If Eleanor is the godmother of Witness to the Revolution, Hamilton Fish V is its godfather. In June 2011, when Witness was just a germ of an idea, we had our first meeting to discuss the book, and Ham continued to give me regular advice over the next four years. Ham, who knows everyone and everything about the sixties, picked up the phone many times on my behalf, and guided me through the thickets of sixties culture and politics.
Jon Meacham and I conceived of this book together over several lunches at various Manhattan diners. He is a font of original ideas, an editing wizard with an encyclopedic knowledge of history, and an invaluable resource. I couldn’t have asked for a more brilliant editor and friend. My agent, Esther Newberg, who was Congresswoman Bella Abzug’s chief of staff in 1971, knows this era cold. I am so lucky to have her by my side as the book’s protector and champion.
Terry McDonnell, Jennifer Maguire, Ham Fish, Ellen McGrath, and Tao Ruspoli took the time to read an early draft of Witness, and their astute suggestions helped to greatly improve the final product. I relied on Timothy Rockwood’s eagle eye for detail, as he became the book’s unofficial copy editor.
To the one hundred people who gave me many hours of their precious time and trusted me with their life stories, I am very grateful. Even though, in the end, not everyone I interviewed appeared in the book, they all played an important role in informing Witness.
Finding the right people in the movement to interview required leaning on a lot of friends for help. I owe so much to the generosity of the late Michael Kennedy and his wife, Eleanora, the high priest and priestess of the radical sixties, who introduced me to some of their media-shy friends and former legal clients in the Weather Underground and the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.
Many friends opened doors and made introductions on my behalf. I am in debt to Tao Ruspoli, Peter Greenberg, Sallie Bingham, Peter Emerson, Evan Thomas, Elsa and Bob Woodward, Mark Danner, Steve Wasserman, the late Peter Kaplan, Patricia Bosworth, Gray Henry, Jean Stein, Courtenay Valenti, Steve Atlas, Keith Runyon, Julie Anderson, Stanley Nelson, Jeffrey Eugenides, Molly Bingham, Steve Connors, Charles Kaiser, Sam Brumbaugh, Holly Dando, Michael Uhl, Jonathan Alter, and I’m sure I’m forgetting many more. Tad Flynn and Annie Stackhouse Browning kindly acted as my personal music consultants.
I relied heavily on the moral support and advice of a group of people I am lucky enough to call my close friends: Jennifer Maguire, Cary Netchvolodoff, Stephanie Cabot, Emily Bingham, Natalie Williams, Mary Zients, Courtenay Valenti, Carolyn Strauss, Claudia Silver, Electra Toub, Virginia Moseley, Martha Sherrill, Perri Peltz, Ariadne Calvo-Platero, Aleksandra Crapanzano, John Burnham Schwartz, Mary Beth Harvey, Bill Haney, Keith Meacham, Bill O’Farrell, Laura and Bob Peabody, Katty Kay, Tom Carver, Libby Cameron, Nan Huson, Matt Arnold, Chris Isham, Jeffrey Zients, Hugo Williams, Tom Nides, Marcus Lovell Smith, Nadia Sopher, Eugenie Voorhees, Liz Massie, Karin Day, Laura Yorke, Michael Kafka, Sarah Slusser, George and Leslie Biddle, Margaret and Tom Rietano, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos, Josh Steiner, Jacob Weisberg, Jake Siewart, Paula Zakaria, Stephen Warnke, Helen Ward, Wally Obermeyer, Donna Wick, Peter Soros, Jessica Guff, Beth and Ron Dozoretz, Bill Powers, Chris Harvey, Jeffrey Leeds, Adam and Kate Platt, Mario Calvo-Platero, Sarah Chace, Holly Peterson, Stephen and Cathy Graham, and Tony and Shelly Malkin.
I am immensely grateful to Tracy Kolker for her friendship and for keeping my life on track, and to Ellen McGrath for keeping me sane.
I regularly relied on the technical expertise of Elba Furlonge, Freddie Isozaki, Jamie Michaelis, and Emily Dietrich. Patrick Emond, Benjamin Hilton, Lauren Hinkle and their colleagues at the Audio Transcription Center in Boston provided accurate and swift transcripts of hundreds of hours of interviews, as did Anna Wainwright and Yoshi Salaverry.
