New at Reason

Julian Sanchez | June 9, 2005

Jesse Walker eulogizes a great American anarchist—and a great friend: Mary Frohman.

Comments

|6.9.05 @ 5:14PM|#

This may be nit-picking but, the only .50 cal machine gun that I can think of that existed at the time of the '68 convention was the Browning M2. It weighs over 100 lbs! Not something you would just casually walk with down the street. Also, I don't think they were standard issue for the CPD.

Otherwise, a very interesting article about a very interesting woman.

|6.9.05 @ 5:28PM|#

Oog! I just read the article. When I got to the part about Tucille's It Usually Begins With Anyn Rand, I had a flashback to the part where "a woman named Mary" storms a meeting, fresh from a protest, and demands, "WHERE THE F--- WERE YOU?" I'm glad to have "the rest of the story" now.

Jesse Walker|6.9.05 @ 5:36PM|#

Alkurta: Mary knew her guns pretty well, and her exact words in the interview were ".50 caliber machine gun." It's certainly possible that she was exaggerating (as she often did when she was telling a good story), but it's also true that Daley called out the Illinois National Guard during the convention, so there were more weapons in play than the Chicago Police Department's usual arms.

|6.9.05 @ 5:41PM|#

Jesse-Condolences on the loss of a clearly unique and interesting friend.

What was it about Tucille's book that was libelous?

R C Dean|6.9.05 @ 5:42PM|#

I'll betcha it was a BAR. Big honking piece of slug-throwing machinery, but still man-portable. 30 cal., of course.

Jesse Walker|6.9.05 @ 5:51PM|#

Number 6: The Tuccille book is semi-fictionalized, and I doubt there's any actual actionable libel in it, though I suppose a jury might disagree. I rather like it myself. But contrary to its description, Mary was not an Objectivist, and -- according to her, anyway -- she wasn't beating up that hippie.

|6.9.05 @ 5:51PM|#

A BAR makes sense. It's fairly big and both where made by Browning.

|6.9.05 @ 6:08PM|#

Wow -- another wobbly libertarian -- the only one I ever met was Bruce Baechelor, though briefly, and he too sadly passed away.

|6.9.05 @ 6:57PM|#

RC: Not just .30, 30-06. Mmm.

|6.9.05 @ 7:45PM|#

Jesse,

My sympathies to you.

Your remembrance of your friend is a fascinating piece. And with it, you provided a captivating view of some of the cross currents that were at play during the formative years of the modern libertarian movement.

BTW, on SDS, interesting is the book: The Strawberry Statement: Notes of a College Revolutionary by James Simon Kunen. I remember a passage where Kunen quoted a report about a convention, which the SDS had had during the Columbia University unrest. The quote stated that:

"Also at the convention, men from Business International Round Tables. The meetings sponsored by Business International for their client groups and heads of government tried to buy up a few radicals. These are the guys who wrote the Alliance For Progress. They're the left wing of the ruling class.

"They want McCarthy in. They see fascism as the threat, see it coming from Wallace. The only way McCarthy could win is if the crazies and young radicals act up and make Gene look more reasonable. They offered to finance our demonstrations in Chicago."

"We were also offered Esso (Rockefeller) money. They want us to make a lot of radical commotion so they can look more in the center as they move to the left." (pg. 116).

|6.9.05 @ 8:45PM|#

Like Stevo, I am glad to finally know the rest of the story. Sometimes I think I was born a few years to late. When I showed up at the the U of Washington in 1972, the "Libertarian commune" there was already breaking up so I couldn't move in.

Hearing more of this foundational history of the Libertarian movement is great. The white bread version (it started in David Nolan's living room) is stale and tasteless by comparison.

Thank you, Jesse, for adding some spice to libertarian history.

|6.9.05 @ 9:48PM|#

Well, the Libertarian party did start in David Nolan's living room. But, as Jesse demonstrates, the history of the movement intriguingly diverse.

J.D. Tuccille|6.9.05 @ 11:49PM|#

I forwarded the article to my old man (who, oddly enough, was trained to use the BAR in the Marines. Hmmm.) He got a kick out of it, but notes that he never actually knew Mary's last name.

Jesse Walker|6.9.05 @ 11:53PM|#

All: While the phrase ".50 caliber machine gun" came straight from Meredith's interview with Mary, the words "Chicago cop's" did not. I added them as I was making final revisions to the piece, because I thought the sentence needed something to make it obvious (after the reference to the year 1989) that we were still at the Chicago convention, and I carelessly forgot that it wasn't necessarily a policeman pointing the gun. It's now clear that if Mary's story is true, the weapon must have belonged to the National Guard or the army, so I've dropped Tim a line asking him to correct the sentence by striking the phrase "Chicago cop's."

Thanks for catching the mistake, Alkurta.

|6.10.05 @ 1:48AM|#

Hey J.D. Tuccille,

With all the acclaim this place has been getting, maybe your next volume could be, "It usually begins with Reason" or "It usually begins with Hit and Run".

J.D. Tuccille|6.10.05 @ 11:20AM|#

Rick,

That would be my father producing those books, but I'll pass along the suggestion.

|6.10.05 @ 5:29PM|#

J.D. Tuccille,

Oh, my confusion. Thank you :)