Nat Hentoff
Encyclopedia
Nathan Irving "Nat" Hentoff (born June 10, 1925) is an American
historian
, novelist, jazz
and country music
critic
, and syndicated columnist
for United Media
and writes regularly on jazz and country
music
for The Wall Street Journal
.
Hentoff was formerly a columnist
for Down Beat
, The Village Voice
, JazzTimes
, Legal Times
, The Washington Post
, The Washington Times
, The Progressive
, Editor & Publisher
and Free Inquiry
. He was a staff writer
for The New Yorker
, and his writing has also been published in The New York Times
, Jewish World Review
, The Atlantic, The New Republic
, Commonweal
and in the Italian
Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo.
. He was awarded his B.A.
with the highest honors from Northeastern University and did graduate work at Harvard University
. In 1950, he was a Fulbright fellow at the Sorbonne
in Paris
magazine
as a columnist in 1952. From 1953 through 1957, he was an associate editor of Down Beat. In 1958, he co-founded The Jazz Review
, a magazine that he co-edited with Martin Williams
until 1961. His career in broadcast journalism
began in the closing days of World War II
on WMEX
, a Boston radio station. Among his early assignments were live broadcasts of professional wrestling from the old Boston Arena. In the late 1940s, he hosted two notable radio shows on WMEX, "JazzAlbum" and "From Bach
To Bartok
". Hentoff continued to do a jazz program on WMEX into the early 1950s, and during that period also was an announcer
on WGBH-FM on a program called "Evolution of Jazz". By the late 1950s, Hentoff was co-hosting a program called "The Scope of Jazz" on WBAI-FM in New York City.
In June 1955, Hentoff co-authored with Nat Shapiro
Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It. The book features interviews with some of the best-known names in jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie
, Duke Ellington
and Paul Whiteman
. He went on to author numerous other books on jazz and politics
.
On December 31, 2008, the Village Voice, which had regularly published Hentoff's commentary and criticism for fifty years, announced that he had been laid off. In February 2009, Hentoff joined the libertarian
Cato Institute
as a senior fellow. In January 2010 however Hentoff returned and wrote one article for the Voice. Since February, 2008 Hentoff has been a regular weekly (Wednesdays) contributing columnist at WorldNetDaily.com.
. He was awarded the American Bar Association
's Silver Gavel Award in 1980 for his columns on law
and criminal justice
. In 1985 he was awarded an honorary
Doctorate of Laws by Northeastern University. In 1995 Hentoff was given the National Press Foundation
's Award for lifetime distinguished contributions to journalism. In 2004 Hentoff was named one of six NEA Jazz Masters
by the US
National Endowment for the Arts
, the first non-musician to win this award. That same year, the Boston Latin School honored him as alumnus
of the year. In October 2005, Hentoff was honored by the Human Life Foundation at their third annual Great Defender of Life dinner.
. He has worked with the foundation to help save homes and lives of America's elderly jazz and blues
musicians including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina
. Hentoff has written multiple articles to draw attention to the plight of America's pioneering musicians of jazz and blues. These articles were published in The Wall Street Journal
and the Village Voice.
, free speech activist, anti-death penalty
advocate
, anti-abortion
advocate. He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq
and is a supporter of Israel
.
While once a longtime supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union
, Hentoff has become a vocal critic
of the organization
for its advocacy
of government-enforced university and workplace speech code
s. He serves on the board of advisors for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
, another civil liberties
group. Hentoff's book, Free Speech for Me — But Not for Thee, outlines his views on free speech and excoriates those who he feels favor censorship
in any form.
Hentoff was critical of Bush Administration
policies such as the Patriot Act and other civil liberties implications of the recent push for "homeland security
." He was also strongly critical of Clinton Administration policies such as the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
.
In March and April of 2003 Hussein was deposed by a US-led invasion
, launching the ongoing Iraq war. In summer 2003, Hentoff wrote a column for the Washington Times in which he supported Tony Blair
's humanitarian justifications for the war. He also criticized the Democratic Party
for casting doubt on President Bush's pre-war assertions about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction
in an election year
.
An ardent critic of the Bush administration's expansion of presidential power, Hentoff in 2008 called for the new president to deal with the "noxious residue of the Bush-Cheney war against terrorism." Among the national security casualties have been, according to Hentoff, "survivors, if they can be found, of CIA secret prisons ("black site
s"); victims of CIA kidnapping renditions; and American citizens locked up indefinitely as "unlawful enemy combatants." He has advocated prosecuting members of the Bush administration, including lawyer John Yoo
, for war crimes.
