Jon Wiener
Encyclopedia
Jon Wiener is an American professor of history at the University of California Irvine, a contributing editor to The Nation
magazine, and a Los Angeles radio host. He was the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) for its files on John Lennon
.
's death, Wiener filed a Freedom of Information Act
request for FBI
files on Lennon, which document the Bureau's role in the Nixon Administration attempt to deport Lennon in 1972 to stop his anti-war campaign before the Nixon re-election campaign. The FBI admitted it had 281 pages in its files on Lennon but refused to release most of them, they contained "national security" information. In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union
of Southern California, it took fourteen years of litigation to force the FBI to release the withheld pages. The ACLU, representing Wiener, won a favorable decision in their suit against the FBI in the Ninth Circuit
in 1991. The Justice Department
appeal
ed the decision to the Supreme Court
in April, 1992, but the court declined to review the case. The Justice Department settled most of the outstanding issues in the case outside the court in 1997, when all but 10 of the contested documents were released, respecting President Bill Clinton
's new rule that documents should be withheld only if releasing them would involve "foreseeable harm." In January 2000, he published a book titled Gimme Some Truth
, The John Lennon FBI Files, referring to the same titled song of Lennon, from the University of California Press
which contains facsimiles of the documents, including "lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges". The story is told in the documentary The U.S. Versus John Lennon
, by David Leaf
and John Scheinfeld, released in theaters in September 2006. The final 10 documents in Lennon's FBI file, which had been withheld as containing "national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality," and reported on Lennon's ties with London anti-war activists in 1971, were released in December 2006.
His earlier books include Come Together: John Lennon in His Time (Random House, 1984), an account of Lennon’s place in the radical politics and counterculture of the 1960s.
Wiener started writing for The Nation in 1984 and has published more than 100 articles there. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and the Los Angeles Times. His scholarly articles have appeared in The American Historical Review, The Journal of American History, and Past & Present.
Wiener hosts a weekly afternoon drive-time interview show on KPFK
90.7 FM in Los Angeles. His guests have included Gail Collins, Jane Mayer, Barbara Ehrenreich, Rick Hertzberg, Tom Frank, Pico Iyer, Michel Pollan, Seymour Hersh, Howard Zinn, Terry Gross, and Ira Glass.
, has a B.A. from Princeton University
, a Ph.D. from Harvard University
, and has taught at UC Irvine since 1973. He lives in Los Angeles and is married to video artist and photographer Judy Fiskin
.
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
magazine, and a Los Angeles radio host. He was the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) for its files on John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
.
Freedom of information case: Wiener v. FBI
After John LennonJohn Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
's death, Wiener filed a Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
request for FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
files on Lennon, which document the Bureau's role in the Nixon Administration attempt to deport Lennon in 1972 to stop his anti-war campaign before the Nixon re-election campaign. The FBI admitted it had 281 pages in its files on Lennon but refused to release most of them, they contained "national security" information. In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
of Southern California, it took fourteen years of litigation to force the FBI to release the withheld pages. The ACLU, representing Wiener, won a favorable decision in their suit against the FBI in the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
in 1991. The Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed the decision to the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
in April, 1992, but the court declined to review the case. The Justice Department settled most of the outstanding issues in the case outside the court in 1997, when all but 10 of the contested documents were released, respecting President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's new rule that documents should be withheld only if releasing them would involve "foreseeable harm." In January 2000, he published a book titled Gimme Some Truth
Gimme Some Truth
"Gimme Some Truth" is a protest song written and performed by John Lennon from his 1971 album Imagine.Like several songs on the album, such as the title track "Imagine", "Gimme Some Truth" has blatant political references emerging from the time it was written, during the latter years of the Vietnam...
, The John Lennon FBI Files, referring to the same titled song of Lennon, from the University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
which contains facsimiles of the documents, including "lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges". The story is told in the documentary The U.S. Versus John Lennon
The U.S. Versus John Lennon
The U.S. vs. John Lennon is a 2006 documentary film about English musician John Lennon's transformation from a member of The Beatles to a rallying anti-war activist striving for world peace during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The film also details the attempts by the United States government...
, by David Leaf
David Leaf
David Leaf is an American writer, producer and director known for documentaries, music programs and pop culture retrospectives. Among his best known documentaries are The Night James Brown Saved Boston , The U.S. vs. John Lennon and Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE...
and John Scheinfeld, released in theaters in September 2006. The final 10 documents in Lennon's FBI file, which had been withheld as containing "national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality," and reported on Lennon's ties with London anti-war activists in 1971, were released in December 2006.
Career as an author and commentator
In his 2005 book Historians in Trouble (The New Press), Wiener examines cases of historians accused of misconduct.His earlier books include Come Together: John Lennon in His Time (Random House, 1984), an account of Lennon’s place in the radical politics and counterculture of the 1960s.
Wiener started writing for The Nation in 1984 and has published more than 100 articles there. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and the Los Angeles Times. His scholarly articles have appeared in The American Historical Review, The Journal of American History, and Past & Present.
Wiener hosts a weekly afternoon drive-time interview show on KPFK
KPFK
KPFK is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves the Greater Los Angeles Area, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet...
90.7 FM in Los Angeles. His guests have included Gail Collins, Jane Mayer, Barbara Ehrenreich, Rick Hertzberg, Tom Frank, Pico Iyer, Michel Pollan, Seymour Hersh, Howard Zinn, Terry Gross, and Ira Glass.
Personal life
Wiener is a graduate of St. Paul Central High SchoolCentral High School (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Central High School of Saint Paul, is the oldest high school in the state of Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866 in downtown Saint Paul, Central has educated many leaders in business, government, literature, arts, sciences, and education throughout the state of Minnesota and the United States...
, has a B.A. from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, a Ph.D. from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and has taught at UC Irvine since 1973. He lives in Los Angeles and is married to video artist and photographer Judy Fiskin
Judy Fiskin
Judy Fiskin is an American artist working in photography and video, and a member of the art school faculty at California Institute of the Arts. Her videos have been screened in the Documentary Fortnight series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and...
.
Selected bibliography
- Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Eight. Edited with an introduction by Jon Wiener; afterword by Tom Hayden; drawings by Jules Feiffer. New York: The New Press, August 2006.
- Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower. New York: The New PressThe New PressThe New Press is a not-for-profit, United States-based publishing house that operates in the public interest. It was established in 1990 as an alternative to large commercial publishers, and is supported financially by various foundations, groups and corporations including the Ford Foundation, the...
, 2005. - Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files. Berkeley: University of California PressUniversity of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
, 2000. - Professors, Politics and Pop. London and New York: Verso BooksVerso BooksVerso Books is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of New Left Review. The company claims "global sales approaching $3 million per year and over 350 titles in print," possibly making it "the largest radical publisher in the English-language...
, 1991. - Come Together: John Lennon in His Time. New York: Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, 1984. - Social Origins of the New South: Alabama, 1865-1885. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University PressLouisiana State University PressThe Louisiana State University Press is a nonprofit book publisher and an academic unit of Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, the press publishes scholarly, general interest, and regional books as part of the university’s mission to disseminate knowledge and culture...
, 1978. - “The Footnote Fetish”. Telos 31 (Spring 1977). New York: Telos Press.
External links
- Jon Wiener website: On the radio and in print
- Biography at The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
- Biography at University of California, Irvine
- The John Lennon FBI files website
- "Probing the FBI's Files on John Lennon" Fresh Air with Terry Gross: interview with Jon Wiener