The American Spectator : The Passing of Hillary's 1960s Mentor

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The Passing of Hillary's 1960s Mentor

By Mark Tooley on 10.10.11 @ 6:07AM

The obits have ignored their ties, but this former president of the SDS who saved her from Goldwater conservatism.

The 1960s-era radical Carl Oglesby, former president of Students for a Democratic Society, died several weeks ago, earning many respectful obituaries. Almost none, excepting the New Republic's, seemed to cite his formative influence on a young Hillary Clinton.

In a 1994 Newsweek interview about her Methodist faith, the then First Lady revealed that Oglesby's 1966 screed against the Vietnam War, published in a Methodist youth magazine, had deeply shaped her. Her new stance on Vietnam shifted her from a Goldwater conservative to McGovern liberalism. (I wrote about this interview and Oglesby for the March 1995 American Spectator.)

Even the Guardian in Britain, in its own obituary, hailed Oglesby as "one of the most talented and interesting of the leaders of the 1960s American left." He didn't come to radical political activism until he was already a husband and father in his late 20s, but he rose quickly in SDS until displaced for not being sufficiently far left. Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver unsuccessfully asked Oglesby to be his running mate in a symbolic 1968 presidential bid. Oglesby's passionate appeal, "Let Us Shape the Future," to a massive 1965 anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C. is remembered as classic. Despite his attacks on capitalism, he later flirted with Libertarianism. And his post-1960s decades seem to have been relatively quiet, moving across different professions, and reputedly nursing an obsession with JFK's assassination. In a sign of his eventual domestication, Oglesby co-wrote a book about buying your "dream house" with PBS home repair star Bob Vila.

In 2008, an ailing Oglesby told the Washington Post he first met a young Hillary when he spoke in the late 1960s at Wellesley, where she was a student leader. "I can't say that I was a close friend of hers," he recalled. "It was more of a passing acquaintance. I liked her. I think of her as a good guy. I think she has a good heart and a solid mind. And I support her in the current primary [against Barack Obama]." The Post reported the First Lady visited Oglesby in 1994, which her official schedule omitted. "We mostly discussed the '60s," he told the Boston Globe. "I may have been a little gushy in my praise of the administration, but she was extremely impressive." In 2008, he told Reason magazine he had not sought recent contact: "A friend of mine mentioned me to her not long ago, and according to him she got a case of the shakes. I think it was because she could imagine if any of her considerable enemies on the right wanted to do her in, they would be happy to discover a relationship between her and me."

Apparently Hillary had not yet met Oglesby when she first read the formative, 8,000 word, 1966 anti-war article in the Methodist student magazine motive, called "World Revolution and American Containment." Oglesby decried the "virulent strain" of American imperialism enforced by big business and the U.S. Marines. "What would be so obviously wrong about a Vietnam run by Ho Chi Minh [or] a Cuba by Castro?" he asked. Oglesby regretted that America, at the behest of big business, was maintaining 6,000 military bases to combat "socialist tyrannies which are trying to feed, clothe, house, and cure their people." He faulted the West for opposing Bolshevism during Russia's civil war and subsequent antagonism against the Soviet Union, which benignly tolerated America's "outrages" in Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere.

According to Oglesby in motive, the U.S. only wanted a world "safe for the American businessman, on terms always advantageous, in environments always protected by friendly or puppet oligarchies by the Marines themselves." He hoped leftists would capture "dominoes" like Brazil and then "break up foreign monopolies, raise wages, redistribute land and trade freely with all nations." If they subsequently go totalitarian, so be it, he mused.

Motive, which had even been pacifist during World War II, was always too radical for most Methodists and finally shut down in 1971. Hillary told Newsweek in 1994 that she "still has every issue they sent me." Newsweek oddly described Oglesby as a "Methodist theologian," but he does not seem to have professed much religion, much less claimed theological expertise. He wrote another article for motive in1968, called "Will Success Spoil SDS." It avoided spiritual themes, which probably didn't much interest the highly politicized motive anyway, and he instead bewailed "this faltering system of Yankee power."

In a 1991 PBS documentary on the 1960s, Oglesby rued his once "blazing contempt for straight America," now appreciating the "labor" and "effort" necessary for middle class life. He also recounted his "personal burn-out" in 1971 from the "movement." And he remembered the 1960s as a "tailspin," a "corkscrew" and "never ending mystery." Not only an orator and writer, he composed and sang folk songs. Oglesby seemed to regret the "enormous rupture" his political radicalism had created between himself and his father, a blue-collar laborer who couldn't understand why his college educated son was so disgruntled with the American dream.

Just one of many in the 1960s who rebelled against their parents and their country, Oglesby seems at least partly to have grown a little wiser with age. But during his early years of rage, he decisively influenced a once conservative young Methodist woman who would herself champion radical causes before her own political career necessitated moderation.

About the Author

Mark Tooley is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C. and author of Methodism and Politics in the Twentieth Century.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (38) | Leave a comment

Robbins Mitchell| 10.10.11 @ 6:11AM

Well,if nothing else we should be thankful to Oglesby for eliminating the possibility that this corrupt,self serving harridan might have wound up a serious GOP politician

Alan Brooks| 10.10.11 @ 12:03PM

It is water under the bridge, but what is unfair is complaints of Vietnam hawks that countless antiwar activists and sympathizers were radical.

