, Terkel simply did what he did best, sought out working people, sat down with his microphone and a tape recorder and listened to the story of their lives'. Just as he had on the airwaves, Studs had a way of getting to the heart and humanity of the people and situations he examined.
In his last days, Studs was not idle, stumping with his upstart fellow Chicagoan, Barak Obama during the aspirant's 2004 campaign for the senate. Obama then thundered against the Iraq war, saying; "what-the-hell-are-we-doing-there?"
John Nichols writes eloquently in the Nation of Studs Terkel's fervent wish to see a black president in the White House before he died, and it seems he fell only a few days short.
There's more from Nichols below, with a link to his complete article at the Nation.
For me, Studs Terkel's passing was another of those, "Oh no!" moments; and that would have been the same feeling whether Studs left at 96, or 106.
So long, Studs.
There Will Never Be Another Studs Terkel
by John Nichols
When Studs Terkel was in the seventh grade, his teacher, Miss Henrietta Boone, asked the smart young whippersnapper who he was supporting in the presidential election of 1924.
"Are you for Calvin Coolidge or John W. Davis?" Miss Boone inquired, mentioning the names of the Republican and Democratic nominees.
Terkel, who had already imbibed the radicalism of Chicago's labor left, was for neither of the major party candidates. Rather, he favored the third-party contender who was campaigning against imperialism abroad and Wall Street at home.
- "Innocently -- or was I damnably perverse even then? -- I piped, 'Fightin' Bob La Follette,'" Terkel recalled eight decades later, mentioning the name of the progressive senator from Wisconsin who earned his support that year. "She was startled, poor dear. Why have I always upset such gentle hearts? Why couldn't I have been my cute little button self and said the right thing: 'Keep Cool with Coolidge.'"
Studs could be cute, and damnably perverse.
But the Pultizer Prize-winning author, pioneering radio personality, battler against Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism, raconteur, rabble-rouser and grand old man of the American left, who died Friday at age 96, never pulled his punches when it came to politics.
For complete article, please visit:
http://www.thenation.com/
|