Hentoff holds idiosyncratic views, espousing generally liberal views on domestic policy
and civil liberties, but starting in the 1980s Hentoff articulated more socially conservative positions opposed to abortion
, voluntary euthanasia
and the selective medical treatment of severely disabled infants. Hentoff has said that shortly after he "came out" as an opponent of abortion, several of his colleagues at The Village Voice
stopped speaking to him. Hentoff has sardonically described himself as "a member of the Proud and Ancient Order of Stiff-Necked Jewish Atheists".
Hentoff vigorously criticized the judicial gag order
involved in the Fistgate case.
In an April 2008 column, Hentoff stated that, while he had been prepared to enthusiastically support Barack Obama
in the 2008 U.S. presidential election
, his view changed after looking into Obama's voting record on abortion
. During President Obama's first year, Hentoff praised him for ending policies of CIA
renditions, but has criticized him for failing to fully end George W. Bush
's practice of state torture
of prisoners.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, novelist, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, and syndicated columnist
Syndicated columnist
This list of syndicated columnists comprises columnists whose recurring columns are published in multiple periodical publications .*Ghaith Abdul-Ahad*Yasmin Alibhai-Brown*Timothy Garton Ash*Lucius Beebe*Max Boot...
for United Media
United Media
United Media is a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by The E.W. Scripps Company. It syndicates 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its core business is the United Feature Syndicate and the Newspaper Enterprise Association...
and writes regularly on jazz and country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
for The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
.
Hentoff was formerly a columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
for Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, JazzTimes
JazzTimes
JazzTimes is a magazine that dates back to Radio Free Jazz, a publication founded in 1970 by Ira Sabin when he was operating a record store in Washington, DC. It was originally a newsletter designed to update shoppers on the latest jazz releases and provide jazz radio programmers with a means of...
, Legal Times
Legal Times
Legal Times is a weekly legal newspaper based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by ALM....
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
, The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
, Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher
Editor & Publisher is a monthly magazine covering the North American newspaper industry. It is based in New York City. E&P calls itself "America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry" and describes itself on its website as "the authoritative journal covering all aspects of the North...
and Free Inquiry
Council for Secular Humanism
The Council for Secular Humanism is a secular humanist organization headquartered in Amherst, New York. In 1980 CODESH issued A Secular Humanist Declaration, an argument for and statement of belief in Democratic Secular Humanism...
. He was a staff writer
Staff writer
Staff writer is a byline that indicates that the author of the article at hand is employed by the periodical that published the article as a regular staff member, and not as a freelance writer or special contributor....
for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, and his writing has also been published in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Jewish World Review
Jewish World Review
Jewish World Review is a free, online magazine updated Monday through Friday , which seeks to appeal to "people of faith and those interested in learning more about contemporary Judaism from Jews who take their religion seriously."It carries informational articles related to Judaism, dozens of...
, The Atlantic, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, Commonweal
Commonweal
Commonweal is a American journal of opinion edited and managed by lay Catholics. It is headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City.-History:...
and in the Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo.
Early life
Hentoff was born in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from the Boston Latin SchoolBoston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States....
. He was awarded his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
with the highest honors from Northeastern University and did graduate work at 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...
. In 1950, he was a Fulbright fellow at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Career
Hentoff joined Down BeatDown Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
as a columnist in 1952. From 1953 through 1957, he was an associate editor of Down Beat. In 1958, he co-founded The Jazz Review
The Jazz Review
The Jazz Review was a magazine which was founded by Nat Hentoff, Martin Williams, and Hsio Wen Shih, in New York City in 1958. It was published until 1961...
, a magazine that he co-edited with Martin Williams
Martin Williams
Martin T. Williams was born in Richmond, Virginia. He was a critic, specializing in jazz and American popular culture. He wrote for major jazz magazines, notably Down Beat, cofounded and coedited The Jazz Review, and wrote many books on jazz, summing up his understanding of its history in The Jazz...
until 1961. His career in broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio , television , and, especially recently, the Internet generally...
began in the closing days of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
on WMEX
WWZN
WWZN is an AM radio station licensed to serve the Boston media market. Its programming is a time-brokered mix between progressive talk radio during the daytime , sports talk and religious programming in the overnight hours...
