William Blum
William Blum | |
---|---|
![]() Blum in 2007 | |
Born | Brooklyn, New York City | March 6, 1933
Died | December 9, 2018 Arlington, Virginia, U.S. | (aged 85)
Occupation | Journalist, author, U.S. foreign policy critic |
Genre | Political journalism, history |
Notable works |
|
Website | |
williamblum |
William Henry Blum (/bluːm/;[1] March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) was an American author and critic of United States foreign policy. He lived in Washington, DC.[2]
Early life[]
Blum was born at Beth Moses Hospital (now part of Maimonides Medical Center) in Borough Park, Brooklyn,[3] to Ruth (née Katz) and Isidore Blum, who were Polish Jewish immigrants. His father was a machinist. He was a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School and gained a degree in accountancy in 1955 from the City College School of Business and Civic Administration, which later became Baruch College of the City University of New York.[1][4] Blum worked as a computer programmer for IBM and later the U.S. State Department. He had the ambition of becoming a foreign service officer to, as he explained, "take part in the great anti-Communist crusade". Blum became involved in anti–Vietnam War activism and was pressured to resign his government post in 1967.[1] By then he had already taken part in anti-war protests and become a founder and editor of the Washington Free Press, an alternative bi-weekly newspaper.[1]
Journalism[]
In 1969, Blum wrote and published an exposé of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in which were revealed the names and addresses of more than 200 CIA employees. He worked as freelance journalist in the United States, Europe and South America. In 1972–1973, Blum worked as a journalist in Chile where he reported on the Allende government's "socialist experiment". In the mid-1970s, he worked in London with ex-CIA officer Philip Agee and his associates "on their project of exposing CIA personnel and their misdeeds".[5] He supported himself with his writing and speaking engagements on college campuses.[2] One of Blum's stories on Iraq was listed by Project Censored as one of "The Top Ten Censored Stories of 1998"[6]
In his books and online columns, Blum devoted substantial attention to CIA interventions and assassination plots. Noam Chomsky has called Blum's book Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, "far and away the best book on the topic."[7] Blum supported Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns.[8] He circulated a monthly newsletter by email called "The Anti-Empire Report".[9][10] Blum described his life's mission as: "If not ending, at least slowing down the American Empire. At least injuring the beast. It's causing so much suffering around the world."[2]
In an interview with C-SPAN in 2006, Blum stated: "Speaking about U.S. foreign policy, which is my specialty, the authors I would most recommend would be Michael Parenti and Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman and Howard Zinn and Alexander Cockburn."[11]
Osama bin Laden statement[]
In early 2006, Blum briefly became the subject of widespread media attention when Osama bin Laden issued a public statement in which he quoted Blum and recommended that all Americans read Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower. As a result of the mention, sales of his book greatly increased.[4] "I was quite surprised and even shocked and amused when I found out what he'd said," Blum commented. "I was glad. I knew it would help the book's sales and I was not bothered by who it was coming from. If he shares with me a deep dislike for certain aspects of US foreign policy, then I'm not going to spurn any endorsement of the book by him. I think it's good that he shares those views and I'm not turned off by that."[12] On the Bin Laden endorsement, Blum stated, "This is almost as good as being an Oprah book."[2] In an interview on MSNBC Countdown, he said: "Basically it's US foreign policy which creates anti-American terrorists. It's the things we do to the world. It's not, as the White House tells us, that they hate our freedom and democracy. That's just propaganda."[13]
In a May 22, 2006 article entitled "Come Out of the White House With Your Hands Up", Blum wrote: "Since the bin Laden recommendation, January 19, I have not been offered a single speaking engagement on any campus. . . . This despite January–May normally being the most active period for me and other campus speakers."[14]
Death[]
Blum died on December 9, 2018 in Arlington, Virginia from kidney failure at the age of 85 following a fall in his apartment two months earlier.[1][15]
Works[]
Articles
- (DV) Blum: "Come Out of the White House With Your Hands Up!", Dissident Voice, May 22, 2006.
