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{{Short description|American historian and journalist (born 1944)}}
{{cleanup|date=March 2009}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}
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{{About-distinguish|the American historian|Jon Weiner}}
'''Jon Wiener''' is an American professor of history at the ], a contributing editor to '']'' magazine, and a Los Angeles radio host. He is noted for being the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the ] for its files on ].
{{Infobox person
| name = Jon Wiener
| image = Jon Wiener.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|05|16}}<ref name=LATW061 />
| birth_place = ], U.S.<ref name=tws2MayU11/>
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| alma_mater = ] (]) ] (])
| occupation = ],<br>],<br>]
| years_active = 38+<ref>Note: estimate assumes began career at age 30</ref>
| employer = ]<ref name=tws2MayU11>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=Jon Wiener |work=The Nation |date=May 21, 2012 |url=http://www.thenation.com/authors/jon-wiener |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
| organization =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| style =
| party =
| movement =
| spouse = ]
| partner =
| children =
| parents =
| relatives =
| awards =
| signature =
| website = {{URL|www.jonwiener.com}}
}}
] at KPFK, 2017]]
'''Jon Wiener''' (born May 16, 1944) is an American ] and journalist based in ].<ref name=tws2MayU11/> His most recent book is '']'', a ''Los Angeles Times'' bestseller co-authored by ].<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Mike |last1=Davis|first2=Jon |last2=Wiener |title=Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties. |date=2020 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-78478-022-7 |location= |oclc=1109409493}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-10 |title=Bestsellers List Sun., June 14, 2020 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-06-10/bestsellers-list-sun-june-14-2020|access-date=2020-06-11 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> He waged a 25-year legal battle to win the release of the ]'s files on ].<ref name=tws2MayU14>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=FBI releases final file on John Lennon |work=USA Today |date=December 21, 2006 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-20-fbi-lennon_x.htm |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU11/> Wiener played a key role in efforts to expose the surveillance, as well as the behind-the-scenes battling between the government and the former ], and is an expert on the FBI-versus-Lennon controversy.<ref name=tws2MayU512>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=FBI Releases Last Pages From Lennon File |newspaper=Washington Post |date=December 20, 2006 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122000227.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name=twsJunB211>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=John Lennon's MI5-FBI Files |newspaper=Common Dreams |date=February 25, 2000 |url=http://www.commondreams.org/views/022500-102.htm |access-date=June 2, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130321025200/http://www.commondreams.org/views/022500-102.htm |archive-date= March 21, 2013 |url-status= dead}}</ref> A professor emeritus of ] at the ] and host of ''The Nation''{{'}}s weekly ], '']'',<ref name=tws2MayU415>{{Cite web|url=https://www.humanities.uci.edu/history/emeriti-faculty|title=Emeriti Faculty|website=www.humanities.uci.edu}}</ref> he is also a contributing editor to the progressive political weekly magazine '']''.<ref name=twsJunB111>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thenation.com/authors/jon-wiener/|title = Jon Wiener|date = April 2, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/authors/start-making-sense/|title=Start Making Sense|date=October 22, 2015}}</ref> He also hosts a weekly radio program in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kpfk.org/on-air/jon-wiener/|title=Living In The USA|date=September 2, 2023|website=KPFK 90.7 FM}}</ref>


''Set the Night on Fire'' (2020) is a movement history of Los Angeles. The backbone of the book is the story of the civil rights, Black power and Chicano movements, as well as the anti-war movement, gay liberation and women's liberation and the battles between young people and the ] on ] and at ]. The counterculture provides another focus—the Ash Grove folk music club, the '']'', ] radio and the Free Clinic.
== Freedom of Information case: Wiener v. FBI ==
In 1983, Wiener sued the ] under the ] for their files on ], which document the Bureau's role in the Nixon Administration attempt to deport Lennon in 1972. The FBI had refused to release most of the 281 pages in the file, claiming they contained “national security” information. The ] of Southern California, representing Wiener, won an important victory in the case in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991 (Wiener v. FBI , 943 F.2d 972 (9th Cir. 1991)). But the FBI appealed, and Wiener v. FBI went all the way to the ] before the President ]'s Justice Department settled most of the outstanding issues in the case in 1997, when all but ten of the contested documents were released. That story is told, and the pages are reproduced, in Wiener’s book ''Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files'' (Univ. of California Press, 2000); some of the pages of the Lennon FBI file are posted online at . The story of Lennon's battle with Nixon is also told in the documentary, '']'', by ] and ], released by Lions Gate in September, 2006; Wiener served as historical consultant for the film, and appears in it. The last ten documents from the Lennon FBI file were released in December, 2006. They had been withheld on the grounds that they contained "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. They are posted on the web at .