Several able researchers helped me over the years, beginning with Sam Dresser, Matthew Teti, Jonah Furman, and Robert Nedelkoff, an expert on all things Nixon. The talented and tenacious Maura Ewing gave more than a year of hard and thoughtful work to the book. Alexandra Styron and Gabriel Packard at the Hunter College MFA Creative Writing program sent me a Hertog research fellow who helped me bring Witness over the finish line. I am in debt to Peter Schmader (born 1951) for his big-hearted support, dedication, and remarkable ability to track down every answer to the barrage of questions I sent his way. A hearty thanks to Jack Bales for his meticulous work on the reading and watch lists.
I couldn’t have asked for a better publishing team at Random House, guided by the gifted Susan Kamil. The precociously capable Molly Turpin expertly line edited three drafts of the manuscript. Born in 1990, Molly helped make Witness not just a better book, but also one that is relevant to her generation. Many thanks to Tom Perry, Melanie DeNardo, Steve Messina, Leigh Marchant, Katie Rice, and Sophie Vershbow for putting their formidable creativity and muscle behind the publication of Witness. Expert publicist Emi Battaglia was also a welcome addition to the team.
The archives at the University of Wisconsin, directed by David Null, were particularly helpful for fact checking and photo resources, and I often relied on the collections at the New York Society Library. The library’s quiet Hornblower Room became a much-appreciated and productive outpost where I wrote most of Witness.
I owe everything to my family, who have patiently cheered me on for so many years. My mother, Joan Bingham (a Eugene McCarthy delegate in ’68), is my constant companion, advisor, and role model. I relied heavily and often on my loving cousins Emily Bingham and Stephen Reily and my aunt Eleanor. David Michaelis and Nancy Steiner rewrote the definition of ex-husband and stepmother, as we co-parented our three children together during the crucible of their teenage years. I am so fortunate to be able to rely on them as part of my extended nuclear family.
Joe Finnerty miraculously came into my life in April 2012. We were married two years later, and ever since I have experienced a kind of happiness that I never knew existed. Joe’s mother, five siblings, and three amazing children, Katherine, Alice, and Sam, have brought much joy to my family life. I relied on Joe as my first reader and quickly became dependent on his keen editing skills.
My children, Jamie (twenty), Henry (eighteen), and Diana (fifteen), reside deeply at my heart’s center. Their humor, adventurousness, curiosity, and charm make me proud to be their mother. Jamie, Henry, and Diana essentially grew up while I wrote this book, and although it was sometimes against their best interest, they gave me the time and space I needed to explore and work. They are the very best of what life has to offer me, and my love for them and Joe has no limits.
PLAYLIST
CHAPTER 2: PSYCHEDELIC REVOLUTION
“Aquarius,” Hair
“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” the Beatles
CHAPTER 5: RESISTERS
“Dress Rehearsal Rag,” Leonard Cohen
CHAPTER 6: WOODSTOCK
“Woodstock,” Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (written by Joni Mitchell)
“Joe Hill,” Joan Baez
“Swing Low,” Joan Baez
“I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” Country Joe and the Fish
“Almost Cut My Hair,” Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” Crosby, Stills & Nash
“The Star-Spangled Banner,” Jimi Hendrix
“In My Own Dream,” the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
CHAPTER 7: WEATHERMEN
“Like a Rolling Stone,” Bob Dylan
“Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Bob Dylan
CHAPTER 8: THE CHICAGO EIGHT
“Here Comes the Sun,” the Beatles
“Chicago,” Graham Nash
CHAPTER 12: MY LAI
“Black Magic Woman,” Santana (written by Peter Green)
CHAPTER 14: DECEMBER
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” the Rolling Stones
“Gimme Shelter,” the Rolling Stones
“Sympathy for the Devil,” the Rolling Stones
“Stand!,” Sly and the Family Stone
“Oh! Camil (The Winter Soldier),” Graham Nash
CHAPTER 19: KENT STATE
“For What It’s Worth,” Buffalo Springfield
“Ohio,” Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
CHAPTER 20: STRIKE
“Jackson-Kent Blues,” the Steve Miller Band
CHAPTER 21: UNDERGROUND
“Bad Moon Rising,” Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Estimated Prophet,” the Grateful Dead
“California,” Joni Mitchell
“Maggie’s Farm,” Bob Dylan
“The Eggplant That Ate Chicago,” Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band
“Diana,” Paul Kantner and Grace Slick
CHAPTER 22: CULTURE WARS
“Going Up the Country,” Canned Heat
“Cassidy,” “Looks Like Rain,” “Mexicali Blues,” the Grateful Dead
“Come Together,” the Beatles
“Ball and Chain,” Janis Joplin
Surrealistic Pillow, Jefferson Airplane
CHAPTER 23: COMING HOME
“Monster,” Steppenwolf
“Strange Days,” the Doors
WATCH LIST
DOCUMENTARIES
Berkeley in the Sixties. Produced and directed by Mark Kitchell, 1990.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. Produced by Sam Aleshinloye, Laurens Grant, and Nicole London; directed by Stanley Nelson, 2015.
