Carl Oglesby

Carl Oglesby

Carl Oglesby was leader of Students for a Democratic Society.

Bio

Screenshot of Carl Oglesby's mini-bio from Fall, 1965 edtion of Generation

Excerpt from Spartacus Educational:

"Carl Oglesby, the son of a rubber mill worker, was born in Akron, Ohio on 30th July, 1935. He went to Kent State University but dropped out in his final year and moved to Greenwich Village where he made attempts to become an actor and playwright. After failing to establish himself in his chosen profession, he returned to Kent to complete his degree.

In the years following graduation he did a variety of different jobs, including working as a technical editor for Bendix, a defense contractor in Michigan. He got married and over the next few years his wife Beth, had three children, Aron, Caleb, and Shay. While working for Bendix he studied part-time for a second degree at the University of Michigan.

Oglesby was radicalized by the Vietnam War and eventually joined the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a group that organized opposition to the war. Hillel Italie has pointed out: "The SDS had been founded in 1960 at the University of Michigan, and its early declaration, the Port Huron Statement, helped embody the idealism of the early '60s. The SDS supported civil rights and opposed the nuclear arms race. It was strongly critical of the U.S. government and called for greater efforts to fight poverty and big business." Oglesby became a full time Research, Information, Publications worker for SDS. In 1965 he was elected as president of the organization. In this role he was instrumental in organizing the SDS peace march in Washington on 17th April, 1965."

Excerpt from Carl Oglesby Papers, 1942-2005:

Reflective, critical, and radical, Carl Oglesby was an eloquent voice of the New Left during the 1960s and 1970s. A native of Ohio, Oglesby was working in the defense industry in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1964 when he became radicalized by what he saw transpiring in Vietnam. Through his contacts with the Students for a Democratic Society, he was drawn into the nascent antiwar movement, and thanks to his formidable skills as a speaker and writer, rose rapidly to prominence. Elected president of the SDS in 1965, he spent several years traveling nationally and internationally advocating for a variety of political and social causes.

In 1972, Oglesby helped co-found the Assassination Information Bureau which ultimately helped prod the U.S. Congress to reopen the investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. A prolific writer and editor, his major works include Containment and Change (1967), The New Left Reader (1969), The Yankee and Cowboy War (1976), and The JFK Assassination: The Facts and the Theories (1992)...

Socialist Scholars Conference 1990

The Socialist Scholars Conference 1990, held September 6-8, at the Hotel Commodore, New York, included panels such as:

Conspiracy Theory

• Sponsor: Social Text
• Sol Yurick, Editor Social Text
• Bill Schapp, Covert Action Information Bulletin
• Carl Oglesby, writer, lecturer

"Who Killed Kennedy"

In February 1992, Carl Oglesby addressed a Boston Democratic Socialists of America forum, on "Who Killed President Kennedy?"

Open Letter to Obama on Iran

In 2008 Carl Oglesby an Author, Amherst, MA signed an online petition “A Open Letter to Barack Obama on Iran”.

References

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