==Early life==
== Career as an author and commentator ==
Wiener was born in ],<ref name=tws2MayU11/> the son of Gladys (née Aronsohn) and Dr. Daniel Wiener.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gladys Aronsohn (Wiener) Spratt |publisher=] |date=July 12, 2009 |url=http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/content/gladys-aronsohn-wiener-spratt-1 |access-date=October 21, 2018 |archive-date=April 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409185324/https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/content/gladys-aronsohn-wiener-spratt-1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He graduated from ] and then attended ] where he founded a chapter of the ] to ].<ref name="twsNewsworks1">{{cite web |author=Anna Windemuth |date=November 18, 2016 |url=https://whyy.org/articles/princeton-university-students-call-for-undocumented-immigrant-sanctuary-in-wave-of-campus-protests-after-trumps-election/ |title=Princeton students stage sanctuary campus walk-out |quote=... Wiener is the host and producer of "Start Making Sense,"... professor emeritus of history at UC Irvine. ... A member of Princeton's class of 1966, Jon Wiener founded the Princeton chapter of Students for a Democratic Society to protest the Vietnam War when he was a student ... he thinks the sanctuary movement is a great cause ... }}</ref> He received a bachelor's degree from Princeton in 1966,<ref name=tws2MayU11/><ref name="twsNewsworks1"/> and earned a ] from ], where he worked with ] and ], and also wrote for the underground paper '']''.<ref name=tws2MayU11/>
In his 2005 book ''Historians in Trouble'' (The New Press), Wiener examines numerous cases of historians accused of misconduct.


==Career==
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.
===Academic career===


At the ], Wiener taught history courses on American politics and the ]. His scholarly works have been published in '']'', '']'', '']'',<ref name=twsJunB312>{{cite news |title=The Scholar Squirrels and the National Security State: An Interview with Gore Vidal -- Jon Wiener |newspaper=Radical History Review |quote=Non-Thematic Issue -- Issues 44 |date=Spring 1989 |url=http://chnm.gmu.edu/rhr/tocs/44.htm |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref> and '']''. He led students on visits to the ].<ref name=tws2MayU26>{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Nagourney |title=Watergate Becomes Sore Point at Nixon Library |work=The New York Times |date=August 6, 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/us/politics/07nixon.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU13>{{cite news |author=William M. Welch |title=Nixon library now tells full Watergate story |work=USA Today |date=April 1, 2011 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-01-nixonlibrary01_ST_N.htm |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU23>{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Nagourney |title=What's a Presidential Library to Do? |work=The New York Times |date=September 12, 2011 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/us/13libraries.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
Wiener started writing for ''The Nation'' in 1984 and has published more than 100 articles there. His journalism 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''. His work has been translated into Japanese, German, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, and Italian.


===Journalism and political commentary===
Wiener hosts a weekly afternoon drive-time interview show on ] 90.7 FM in Los Angeles. Guests have included ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] of the NPR show "Fresh Air."
], an American film director, screenwriter, author, actor, stand-up comedian, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, in 2010.]]
Since 1984, Wiener has been a contributing editor for '']'' magazine,<ref name=tws2MayU17/> where he has written about diverse topics including campus issues, intellectual controversies, and southern California politics. His writing has also appeared in '']'', '']'', '']'', and the '']''.<ref name=twsJunB113>{{cite news |first=Matt |last=Welch |title=In fact, on Dec. 7, 1951, Pearl Harbor wasn't remembered |newspaper=Reason Magazine |quote=Writing in the L.A. Times, Jon Wiener compares two 10-year anniversaries. |date=September 9, 2011 |url=http://reason.com/blog/2011/09/09/in-fact-on-dec-7-1951-pearl-ha |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU12>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=When art and politics collided in L.A.: The Tower of Protest, being rebuilt as part of Pacific Standard Time, incited passion and vandalism for a few months in 1966. |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 25, 2012 |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2012-jan-25-la-oe-wiener-tower-of-protest-20120125-story.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU31>{{cite news |author=Jon Wiener (book reviewer) |title=Survival During a Dark Time (book review title) A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered, By Ruth Kluger (book and author being reviewed) |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 13, 2002 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-13-bk-wiener13-story.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> Wiener hosted a weekly podcast for The Nation, “Start Making Sense,” and a weekly radio program for Los Angeles radio station KPFK 90.7 FM.


