William Henry Blum (; March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) was an American author, critic of

United States foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

and socialist. He lived in Washington, DC.

Early life

Blum was born at Beth Moses Hospital (now part of

Maimonides Medical Center Maimonides Medical Center is a non-profit, non-sectarian hospital located in Borough Park, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. Maimonides is both a treatment facility and academic medical center with 711 beds ...

) in

Borough Park, Brooklyn Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heigh ...

, to Ruth (née Katz) and Isidore Blum, who were

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lo ...

immigrants. His father was a machinist. He was a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School and gained a degree in accountancy in 1955 from the City College School of Business and Civic Administration, which later became

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates un ...

of the City University of New York. Blum worked as a computer programmer for IBM and later the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...

. He had the ambition of becoming a

foreign service officer A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U. ...

to, as he explained, "take part in the great

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

crusade" but was later disillusioned by the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and ...

. Blum became involved in anti–Vietnam War activism and was pressured to resign his government post in 1967. By then he had already taken part in anti-war protests and become a founder and editor of the '' Washington Free Press'', an alternative bi-weekly newspaper.

Journalism

In 1969, Blum wrote and published an exposé of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) in which were revealed the names and addresses of more than 200 CIA employees. He worked as freelance journalist in the United States, Europe and South America. In 1972–1973, Blum worked as a journalist in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

where he reported on the Allende government's " socialist experiment" before the U.S backed coup and the regime of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

. In the mid-1970s, he worked in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

with ex-CIA officer

Philip Agee Philip Burnett Franklin Agee (; January 19, 1935 – January 7, 2008)Will Weissert"Ex-CIA Agent Philip Agee Dead in Cuba" Associated Press (sfgate.com), January 9, 2008. was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer and writer of ...

and his associates "on their project of exposing CIA personnel and their misdeeds". He supported himself with his writing and speaking engagements on college campuses. One of Blum's stories on Iraq was listed by

Project Censored Project Censored is an American nonprofit media watchdog organization. The group's stated mission is to "educate students and the public about the importance of a truly free press for democratic self-government." Project Censored produces an ann ...

as one of "The Top Ten Censored Stories of 1998" In his books and online columns, Blum devoted substantial attention to

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

interventions and assassination plots.

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

has called Blum's book ''

Killing Hope ''Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II'' by William Blum is a history book on covert CIA operations and United States military interventions during the second half of the 20th century. The book takes a strongly cri ...

: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II'', "far and away the best book on the topic." Blum supported

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...

's presidential campaigns. He circulated a monthly newsletter by email called "The Anti-Empire Report". Blum described his life's mission as: "If not ending, at least slowing down the

American Empire American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...

. At least injuring the beast. It's causing so much suffering around the world." In an interview with C-SPAN in 2006, Blum stated: "Speaking about U.S. foreign policy, which is my specialty, the authors I would most recommend would be

Michael Parenti Michael John Parenti (born September 30, 1933) is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office. Parenti i ...

and

and Edward Herman and

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political scien ...

and

Alexander Cockburn Alexander Claud Cockburn ( ; 6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was a Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up by British parents in Ireland, but lived and worked in the United States from 1972. Together ...

." According to Blum, left-wing publications such as ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper th ...

'' declined to publish his work because they considered him too much of a fanatic.

Osama bin Laden statement

In early 2006, Blum briefly became the subject of widespread media attention when

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated a ...

issued a public statement in which he quoted Blum and recommended that all Americans read '' Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower''. As a result of the mention, sales of his book greatly increased. "I was quite surprised and even shocked and amused when I found out what he'd said," Blum commented. "I was glad. I knew it would help the book's sales and I was not bothered by who it was coming from. If he shares with me a deep dislike for certain aspects of US foreign policy, then I'm not going to spurn any endorsement of the book by him. I think it's good that he shares those views and I'm not turned off by that." On the Bin Laden endorsement, Blum stated, "This is almost as good as being an Oprah book." In an interview on MSNBC ''Countdown'', he said: "Basically it's US foreign policy which creates anti-American terrorists. It's the things we do to the world. It's not, as the White House tells us, that they hate our freedom and democracy. That's just propaganda." In a May 22, 2006 article entitled "Come Out of the White House With Your Hands Up", Blum wrote: "Since the bin Laden recommendation, January 19, I have not been offered a single speaking engagement on any campus. . . . This despite January–May normally being the most active period for me and other campus speakers."

Death

Blum died on December 9, 2018 in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

from kidney failure at the age of 85 following a fall in his apartment two months earlier.Chris Agee and Louis Wolf
William Blum, Renowned U.S. Foreign Policy Critic, Dead at 85
covertactionmagazine.com. Retrieved December 24, 2018.

Works

Articles

Dissident Voice, May 22, 2006.
“Hit List”
'' CovertAction Information Bulletin'', Fall 1993. (p. 9)
“The Painful Truths Told by Phil Agee”
''

Consortium News Robert Earle Parry (June 24, 1949 – January 27, 2018) was an American investigative journalist. He was known for his role in covering the Iran–Contra affair for the Associated Press (AP) and ''Newsweek'', including breaking the Psychologica ...

'', June 27, 2013. Books
''The CIA: A Forgotten History''

Zed Books Zed Books is an independent non-fiction publishing company based in London, UK. It was founded in 1977 under the name Zed Press by Roger van Zwanenberg. Zed publishes books for an international audience of both general and academic readers, co ...

, 1986. * ''

: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II''.

Common Courage Press Common Courage Press is a book publishing company based in Monroe, Maine. The company was formed in January 1990, in part by Greg Bates, who also serves as publisher. Bates explained his goal of the company: "by publishing books for social just ...

, 1995. *
UK edition

, 2003. Revised in 2014. **
2nd edition, updated

, 2004. , * '' Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower''.

, 2000. *
Full text available
* ''West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir''. Soft Skull Press, 2002. * ''Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire''.

, 2004.
''America's Deadliest Export: Democracy - The Truth About US Foreign Policy and Everything Else''

, 2013.

References

External links

* * * *
American Exceptionalism: The Naked Truth by William Blum
a
CovertAction MagazineWilliam Blum's articles
at ''Foreign Policy Journal''
William Blum's articles
at

Z Communications Z Communications is a left-wing activist-oriented media group founded in 1986 by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent.Max Elbaum''Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che'' London, England, UK; New York, New York, US: Verso ...

(archive.org)
''America's most feared man''
Interview with Nerve Magazine, Issue 2, Summer 2003
''William Blum in the Media Whirlwind''
Appearance on C-SPAN's call-in show ''Washington Journal, '' January 28, 2006
Killing Hope
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, William 1933 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American anti-capitalists American foreign policy writers American male journalists American male non-fiction writers American people of Polish-Jewish descent American political writers Baruch College alumni Erasmus Hall High School alumni American opinion journalists People from Arlington County, Virginia Writers from Brooklyn American dissidents