, a Boston radio station. Among his early assignments were live broadcasts of professional wrestling from the old Boston Arena. In the late 1940s, he hosted two notable radio shows on WMEX, "JazzAlbum" and "From Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
To Bartok
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
". Hentoff continued to do a jazz program on WMEX into the early 1950s, and during that period also was an announcer
Announcer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
on WGBH-FM on a program called "Evolution of Jazz". By the late 1950s, Hentoff was co-hosting a program called "The Scope of Jazz" on WBAI-FM in New York City.
In June 1955, Hentoff co-authored with Nat Shapiro
Nat Shapiro
Nat Shapiro was an American jazz writer and record producer.Shapiro worked in the music industry from the late 1940s; he was a promotional director for Mercury Records in 1948-50, served as head of public relations for BMI in 1955-56, and was the A&R leader for Columbia Records from 1956-66,...
Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It. The book features interviews with some of the best-known names in jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
. He went on to author numerous other books on jazz and politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
.
On December 31, 2008, the Village Voice, which had regularly published Hentoff's commentary and criticism for fifty years, announced that he had been laid off. In February 2009, Hentoff joined the libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
as a senior fellow. In January 2010 however Hentoff returned and wrote one article for the Voice. Since February, 2008 Hentoff has been a regular weekly (Wednesdays) contributing columnist at WorldNetDaily.com.
Awards and honors
In 1972 Hentoff was named a Guggenheim FellowGuggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
. He was awarded the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
's Silver Gavel Award in 1980 for his columns on law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
. In 1985 he was awarded an honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
Doctorate of Laws by Northeastern University. In 1995 Hentoff was given the National Press Foundation
National Press Foundation
The National Press Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides training for journalists and awards excellence in journalism. The Foundation was established in Washington, D.C. in 1976.- Activities :...
's Award for lifetime distinguished contributions to journalism. In 2004 Hentoff was named one of six NEA Jazz Masters
NEA Jazz Masters
The National Endowment for the Arts , every year honors up to seven jazz musicians with Jazz Master Awards. The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowships are the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians...
by the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, the first non-musician to win this award. That same year, the Boston Latin School honored him as alumnus
Alumnus
An alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...
of the year. In October 2005, Hentoff was honored by the Human Life Foundation at their third annual Great Defender of Life dinner.
Humanitarian causes
In 2002 Nat Hentoff became a member of the Board of Directors of The Jazz Foundation of AmericaJazz Foundation of America
The Jazz Foundation of America is a non-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York founded in 1989. The JFA’s programs help jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds and connect them with performance opportunities in schools and the community...
. He has worked with the foundation to help save homes and lives of America's elderly jazz and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musicians including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. Hentoff has written multiple articles to draw attention to the plight of America's pioneering musicians of jazz and blues. These articles were published in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and the Village Voice.
Political commentary
Hentoff is known as a civil libertarianCivil libertarianism
Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or who emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority...
, free speech activist, anti-death penalty
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
, anti-abortion
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
advocate. He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
and is a supporter of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
While once a longtime supporter 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...
, Hentoff has become a vocal critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
of the organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
for its advocacy
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
of government-enforced university and workplace speech code
Speech code
A speech code is any rule or regulation that limits, restricts, or bans speech beyond the strict legal limitations upon freedom of speech or press found in the legal definitions of harassment, slander, libel, and fighting words. Such codes are common in the workplace, in universities, and in...
s. He serves on the board of advisors for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is a non-profit group founded in 1999 and focused on civil liberties in academia in the United States...
, another civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
group. Hentoff's book, Free Speech for Me — But Not for Thee, outlines his views on free speech and excoriates those who he feels favor censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
in any form.
Hentoff was critical of Bush Administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
policies such as the Patriot Act and other civil liberties implications of the recent push for "homeland security
Homeland security
Homeland security is an umbrella term for security efforts to protect states against terrorist activity. Specifically, is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do...
." He was also strongly critical of Clinton Administration policies such as the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, is an act of Congress signed into law on April 24, 1996...
.
In March and April of 2003 Hussein was deposed by a US-led invasion
Invasion
An invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...
, launching the ongoing Iraq war. In summer 2003, Hentoff wrote a column for the Washington Times in which he supported Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's humanitarian justifications for the war. He also criticized the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
for casting doubt on President Bush's pre-war assertions about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
in an election year
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
.