In his journalism, Wiener, writing in the ''Los Angeles Times'' at the beginning of 2020, correctly predicted that 2020 would be "The Worst Year of Trump’s Life."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-01|title=Opinion: 2020 will be the worst year of Trump's life|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-01/opinion-2020-will-be-the-worst-year-of-trumps-life|access-date=2020-11-16|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> He interviewed Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei about the international refugee crisis—the subject of Ai's film "Human Flow."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wiener|first=Jon|date=2017-10-13|title=Ai Weiwei on the Refugee Crisis: 'People Have Been Forced Into a State of Movement'|journal=The Nation|language=en-US|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/ai-weiwei-on-the-refugee-crisis-people-have-been-forced-into-a-state-of-movement/|access-date=2020-11-16|issn=0027-8378}}</ref> He interviewed Georgia's voting rights organizer Stacey Abrams about her work.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wiener|first=Jon|date=2019-04-05|title=Stacey Abrams: 'Open That Door'|journal=The Nation|language=en-US|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/stacey-abrams-open-that-door/|access-date=2020-11-16|issn=0027-8378}}</ref> And he spoke with the award-winning novelist Margaret Atwood about “the shocking relevance of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wiener|first=Jon|date=2017-04-28|title=Margaret Atwood: The Shocking Relevance of 'The Handmaid's Tale'|journal=The Nation|language=en-US|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/margaret-atwood-the-shocking-relevance-of-the-handmaids-tale/|access-date=2020-11-16|issn=0027-8378}}</ref> He also has written on historical topics – on the 50th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre, he wrote about the "forgotten hero" who "stopped the My Lai massacre," quoting from his interview for KPFK with army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-03-16|title=Op-Ed: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago today|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-wiener-my-lai-hugh-thompson-20180316-story.html|access-date=2020-11-16|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> And he wrote for the New York Times Book Review about how the sixties are remembered in America.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wiener|first=Jon|date=2016-06-08|title='Witness to the Revolution,' by Clara Bingham|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/books/review/witness-to-the-revolution-by-clara-bingham.html|access-date=2020-11-16|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> While Wiener is perhaps best known for his battling to expose the FBI's surveillance of ], he also was instrumental in getting the FBI to release documents about its surveillance of comedian ].<ref name=tws2MayU35>{{cite news |first=Dinitia |last=Smith |title=Would Groucho Have Joined a Party That Would Have Him as a Member? |work=The New York Times |date=September 14, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/14/arts/would-groucho-have-joined-a-party-that-would-have-him-as-a-member.html?src=pm&gwh=F55A86051B669895D904AF0585FDF8EA |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU41>{{cite news |author=Tribune News Services |title=Groucho Marx Was On Fbi's Watch List |work=Chicago Tribune |date=September 14, 1998 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/09/14/groucho-marx-was-on-fbis-watch-list/ |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Wiener is a graduate of ]. He has a B.A. from ], a Ph.D. from ], and has taught at ] since 1973. He lives in Los Angeles and is married to video artist and photographer ].