Though it is true radical chic was involved, it was the conscription of youths that was the source, for as soon as the Draft ended so did not only radical chic but also the radical counterculture itself. The Draft ended in 1973 and by 1974 organized radicalism had evaporated and radical counterculturalists were beached.

But I am asking you to be fair-- which is asking too much of you.

Dave Williams| 10.10.11 @ 1:39PM

pot....kettle....yawn...as usual, nothing to see, hear, or learn from Mr. Too-much-time-on-his-hands...

Alan Brooks| 10.10.11 @ 5:50PM

Radicals such as Oglesby had their heyday 40 years ago.
This piece is old hat.

Wayne| 10.11.11 @ 6:10AM

And who ended it? - Richard Nixon.
And who told him to do it? - Milton Freedman
And who gave draft dodgers amnesty? - Jimmy Carter
And who brought back the registration? - Jimmy Carter.
And how much protest have we heard from NOW that only males must register? ZERO

Occam's Tool| 10.10.11 @ 6:03PM

To paraphrase the eunuch-Clairvoyant Count:

"think what this lass
could've done with some other upbringing - the Atreides code to guide
her for example."

If she had just remained a Goldwater Republican!

Drudge Ette Obama| 10.10.11 @ 7:07AM

Hillary was looking for something in her youth, probably validation - but she likes the big money now - witness the George Soros wedding her daughter had...

If she were younger, Hillary would be in capitalist name-sake Woodruff Park (Atlanta) chanting with the odd people and refusing to hear John Lewis (who is probably still laughling about those skinny vegan white people with their finger waiving.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZlp3eGMNI

A book with Vila? Now that is truly strange.

Better that he is gone, but his trouble days are over - he gave us Hillary. Too bad she didn't meet Vidal Sassoon who could help her groom her hair - start with a good washing.... rinse & repeat.

Quartermaster| 10.10.11 @ 5:35PM

If he went into eternity without Christ, his troubles are just beginning.

Bob K.| 10.10.11 @ 11:37PM

Chelsea Clinton's wedding a George Soros wedding? Not likely! But he probably wished it was so. This was run by the Queen herself!

On the Sunday evening after it was over I remember watching at least 50 Private Corporate/Government multiple engine Jet Planes flying, 5 minutes apart, south from Schenectady, NY above the Interstate 81 corridor in Pennsylvania toward Washington DC!

This was a Royal Wedding by the pretender to the seat of our "Elective Monarchy," as John Lukacs has so aptly named it. And we subjects paid for it with our taxes!

Herb| 10.10.11 @ 7:41AM

Oscar Wilde once quipped that "when good Americans die they go to Paris. When bad Americans die, they go to America."

In this case, I would amend that to "when bad Americans die, they go to Cuba."

Just another dead lefty who will not be missed.

JimP| 10.10.11 @ 7:52AM

Oglesby was just another "sell out" to "The Man" as ALL of the spoiled white 60's protestors became. Many of them were from well off upper middle class families. How they railed against the "establishment", capitalism and our "fascist government" only to become the kind of money grubbers they disdained and the corrupt fascist tyrants they accused our parents and government of being at that time. A bigger bunch of hypocrits has never lived. A few, like David Horowitz, saw the light and admitted their mistakes. Most like Oglesby, and especially the Clintons, just became part of the system they supposedly hated. Tragic, laughable and deserving of our scorn, every one of them. While I hope to have another forty years on this earth, the passing of my war protestor-socialist Boomer butthead cohorts cannot come soon enough. Nixon [their bete noir and epitome of the "fascist, corrupt, establisment war machine"] was a saint compared to them.

Seek| 10.10.11 @ 1:09PM

Most of the radical leaders of the time were middle-class, but not upper-middle class. The idea of the "spoiled" wealthy prep school student-turned-radical is a media caricature more than anything else.

As for revolting against mommy and daddy, survey data by Lipset, Raab and others indicate, if anything, that the young radicals were affirming, not rejecting, their parents' views, even if they took those views a step or two further. "Liberal Parents, Radical Children" was the name of a book-length critique at the time written by Midge Decter. That about had it right.

Occam's Tool| 10.10.11 @ 6:06PM

Uh, huh...Bill Ayers was UPPER-CLASS.

Alan Brooks| 10.10.11 @ 6:51PM

but that was at least 40 years ago. You are all living in the distant past.

Trish| 10.10.11 @ 11:41PM

Veddy, veddy upper Occam.

PaulyD| 10.10.11 @ 9:31PM

I had liberal parents. In fact, my mother was a personal friend of Alan Watts (google him if you don't know who he was).

Guess that's why a turned out conservative. I questioned their worldview.

And for that, I am banished.

Trish| 10.10.11 @ 11:40PM

The left are the most intolerant bunch of fascists on earth.

JimP| 10.11.11 @ 3:21AM

I did not refer to the "leaders", I was referring to ALL of the protestors, many of whom WERE from upper middle class families as I stated. I also didn't say anything about revolting against mommy and daddy. What I said was they became part of the system they were openly saying they were against.