An ardent critic of the Bush administration's expansion of presidential power, Hentoff in 2008 called for the new president to deal with the "noxious residue of the Bush-Cheney war against terrorism." Among the national security casualties have been, according to Hentoff, "survivors, if they can be found, of CIA secret prisons ("black site
Black site
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It...
s"); victims of CIA kidnapping renditions; and American citizens locked up indefinitely as "unlawful enemy combatants." He has advocated prosecuting members of the Bush administration, including lawyer John Yoo
John Yoo
John Choon Yoo is an American attorney, law professor, and author. As a former official in the United States Department of Justice during the George W...
, for war crimes.
Hentoff holds idiosyncratic views, espousing generally liberal views on domestic policy
Domestic policy
Domestic policy, also known as public policy, presents decisions, laws, and programs made by the government which are directly related to all issues and activity within the country....
and civil liberties, but starting in the 1980s Hentoff articulated more socially conservative positions opposed to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner...
and the selective medical treatment of severely disabled infants. Hentoff has said that shortly after he "came out" as an opponent of abortion, several of his colleagues at The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
stopped speaking to him. Hentoff has sardonically described himself as "a member of the Proud and Ancient Order of Stiff-Necked Jewish Atheists".
Hentoff vigorously criticized the judicial gag order
Gag order
A gag order is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial...
involved in the Fistgate case.
In an April 2008 column, Hentoff stated that, while he had been prepared to enthusiastically support Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in the 2008 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, his view changed after looking into Obama's voting record on abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. During President Obama's first year, Hentoff praised him for ending policies of CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
renditions, but has criticized him for failing to fully end George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's practice of state torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
of prisoners.
Non-fiction
- "Hear Me Talkin' To Ya", with Nat ShapiroNat ShapiroNat Shapiro was an American jazz writer and record producer.Shapiro worked in the music industry from the late 1940s; he was a promotional director for Mercury Records in 1948-50, served as head of public relations for BMI in 1955-56, and was the A&R leader for Columbia Records from 1956-66,...
(1955) - The Jazz Makers, with Nat ShapiroNat ShapiroNat Shapiro was an American jazz writer and record producer.Shapiro worked in the music industry from the late 1940s; he was a promotional director for Mercury Records in 1948-50, served as head of public relations for BMI in 1955-56, and was the A&R leader for Columbia Records from 1956-66,...
(1957) - The Jazz Life ISBN 0-306-80088-8 (1961)
- Peace Agitator: The Story of A. J Muste ISBN 0-9608096-0-0 (1963)
- The New Equality (1964)
- Our Children Are Dying (with John Holt) (1967)
- A Doctor Among the Addicts (1968)
- A Political Life: The Education of John V. Lindsay (1969)
- Journey into Jazz (1971)
- Jazz Is (1976)
- Does Anybody Give a Damn?: Nat Hentoff on Education Random House; (1977)
- The First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America (1980)
- American Heroes: In and Out of School (1987)
- John Cardinal O'Connor: At the Storm Center of a Changing American Catholic Church ISBN 0-684-18944-5 (1988)
- Free Speech for Me — But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other ISBN 0-06-099510-6 (1993)
- Listen to the Stories: Nat Hentoff on Jazz and Country Music ISBN 0-06-019047-7 (1995)
- Living the Bill of Rights: How to Be an Authentic American ISBN 0-520-21981-3 (1999)
- The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance ISBN 1-58322-621-4 (2004)
- American Music Is (2004)
- Insisting on Life (with Wesley Smith and Maria McFadden) (2005)
Novels
- Jazz Country (1965)
- Call the Keeper (1966)
- Onwards! (1968)
- I'm Really Dragged But Nothing Gets Me Down (1968)
- This School is Driving Me Crazy (1976)
- Does This School Have Capital Punishment? (1982)
- Blues for Charlie Darwin (1982)
- The Day They Came To Arrest The Book(1983)
- The Man from Internal Affairs (1985)
Memoirs
- Boston Boy: Growing Up With Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions ISBN 0-9679675-2-X (1986)
- Speaking Freely: A Memoir (1997)
Books edited
- Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It (with Nat Shapiro) (1955)
- Jazz: New Perspectives on the History of Jazz ISBN 0-306-80088-8 (with Albert McCarthyAlbert McCarthyAlbert McCarthy was an English discographer and historian of jazz.McCarthy began listening to jazz in his teens, and edited publications of the Jazz Sociological Society in the 1940s...
) (1959) - Black Anti-Semitism and Jewish Racism (1969)