Edward Michael Keating, Sr. (1925–2003), was an American newspaper publisher, journalist, author, lawyer, politician, and businessman. He was the founder and publisher of '' Ramparts'', a magazine in print 1962 to 1975, that had started as a Catholic literary magazine and evolved into a voice for the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, the

anti-war movement An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to p ...

, and support of the New Left movement.

Early life

Edward Michael Keating, Sr. was born on April 17, 1925 in New Jersey. In 1940, when he was a teenager, the family moved to Menlo Park,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Keating served in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. He attended

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

, graduating in 1950. He married Helen English, who also attended Stanford. He was raised as a Protestant and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1954.

Career

After college he worked for 4 years as a commercial real estate lawyer, followed by teaching English at the Santa Clara University for one year. In 1962, he found and published ''Ramparts,'' a Catholic quarterly literary magazine based in Menlo Park. He personally financed the quarterly publication, and the magazine reached circulation of 400,000. ''Ramparts'' printed articles about the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi; and in 1967 they exposed the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret financing of the

National Student Association The United States National Student Association (NSA) was a confederation of college and university student governments that was in operation from 1947 to 1978. Founding and early years The NSA was founded at a conference at the University of Wisc ...

. Writers in ''Ramparts'' included Susan Sontag,

Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer. Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...

Robert Scheer Robert Scheer (born April 4, 1936) is an American left-wing journalist who has written for '' Ramparts'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Playboy'', ''Hustler Magazine'', ''Truthdig'', Scheerpost' and other publications as well as having written man ...

Eldridge Cleaver Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. In 1968, Cleaver wrote '' Soul on Ice'', a collection of essays that, at the time of i ...

, and

John Howard Griffin John Howard Griffin (June 16, 1920 – September 9, 1980) was an American journalist and author from Texas who wrote about and championed racial equality. He is best known for his 1959 project to temporarily pass as a black man and journey throug ...

. In 1965, Keating left the Catholic church and became agnostic, and in the same year wrote the book ''The Scandal of Silence'' (1965) about the Catholic Church during World War II. On December 12, 1966, Keating helped

get paroled from

Folsom State Prison Folsom State Prison (FSP) is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, U.S., approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehab ...

and get hired as a staff writer at ''Ramparts''. Keating was forced to leave ''Raparts'' in 1967, and ran for

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

for the 11th Congressional District seat in San Mateo. He did not won the Congressional run, the seat went to

Pete McCloskey Paul Norton McCloskey Jr. (born September 29, 1927) is an American politician who represented San Mateo County, California as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983. Born in Loma Linda, California, McCloskey pursue ...

. Keating wrote a few books, short stories, and novellas after his Congressional run. He served on the legal council for

Huey Newton Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African-American revolutionary, notable as founder of the Black Panther Party. Newton crafted the Party's ten-point manifesto with Bobby Seale in 1966. Under Newton's leadership ...

of the Black Panthers Party. In 1971, Keating published the book ''Free Huey!.'' In March 2003, he donated his 1960s Black Panther documents to the Black Panthers Papers at Stanford University.

Death

Keating died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on April 2, 2003 at

Stanford Hospital Stanford University Medical Center is a medical complex which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. It is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States and serves as a teaching hospital for the ...

in Stanford, California. At the time of his death he was living in Mountain View,

. He was survived by 6 children.

Publications

* * *

References

External links

* Video
Edward M. Keating on the Huey Newton Trial
(1968), KTVU News, from the

Bay Area Television Archive The Bay Area Television Archive (BATA) is a regional moving image archive. It preserves and digitally restores 16mm newsfilm, documentaries and other shows produced by TV stations in Northern California (1948–2005), local Emmy Award-winning pr ...