It's fascinating how often people do not read what is actually said in threads and argue against unspoken comments/arguments not made.

Quartermaster| 10.10.11 @ 5:38PM

Horowitz admits his mistakes? With his mouth, perhaps, but there is little other indication of it. The man is still a leftist who schmoozes with the likes of Dershowitz and is afraid to speak any non-PC truth when it comes to race.

He moderated a bit, but he's still part of the loony left.

JimP| 10.11.11 @ 3:23AM

If this is the case, I was unaware of it. Therefore, assuming your statements are accurate, I stand corrected.

Roy| 10.11.11 @ 7:21PM

Right, that's why Horowitz picked a big fight by publishing anti-reparations pamphlets on college campuses..

Trish| 10.10.11 @ 9:05PM

'A biger bunch of hypocrits has never lived.' This is one of my many objections to the left. In fact they hate 'the folks'. A bigger bunch of phonies has never lived either.

Timothy L. Pennell| 10.10.11 @ 8:08AM

Good Riddance. He will NOT be missed.

Anthony| 10.10.11 @ 8:42AM

The leaders of the American '60s leftist radical movement are finally passing. Compost in peace!!

JA| 10.10.11 @ 9:40AM

People like Oglesby make me sick; they are subhuman garbage. Too bad he did not die at age 15.
They deplore and try to destroy everything about life in the USA and then later on, when they actually have to make a living a realize that much of what they once supported was a hoax, a fraud, a charade. Well then, "maybe I regret saying / doing this or that; "I was still young and..." blah blah blah.
It it too F^^^^^G late to "apologize" or "feel sorry" years after you have done your nasty deed.
Reminds me of that left wing wind bag of a folksy crooner, Pete Seeger, who was a big fan of Joe Stalin (murderer of 30 million !!!) who recently said, "maybe I should have spoken out against Joe.
Really.
Too late Pete. Millions of useful idiots followed your Stalinist leanings when YOU had the chance to do the right thing.
Hope both these guys rot in hell.

Seek| 10.10.11 @ 1:11PM

People like you make conservatism harder to take seriously. You do the cause real harm by your pure hatred. Hate never wins in the end.

Trish| 10.10.11 @ 9:22PM

Millions of people died under the butchery of Stalin. THAT is the portrait of hatred, not JA's response to the butcher's apologists.

Trish| 10.10.11 @ 9:08PM

Aw, but ol Pete really, really meant well.
(At least he didn't call him Uncle Joe.)

JP| 10.10.11 @ 10:41AM

What is interesting about Oglesby was his rejection of classic socialism. He once said that socialism would bury social problems under the weight of the federal bureaucracy. He was an activist before the professioanl activists took over. His main focus wasn't politics per se, but foreign policy. In this sense he was a neophyte. He was eventually considered too bourgeois for the SDS. And perhaps he was. After-all he was a father of 3 and worried about supporting his family. Unlike other revolutionairies, his family eventually came first. He opted out and became a worker-daddy.

What is interesting is not his influence on Hillary, but how quickly the future First Lady changed positions. Either this change was a relfection of an undisciplined mind, or it was an early indication of her future cynicism. Far Left Radicalism was in; Goldwater conservative-libertarianism was on the way out.

Whitey O'Carr| 10.10.11 @ 11:28AM

I read in annarbor.com (the successor to the deceased Ann Arbor News) that he had passed away. In the article they did not mention his ties or effect he had with Hillary at all. It was the typical A-squared liberalism where the cause had to be protected and nurtured.

Con Chef (NB)| 10.10.11 @ 1:13PM

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."...Twain

Occam's Tool| 10.10.11 @ 6:05PM

Indeed. Bury him twelve feet deep with a wooden stake through the heart and garlic covering the body---just to be sure.

Brian| 10.10.11 @ 2:08PM

It's guys like Oglesby that we have put in charge of educating the next generation. So tell me just who the fool is?

Ironman| 10.10.11 @ 2:19PM

Carl Oglesby was a good and decent man, and it is unfortunate the author fails to convey this, nor the way in which, in losing control over SDS to real America-haters and commies, he lost something valuable in American politics. The Hillary angle is very minor, although there is this: had Oglesby and others like him not been pushed aside by the nihilist left, she would have had better advice and perhaps a less ruthless view of things. But you can't know, since it didn't happen.

cicero| 10.10.11 @ 2:31PM

We can blame the radical left of the 60s all we want, but it was the Democrat Party, and the adults in charge, who not only listened to the immature ranting, but adopted it. As a result, millions in South East Asia were doomed; our government beaurocracies expolded in size; our educatioial establishment and institutions were taken over and trashed, etc, etc, etc.
And now they have all just moved on. As Hilary and husband reminded us after every pile of manure they left behind themselves: That is in the past. Let's just move on.
Everytime one of these destroyers of our culture passes on to their reward, we get this pablum by way of an obituary. They should be identified for what they were and what they did. But then again, our media agrees with all they did. It was great fun to them - even if not to those they destroyed.