Ramparts

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Ramparts

description Journal of Politics and Culture
First edition 1962
Frequency of publication weekly, fortnightly, monthly
Sold edition At the end of 1966, the fortnightly magazine had a circulation of almost 100,000.
  • In 1968 the monthly magazine had a circulation of almost a quarter of a million copies by subscription and kiosk sales

Ramparts (literally bulwark) was an American illustrated political and literary magazine that appeared from 1962 to 1975 and was closely associated with the Christian Left . It was lavishly printed in high gloss and was graphically demanding, as is usually the case with advertising media in the military-industrial complex .

history

Creation and development of the presentation

In June 1962, Edward Michael Keating founded Ramparts in Menlo Park , California as "a showcase for creative writers and a forum for the mature American Catholic." The magazine stated its intention to “publish fiction, poetry, art, criticism and special essays in order to reflect the positive principles of the Hellenistic-Christian tradition that have shaped the last two thousand years and our sustainable civilization, to leave us in a secular, confused, to lead the fearful age ”. In the early years of the magazine texts of Thomas Merton and John Howard Griffin published, but one critic described the presentation with a poem Yearbook a girls' school in the Midwest .

From 1964 to 1969 Warren Hinckle published the magazine , gave it the design of high-circulation publications and had it appear as the monthly news magazine in San Francisco. Robert Scheer became editor-in-chief and Dugald Stermer was hired as art director.

Publications and political orientation

Ramparts was one of the early opponents of the Vietnam War . In April 1966, the cover story reported that the Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group , a technical assistance program in South Vietnam , was a covert operation by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). For reporting, Ramparts received the George Polk Award in 1966 and was the target of Lyndon B. Johnson's international service . In August 1966, the executive editor James Colaianni was the first to report in a US medium about the use of napalm by the United States' armed forces in Vietnam.

Starting in 1966, the CIA sought alleged funding for the magazine and attributed it to the Soviet government.

William Raborn's responsibility was to disregard the National Security Act of 1947 while investigating a US press organ . On the cover of December 1967, the burning of the military passes (draft card burning) was shown by four editors.

Ramparts was the first to unearth a theory of the conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy .

In 1968 Ramparts published the Bolivian diary of Che Guevara in a special edition with an introduction by Fidel Castro .

Ramparts published Eldridge Cleaver's prison diary , which appeared in book form as Soul On Ice . Upon his release from prison, Cleaver became a salaried writer at Ramparts.

Development of circulation and economic problems

At the end of 1966, the fortnightly magazine had a circulation of almost 100,000. In 1968 the monthly magazine in subscription and kiosk sales had a circulation of almost 250,000, which was roughly double the circulation of the weekly newspaper The Nation (103,478). Despite its impressive circulation, Ramparts was not economical due to the high production and advertising costs. In 1967 the magazine ran a deficit of half a million US dollars, which was increased in 1968. Among other things, on-site coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention was costly. It went bankrupt and production was temporarily stopped.

With a reduced budget and a smaller workforce, the release continued until 1975. Subscription newspaper sales fell. The magazine was temporarily published every fortnight.

In June 1972 the magazine printed the wiring diagrams for a whistle generator, similar to the Blue Box , whereupon the issue was confiscated.

After hiring

Several former employees were among the founders of their own magazines, for example Mother Jones and Rolling Stone . Robert Scheer became a featured columnist for the Los Angeles Times and is now the editor of the Truthdig website and a regular participant on the national public radio program Left, Right and Center . James Ridgeway is the Washington, DC senior correspondent for Mother Jones. James Colaianni stayed true to the subject of Catholicism, his books dealing with married priests and nuns. Two editors, David Horowitz and Peter Collier, denounced liberalism and criticized the left. Brit Hume was briefly Washington correspondent for Ramparts and later commented on Fox News Channel .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ KEATING, EDWARD MICHAEL, editor; b. NYC April 17, 1925; s. George and Harriet (Marton) K .; AB, Stanford 1948, LL.B. 1950; wed. Helen English, Sept. 14, 1947; ch.- Michael, Karen, Stephen, Mary, Katherine. Adm. to Calif. bar 1951; in USNR 1943-46; founder, ed., pub. Ramparts Mag., 1962-67; Brotherhood Award B'nai B'rith 1964, Author; Scandal of Silence, 1965. [1] , Catholic intellectuals and conservative politics in America, 1950–1985, p. 127
  2. ↑ Dugald Stermer (* 1939; † December 2, 2011 in San Francisco )
  3. ↑ [2]