== Books by Jon Wiener == ===Wiener and the Lennon FBI files===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:right;"
|-
|+ '''Chronology of Wiener v. FBI'''
|-
!Dates
!Event
!Notes
|-
|align="left"| 1969
|align="left"| Lennon releases the single<br> "]"
|align="left"|
|-
|align="left"| 1971–1972
|align="left"| FBI closely monitors Lennon
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU14/>
|-
|align="left"| 1972-03-06
|align="left"| ] tries to deport Lennon
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU17>{{cite news |title=Uncovering The 'Truth' Behind Lennon's FBI Files |work=NPR |date=October 8, 2010 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130401193 |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref><ref name=twsJunB622aa>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files |newspaper=University of California Press, Berkeley |quote=FBI Airtel report; Figure 46 NY-17 of FBI documents; page 194 in Wiener's book |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-520-22246-5 |url-access= registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gimmesometruthjo00wien}}</ref>
|-
|align="left"| 1973-03
|align="left"| Judge rules Lennon must leave<br>US in two months
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU36/>
|-
|align="left"| 1973-06
|align="left"| Lennon countersues US
|align="left"|<ref name=tws2MayU36/><ref>Note: the month is uncertain but the year 1973 is probably right.</ref>
|-
|align="left"| 1976-06
|align="left"| Lennon wins countersuit;<br>can stay in US
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU36/><ref>Note: the month is uncertain but the year 1976 is probably right.</ref>
|-
|align="left"| 1980-12-10
|align="left"| John Lennon murdered
|align="left"|
|-
|align="left"| 1981
|align="left"| Wiener researches book<br> on Lennon
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU14/>
|-
|align="left"| 1981
|align="left"| Wiener requests documents<br>Gets some, most held back
|align="left"|<ref name=tws2MayU14/><ref name=twsJunB315>{{cite news |author=Amy Goodman (interviewer) Jon Wiener (interviewee) |title=Gimme Some Truth: The FBI Files of John Lennon |newspaper=Democracy Now! |date=May 25, 2000 |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2000/5/25/gimme_some_truth_the_fbi_files |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU18/>
|-
|align="left"| 1981
|align="left"| Wiener sues FBI<br> to release documents
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU14/>
|-
|align="left"| 1983
|align="left"| FBI claims national<br> security danger
|align="left"|
|-
|align="left"| 1991
|align="left"| 9th circuit court: FBI<br> didn't show "adequate<br> grounds" for secrecy
|align="left"|<ref name=LATW061 />
|-
|align="left"| 1992
|align="left"| Justice Dept appeals<br> 9th Circuit decision <br>to Supreme Court
|align="left"| <ref name=LATW061 />
|-
|align="left"| 1992
|align="left"| Court refuses appeal,<br>sides with Wiener/ACLU
|align="left"| <ref name=LATW061 />
|-
|align="left"| 1997
|align="left"| FBI releases more documents<br>except for ten documents
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU14/>
|-
|align="left"| 2000
|align="left"| Report: Lennon may have<br> secretly funded ]<br>says ]<br>doubted by Lennon supporters
|align="left"|<ref name=tws2MayU414>{{cite news |first=Martin |last=Bright |title=Lennon aided IRA, claims MI5 renegade |work=The Guardian |date=February 19, 2000 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/feb/20/northernireland.martinbright |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
|-
|align="left"| 2004
|align="left"| Federal judge orders<br> remaining ten<br> documents released
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU14/>
|-
|align="left"| 2004
|align="left"| FBI agrees to release<br> final 10 documents
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU14/>
|-
|align="left"| 2006-12-20
|align="left"| FBI releases final<br> eight<ref name=twsJunB315/> or ten documents
|align="left"| <ref name=twsJunB212/>
|-
|align="left"| 2006
|align="left"| '']''<br>Documentary; Wiener is consultant
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU11/><ref name=tws2MayU17/>
|-
|align="left"| 2006-12-21
|align="left"| Wiener discussed contents of<br>declassified material on NPR
|align="left"| <ref name=tws2MayU18>{{cite news |title=FBI Releases Its Final Files on John Lennon |work=NPR |date=December 21, 2006 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6659167 |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
|-
|}


====Background====
* ''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.
] sent a memo to Nixon's chief of staff describing Lennon as a sympathizer of ] communists in England.]]
* ''Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower''. New York: The New Press, 2005.
]'' in 1969.]]
* ''Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
The legal battle between Wiener and the United States government was waged over two and a half decades, and has been examined by other historians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Friedman (editor) |first=John S. |author2=James Carroll |title=The Secret Histories: Hidden Truths That Challenged the Past and Changed the World |publisher=MacMillan |edition=First |date=October 2005 |location=New York |pages=252–254 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wERx-0P2HPsC&q=lennon+wiener+%22fourteen+years%22&pg=PA252 |isbn=0-312-42517-1}}</ref> In the late sixties, many young Americans became opposed to the ], and John Lennon became an antiwar advocate who made then-president ] nervous about his reelection prospects in 1972. The consensus view is that Nixon asked the FBI to begin surveillance of Lennon, possibly after Lennon went to New York on a visa and met up with radical anti-war activists.<ref name=tws2MayU17/> Government surveillance of Lennon had been extensive,<ref name=tws2MayU27/> although there was no documentary evidence of wiretapping,<ref name=twsJunB315/> and lasted about 11 months.<ref name=tws2MayU36>{{cite news |author=JONATHAN LEVI (book reviewer) |title=The U.S. Campaign Against John Lennon (title of book review) GIMME SOME TRUTH, The John Lennon-FBI Files; by Jon Wiener (title and author of book) |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 30, 1999 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-30-cl-48758-story.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
* ''Professors, Politics and Pop''. London and New York: Verso Books, 1991.
* ''Come Together: John Lennon in His Time''. New York: Random House, 1984.
* ''Social Origins of the New South: Alabama, 1865-1885''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978.