Carry It On. Produced and directed by James Coyne, Robert C. Jones, and Christopher Knight, 1970.
Chicago 10. Produced by Brett Morgen and Graydon Carter; directed by Brett Morgen, 2008.
Citizen Stan: A Documentary. Produced and directed by Patty Sharaf, 2004.
Commune. Produced and directed by Jonathan Berman, 2005.
Earth Days. Produced and directed by Robert Stone, 2009.
Festival Express. Produced by Gavin Poolman and John Trapman; directed by Bob Smeaton, 2003.
Final 24: Janis Joplin, Her Final Hours. Produced by Katherine Buck and John Vandervelde; directed by Paul Kilback, 2007.
Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. Produced and directed by Errol Morris, 2003.
Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. Produced by Carole Lambert, Shola Lynch, Carine Ruszniewski, and Sidra Smith; directed by Shola Lynch, 2012.
Gimme Shelter. Produced by Porter Bibb and Ronald Schneider; directed by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin, 1970.
Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry. Produced and directed by George Butler, 2004.
Hearts and Minds. Produced by Bert Schneider and Peter Davis; directed by Peter Davis, 1974.
The History of Rock ’n’ Roll (ten episodes). Series creator and producer, Jeffrey Peisch; executive producers, Quincy Jones, Robert B. Meyrowitz, David Salzman, and Andrew Solt, 1995.
In the Year of the Pig. Produced by John Attlee, Emile de Antonio, Terry Morrone, and Orville Schell; directed by Emile de Antonio, 1968.
Kissinger. Produced by Melanie Fall; directed by Adrian Pennink, 2011.
Making Sense of the Sixties. A six-hour PBS series directed by David Hoffman, 1991.
The Memory of Justice. Produced by Ana Carrigan, Hamilton Fish, Sanford Lieberson, Max Palevsky, and David Putnam; directed by Marcel Ophüls, 1976.
Millhouse: A White Comedy. Produced by Emile de Antonio and Vincent Hanlon; directed by Emile de Antonio, 1971.
Monterey Pop. Produced by John Phillips and Lou Adler; directed by D. A. Pennebaker, 1968.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. Produced and directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, 2009.
Mr. Hoover and I. Produced and directed by Emile de Antonio, 1989.
The Murder of Fred Hampton. Produced by Mike Gray; directed by Howard Alk, 1971.
Ram Dass, Fierce Grace. Produced and directed by Mickey Lemle, 2001.
Rebel with a Cause: Death of a Man, Birth of a Legend. Produced by J. Mervyn Williams and Amanda Rees; edited by John Gillanders, 1999.
Sir! No Sir! Produced, directed, and written by David Zeiger; produced by Evangeline Griego and Aaron Zarrow, 2005.
Stonewall Uprising. Produced by Kate Davis and Mark Samels; directed by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, 2010.
Tell Them Who You Are. Produced and directed by Mark S. Wexler, 2004.
Two Days in October. Produced and directed by Robert Kenner, 2005.
Underground. Produced by Emile de Antonio and Mary Lampson; directed by Emile de Antonio, Haskell Wexler, and Mary Lampson, 1976.