- “Hit List”. CovertAction Information Bulletin, Fall 1993. (p. 9)
- “The Painful Truths Told by Phil Agee”. Consortium News, June 27, 2013.
Books
- The CIA: A Forgotten History. Zed Books, 1986. ISBN 0-86232-480-7
- Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage Press, 1995. ISBN 1-56751-052-3
- UK edition. Zed Books, 2003. Revised in 2014. ISBN 978-1783601776
- 2nd edition, updated. Common Courage Press, 2004. ISBN 1-56751-252-6, ISBN 1-56751-253-4
- Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower. Common Courage Press, 2000. ISBN 1-56751-194-5
- West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir. Soft Skull Press, 2002. ISBN 1-56751-306-9
- Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire. Common Courage Press, 2004.
- America's Deadliest Export: Democracy - The Truth About US Foreign Policy and Everything Else. Zed Books, 2013. ISBN 1-78032-445-6
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Roberts, Sam (December 12, 2018). "William Blum, U.S. Policy Critic Cited by bin Laden, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Montgomery, David (January 21, 2006). "The Author Who Got A Big Boost From bin Laden". The Washington Post. pp. C01.
- ^ Agee, Chris (December 17, 2018). "William Blum (6 Mar 1933 – 9 Dec 2018), Renowned U.S. Foreign Policy Critic, Dead at 85". Transcend Media Service. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Langer, Emily (December 13, 2018). "William Blum, policy critic of U.S. praised by Osama bin Laden, dies at 85". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
- ^ Bill Blum's ZSpace Page Archived May 31, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Z Magazine online, accessed May 31, 2008.
- ^ Peter Phillips and Project Censored, Censored 2001: 25 Years of Censored News and the Top Censored Stories of the Year, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001. p. 245. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ Falcone, Daniel. "Our Leaders Do Not Mean Well". Truthout.
- ^ Blum, William On Liberals, Phil Agee, and the 9-11 Truth Movement, Dissident Voice, January 14, 2008. Accessed May 31, 2008.
- ^ The Anti-Empire Report, williamblum.org. Online copies of issues of "The Anti-Empire Report". Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ Killing Hope, killinghope.org. Online copies of early issues of "The Anti-Empire Report". Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ William Blum in the Media Whirlwind, pressaction.com. "Transcript of Blum’s Jan. 28, 2006 appearance on C-Span." Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ "Bin Laden plug boosts book sales". Sydney Morning Herald. Reuters. January 21, 2006.
- ^ Oliver, Mark (January 23, 2006). "Osama bin Laden recommends". The Guardian. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
- ^ Blum, William, "Come Out of the White House with Your Hands Up!", informationclearinghouse.info. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ Chris Agee and Louis Wolf, William Blum, Renowned U.S. Foreign Policy Critic, Dead at 85, covertactionmagazine.com. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
External links[]
Media related to William Blum at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to William Blum at Wikiquote
- Official website
- William Blum at IMDb
- American Exceptionalism: The Naked Truth by William Blum at CovertAction Magazine
- William Blum's articles at CounterPunch
- William Blum's articles at Foreign Policy Journal
- William Blum's articles at Z Communications (archive.org)
- America's most feared man Interview with Nerve Magazine, Issue 2, Summer 2003
- Myth and Denial in the War on Terrorism Article on CounterPunch, August 12, 2003
- William Blum in the Media Whirlwind Appearance on C-SPAN's call-in show Washington Journal, January 28, 2006
- Killing Hope
- 1933 births
- 2018 deaths
- 20th-century American journalists
- 21st-century American journalists
- American anti-capitalists
- American foreign policy writers
- American male journalists
- American male non-fiction writers
- American people of Polish-Jewish descent
- American political writers
- Baruch College alumni
- Erasmus Hall High School alumni
- American opinion journalists
- People from Arlington County, Virginia
- Writers from Brooklyn
- American dissidents