]
== External links ==

* at '']''
====The attempt to deport Lennon====
* at University of California, Irvine
The ], acting on a suggestion from Senator ],<ref name=twsJunB412/> and probably at the behest of Richard Nixon, ordered Lennon to be deported in the spring of 1972.<ref name=LATW061 /><ref name=tws2MayU17 /> According to Wiener's account, the key issue for the Nixon administration was that Lennon had been talking to anti-war leaders about a "tour that would combine rock music with anti-war organizing and voter registration," possibly as a way to court first-time eighteen-year-old voters, who were believed to have a tendency to vote for the ] party.<ref name=twsJunB412>{{cite news |author=Robert Scheer (interviewer) Jon Wiener (interviewee) |title=Jon Wiener on John Lennon (interview) |newspaper=truthdig |date=Sep 12, 2006 |url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060912_jon_wiener_john_lennon_d/ |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wiener |first=Jon |title=He didn't have to do it. That's one reason he's still admired |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/dec/19/comment.film |access-date=31 May 2012 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=December 18, 2006}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU22>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=He didn't have to do it. That's one reason he's still admired: The FBI campaign against John Lennon shows how far the state can go to deal with stars who refuse to toe the line |work=The Guardian |date=18 December 2006 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/dec/19/comment.film |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>

] addressed the crowd. Nixon was reelected in November 1972.]]
Reporter Adam Cohen writing in 2006 in '']'' agreed that the FBI surveillance of Lennon had been motivated not only by antiwar concerns but by concerns of a political nature.<ref name=tws2MayU27>{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Cohen |title=While Nixon Campaigned, the F.B.I. Watched John Lennon |work=The New York Times |date=September 21, 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/opinion/21thu4.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> According to Cohen, what was most revealing was that the timing of these events suggested there was an underlying political motivation behind the surveillance and deportation proceedings.<ref name=tws2MayU27/> Numerous friends, including folk singer ],<ref name=twsJunB213>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=Bob Dylan's Defense of John Lennon |newspaper=Common Dreams |date=October 9, 2010 |quote=(Dylan's request around 1972) |url=http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/09-1 |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref> wrote letters to the Immigration and Naturalization Service advocating that Lennon should be allowed to stay.<ref name=twsJunB213/> On December 8, 1972, after Nixon's reelection in November, the FBI closed its investigation of Lennon, partially because Lennon has shown "inactivity in Revolutionary Activities."<ref name=twsJunB622ee>{{cite news |author=FBI |title=Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files |newspaper=University of California Press, Berkeley |quote=FBI document; Figure HQ-32; page 305 in Wiener's book -- date of FBI memorandum: October 24, 1972 ... verbatim from document: "... Inasmuch as there is no indication that the subject ever appeared in Miami Beach during either of the national political conventions in July and August, 1972, no further investigation is being conducted by Miami." |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-520-22246-5 |url-access= registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gimmesometruthjo00wien}}</ref> According to Wiener, the FBI had succeeded in "neutralizing" Lennon's opposition to Nixon's reelection.<ref name=twsJunB622ee/> John Lennon was murdered in December 1980.