The U.S. vs. John Lennon. Produced and directed by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld, 2006.
The War at Home. Produced and directed by Barry Alexander Brown and Glenn Silber, 1979.
The Weather Underground. Produced by Sam Green, Carrie Lozano, Bill Siegel, and Marc Smolowitz; directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, 2003.
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. Produced by Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler, Jesse Moss, Susan Korda, and Vanessa Hope; directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, 2009.
Winter Soldier. Produced and directed by Winterfilm, in association with Vietnam Veterans Against the War, 1972.
Woodstock. Produced by Bob Maurice; directed by Michael Wadleigh, 1970.
FEATURE FILMS
Alice’s Restaurant. Directed by Arthur Penn, 1969.
Apocalypse Now. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, 1979.
Bananas. Directed by Woody Allen, 1971.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Directed by Paul Mazursky, 1969.
Born on the Fourth of July. Directed by Oliver Stone, 1989.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Directed by George Roy Hill, 1969.
Che. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, 2008.
Coming Home. Directed by Hal Ashby, 1978.
Easy Rider. Directed by Dennis Hopper, 1969.
Forrest Gump. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, 1994.
Getting Straight. Directed by Richard Rush, 1970.
The Graduate. Directed by Mike Nichols, 1967.
Heaven and Earth. Directed by Oliver Stone, 1993.
Joe. Directed by John G. Avildsen, 1970.
Klute. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, 1971.
Medium Cool. Directed by Haskell Wexler, 1969.
Nixon. Directed by Oliver Stone, 1995.
The Pentagon Papers. Directed by Rod Holcomb, 2003.
Platoon. Directed by Oliver Stone, 1986.
Psych-Out. Directed by Richard Rush, 1968.
A Small Circle of Friends. Directed by Rob Cohen, 1980.
Sometimes a Great Notion. Directed by Paul Newman, 1971.
Steal This Movie. Directed by Robert Greenwald, 2000.
The Trip. Directed by Roger Corman, 1967.
Wild in the Streets. Directed by Barry Shear, 1968.
Zabriskie Point. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970.
READING LIST
Albert, Judith Clavir, and Stewart Edward Albert, eds. The Sixties Papers: Documents of a Rebellious Decade. New York: Praeger, 1984.
Alpert, Jane. Growing Up Underground. New York: William Morrow, 1981.
Andersen, Kurt. True Believers: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2012.
Anderson, Terry H. The Movement and the Sixties. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
———. The Sixties. New York: Longman, 1999.
Appy, Christian G. Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Ayers, Bill. Fugitive Days: A Memoir. New York: Beacon Press, 2001.
———. Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident. Boston: Beacon Press, 2013.
Baker, Mark. Nam: The Vietnam War in the Words of the Men and Women Who Fought There. New York: William Morrow, 1981.
Barbato, Carole A., Laura L. Davis, and Mark F. Seeman. This We Know: A Chronology of the Shootings at Kent State, May 1970. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2012.<
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Bass, Paul, and Douglas W. Rae. Murder in the Model City: The Black Panthers, Yale, and the Redemption of a Killer. New York: Basic Books, 2006.
Bates, Milton J., Lawrence Lichty, and others, comps. Reporting Vietnam. Vol. 1, American Journalism, 1959–1969. Vol. 2, American Journalism, 1969–1975. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1998.
Bates, Tom. Rads: The 1970 Bombing of the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin and Its Aftermath. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Berger, Dan. Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2006.
Berrigan, Daniel. Night Flight to Hanoi: War Diary with 11 Poems. New York: Macmillan, 1968.
Biondi, Martha. The Black Revolution on Campus. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
Black, Jonathan. Radical Lawyers: Their Role in the Movement and in the Courts. [New York]: Avon, 1971.
Bloom, Alexander, ed. Long Time Gone: Sixties America Then and Now. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
———, and Wini Breines, eds. “Takin’ It to the Streets”: A Sixties Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Bloom, Joshua, and Waldo E. Martin, Jr. Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
Booth, Stanley. The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones. Cambridge: Granta, 1984.
Bosworth, Patricia. Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
Brightman, Carol. Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead’s American Adventure. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1998.
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