Jack Weinberg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jack Weinberg
|
|
|---|---|
Weinberg in 1968
|
|
| Born | April 4, 1940 Buffalo, New York, U.S.
|
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA) |
| Occupation | Environmental consultant |
| Known for | Free Speech Movement, environmental activism |
| Spouse(s) | Valerie Denney |
Jack Weinberg, born on April 4, 1940, is an American who has worked to protect the environment. He was also a key figure in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964. This movement helped students speak freely on campus.
Contents
Early Life and College Years
Jack Weinberg was born in Buffalo, New York, on April 4, 1940. He grew up in Buffalo, where his father owned a small jewelry store.
He started college at the University of Buffalo. At 21, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, to study mathematics. He finished his degree in January 1963 with high honors.
In the spring of 1963, Weinberg continued his studies at Berkeley as a graduate student in mathematics. He also worked as a teaching assistant.
Joining the Civil Rights Movement
Weinberg first joined a political group in 1963. He became a member of the Berkeley chapter of CORE. CORE was a group that worked for civil rights for all people.
During the summer of 1963, Weinberg traveled through the South. He visited many civil rights groups. When he returned to Berkeley, he started his second semester of graduate school. However, he soon left school to work full-time on civil rights. He became the leader of Campus CORE.
Weinberg stayed in the Bay Area throughout the summer of 1964, continuing his activism.
The Free Speech Movement
In the fall of 1964, Jack Weinberg was very active in student protests at the University of California, Berkeley. On October 1, 1964, he was sitting at a CORE table in Sproul Plaza. Campus police asked him for his identification, but he refused. He was arrested around noon for breaking the university's new rules about student political activities.
The Police Car Sit-in
When police tried to take Weinberg away in a police car, students quickly gathered around it. They sat on the ground, stopping the car from moving. This was a spontaneous protest.
For the next 24 hours, students, including Mario Savio, gave speeches from the top of the police car. They called for free speech on campus. Weinberg also spoke to the crowd from the car. At one point, about 3,000 students were around the car.
On the evening of October 2, 1964, an agreement was reached between student groups and the university. This agreement, called the Pact of October 2, allowed students more freedom to speak. After being in the police car for 32 hours, Weinberg was released. The agreement said the university would not press charges against him. However, less than a week later, the Alameda County District Attorney did press charges. But because no one would sign a complaint, the case was dropped in mid-October.
Naming the Movement
The first meeting of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) happened on October 3, in Art Goldberg's apartment. They needed to choose a name for their new organization. Several names were suggested. Jack Weinberg suggested "Free Speech Movement," and it was chosen by just one vote.
Leaders of the FSM, like Mario Savio, later said that Jack Weinberg was a key planner for the movement. Historian W. J. Rorabaugh called Weinberg "one of the most effective civil rights organizers" and "the strategist behind FSM." A photo from January 1965 shows Weinberg speaking to a large crowd on campus, next to Savio.
"Don't Trust Anyone Over 30"
Jack Weinberg is known for saying the phrase, "Don't trust anyone over 30." This saying has different versions, like "Never trust anybody over 30." Many people mistakenly think others said it, but Weinberg first used it in November 1964. He was being interviewed by a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle about the Free Speech Movement.
The Origin of the Quote
Weinberg later explained how he said it: "I was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter, and he was making me very angry. It seemed to me his questions were implying that we were being directed behind the scenes by Communists or some other sinister group. I told him we had a saying in the movement that we don't trust anybody over 30. It was a way of telling the guy to back off, that nobody was pulling our strings."
On November 15, 1964, the Chronicle printed the story. It quoted Weinberg saying, "We have a saying in the movement that you can't trust anybody over 30." A columnist for the Chronicle, Ralph J. Gleason, highlighted the saying a few days later. The phrase then became very popular. Reporters and columnists used it to make fun of young people or the New Left movement. This annoyed Weinberg.
He has said: "I've done some things in my life I think are very important, and my one sentence in history turns out to be something I said off the top of my head which became completely distorted and misunderstood. But I've become more accepting of fate as I get older."
After the Free Speech Movement
After the FSM, Weinberg became a leader in the Vietnam Day Committee (VDC). This group organized protests and marches against the Vietnam War.
Anti-War March in Oakland
On October 15, 1965, the VDC held a large anti-war march. It started at the UC Berkeley campus and was planned to end at the Oakland Army Terminal. About 10,000 to 14,000 people joined the march. They carried signs and chanted anti-war slogans.
Jack Weinberg and other VDC leaders were in a sound truck at the front of the march. However, the City of Oakland had not given permission for the march. Oakland police blocked Telegraph Avenue with about 375 officers. When the march reached the police line, it stopped. Weinberg and another leader, Frank Bardacke, talked to the Oakland Police Chief. They could not convince him to let the march continue into Oakland. After a debate, the leaders voted to turn back into Berkeley.
Political Involvement
In 1966, Weinberg joined the Independent Socialist Club. He helped it grow into a national group called the International Socialists. He was a member of their national council.
Weinberg later moved to Los Angeles. He worked as a labor reporter for an underground newspaper called the Los Angeles Free Press. He also helped create the Peace and Freedom Party of California. He helped gather enough signatures to get the party on the California ballot for the 1968 elections. Weinberg was the California state chairperson for the Peace and Freedom Party from August to November 1968.
In November 1968, Weinberg ran for Congress in the Los Angeles area as a Peace and Freedom Party candidate. He received 3% of the votes.
Work in the Environmental Movement
In 1982, Jack Weinberg led a group of environmentalists, union members, and community members. They successfully stopped a plan to build a nuclear power plant in Indiana on Lake Michigan.
He worked for Greenpeace, a well-known environmental group, from 1990 to 2000. After that, he started working for the Environmental Health Fund.
Today, Weinberg works as a consultant. He advises groups that are trying to clean up environmental pollution.
Personal Life
Jack Weinberg is married to Valerie Denney. He is a grandfather of three children. He also holds a teaching position in public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