====Wiener vs. the FBI====
]
]
In 1981, while conducting research for a book about ], Wiener learned of the ] surveillance,<ref name=LATW061 /> and that there were either 281 or 400<ref name=twsJunB315/> pages of files on the ex-Beatle. Wiener requested the release of the FBI's files on Lennon by citing the ]. The FBI refused to release two-thirds<ref name=twsJunB315/> or 199 pages<ref name=twsJunB622ff>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files |newspaper=University of California Press, Berkeley |quote=see page 13 of Wiener's book, first paragraph: "... they withheld 199 ..." |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-520-22246-5 |url-access= registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gimmesometruthjo00wien}}</ref> of the files on the grounds that they contained "national security" information. The pages that were released were heavily blacked out with magic marker, or ''redacted''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Margolick |first=David |title=Seeing F.B.I. Files on Lennon: A Hard Day's Night |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/06/news/seeing-fbi-files-on-lennon-a-hard-day-s-night.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |access-date=31 May 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 6, 1981}}</ref>

In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act with assistance from the ] of Southern California,<ref name=LATW061>{{cite news |last=Weinstein |first=Henry |title=FBI to release last of its John Lennon files |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-dec-20-me-lennon20-story.html |access-date=31 May 2012 |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=December 20, 2006}}</ref><ref name=twsJunB212>{{cite news |first=Henry |last=Weinstein |title=FBI to Release Last of Its John Lennon Files: The U.S. had said such an act could stir military retaliation. The papers, withheld 25 years, don't seem to bear that out. |newspaper=Common Dreams |date=December 20, 2006 |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1220-07.htm |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref> including attorneys Dan Marmalefsky of ] and Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU.<ref name=twsJunB212/> In response, the FBI turned over some documents, but withheld others claiming they contained "national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality" and added that releasing the documents could lead to "military retaliation against the United States."<ref name=LATW061 />

Wiener chronicled much of his frustration with getting documents in his 1984 book ''Come Together'' including many "Orwellian moments" during the "tortoise-like progress" of the lawyers.<ref name=tws2MayU36/> While Wiener lost many of the early "skirmishes", a turning point came in 1991 when the ] appeals court ruled in his favor, and declared that the FBI had failed to provide "adequate grounds" to keep the data secret.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Wiener v. F.B.I. |vol=943 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=972 |court=9th Cir. |date=1991-07-12 |url=https://casetext.com/case/wiener-v-fbi}}</ref><ref name=tws2MayU42>{{cite news |first=Henry |last=Weinstein |title=FBI to release last of its John Lennon files: The U.S. had said such an act could stir military retaliation. The papers, withheld 25 years, don't seem to bear that out. |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 20, 2006 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-dec-20-me-lennon20-story.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> As a result, the FBI had to keep filing affidavits which had "sufficient detail" which allowed Wiener to keep advocating for their release, and for judges to "intelligently judge" the contest, according to several reports.<ref name=twsJunB212/><ref name=tws2MayU42/> Then-Justice Department lawyer ], who later became Chief Justice of the ], appealed the decision,<ref name=twsJunB212/> but the Supreme Court declined to review it.<ref name=tws2MayU42/>

The case of ''Wiener v FBI'' escalated over many years.<ref name=tws2MayU413>{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Harrington |title=Missing Peace: John Lennon's Legal Battles With the U.S. |newspaper=Washington Post |date=October 1, 2006 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092900225.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> A settlement with the FBI was reached in 1997<ref name=tws2MayU11/> before the case could be heard before the ], and most documents except ten were released to Wiener as part of the agreement.<ref name=tws2MayU14/> According to Wiener, the government paid $204,000 in court costs and attorney fees.<ref name=tws2MayU36/> The justice department lawyers retained ten documents under the national security proviso of the ].<ref name=LATW061 /> In 2006, the final eight or ten documents of Lennon's file were released.<ref name=tws2MayU14/><ref>{{cite news |title=FBI releases final file on John Lennon |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-20-fbi-lennon_x.htm |access-date=31 May 2012 |newspaper=USA Today |date=December 21, 2006}}</ref> According to Wiener, the ten pages revealed there had been contacts between Lennon and leftist and anti-war groups in London in the early 1970s but that there had been no signs that government officials saw Lennon as a serious threat,<ref name=tws2MayU14/><ref name=twsJunB212/> and only regarded solicitation of funds for a "left-wing bookshop and reading room in London" but that Lennon did not provide any funds for this purpose.<ref name=tws2MayU42/> Wiener wrote:

{{quote|I doubt that Tony Blair's government will launch a military strike on the U.S. in retaliation for the release of these documents ... Today, we can see that the national security claims that the FBI has been making for 25 years were absurd from the beginning.|Jon Wiener, 2006, in '']''<ref name=tws2MayU14/>}}

]
Wiener expressed amazement that so much of the information had been withheld:

{{quote|One of the items here is a report from an undercover agent on a meeting of anti-war radicals in the East Village ... The undercover agent reports — this is to J. Edgar Hoover — that at this loft in the East Village, there is a parrot, and whenever the conversation gets heated, the parrot shouts, "Right on!" Now, it's kind of mildly interesting, but why does J. Edgar Hoover need to know this? Why should this be classified "confidential"?|Jon Wiener, in 2000, in an interview<ref name=twsJunB315/><ref name=twsJunB622bb>{{cite news |author=FBI |title=Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files |newspaper=University of California Press, Berkeley |quote=FBI document; Figure NY-88 page 5 after settlement, of FBI documents; page 251 in Wiener's book -- date of FBI document: March 5, 1972 ... verbatim quote: "Linda's parrot interjects ''Right On'' whenever the conversation gets rousing ... |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-520-22246-5 |url-access= registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gimmesometruthjo00wien}}</ref>}}

====Chronicling the case====
Wiener wrote about his legal battles in his book, ''Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files'', published by the University of California Press in 2000.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=9780520222465 |title=Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gimmesometruthjo00wien |last1=Wiener |first1=Jon |year=1999|publisher=University of California Press }}</ref> The book includes copies of 100 key documents from the Lennon file, 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."<ref name=twsJunB622cc>{{cite news |author=FBI |title=Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files |newspaper=University of California Press, Berkeley |quote=FBI document; Figure HQ-24 page 1; page 289 in Wiener's book -- date of FBI "AirTel" document: July 27, 1972 ... verbatim quote: "... with regards to subject being arrested if at all possible on possession of narcotics charge." |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-520-22246-5 |url-access= registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gimmesometruthjo00wien}}</ref> He also wrote about the case and its significance for ], ], the ], and ].

Wiener's work provided the basis for the 2006 documentary '']''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The U.S. vs. John Lennon |website=] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478049/}}</ref> Wiener served as a historical consultant to the production and also appears in the film.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Adam |title=While Nixon Campaigned, the F.B.I. Watched John Lennon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/opinion/21thu4.html |access-date=31 May 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 21, 2006}}</ref> He also appears in the documentary '']'', which aired on the PBS show "American Masters" in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=LENNONYC |website=] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/john-lennon/john-lennon-in-new-york/1551 |access-date=31 May 2012}}</ref> He was interviewed about the Lennon FBI Files by Terry Gross on the NPR program "Fresh Air." ] attorney Mark Rosenbaum said that the ''Wiener v FBI'' case revealed "government paranoia at a pathological level and an attempt to shield executive branch abuse of civil liberties under the rubric of national security."<ref name=tws2MayU315>{{cite news |author=TOM ZELLER JR. |title=Has Stephen Colbert Been Hiding John Lennon's F.B.I. Legacy? |work=The New York Times |date=December 20, 2006 |url=http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/has-stephen-colbert-been-hiding-john-lennons-fbi-legacy/ |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>

===Books===
Wiener is the author of seven books. In addition to his co-authored 2020 book '']'', Wiener also wrote ''Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower.''<ref>{{cite book |isbn=9781565848849 |title=Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower |url=https://archive.org/details/historiansintrou00wien |last1=Wiener |first1=Jon |year=2005|publisher=New Press }}</ref> he examined various academic scandals and concluded that media spectacles end careers only when powerful, usually right-leaning external groups demand punishment.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Leonard |first=John |author-link=John Leonard (critic) |date=January 2005 |title=New Books |magazine=] |publisher=Harper's Foundation |volume=310 |issue=1856 |page=90 |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2005/01/new-books-114/ |access-date=December 14, 2018}}{{subscription required}}</ref> He also edited and wrote the introduction to ''Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Seven'' which included an abridged transcript of the ]; in that trial, ], ], ], ] and others faced charges stemming from anti-war demonstrations at the ], and witnesses included ], ], ], and ]; the book includes an afterword by defendant ] and drawings by ].<ref>{{cite book |isbn=9781565848337 |title=Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Eight |last1=Wiener |first1=Jon |year=2006|publisher=The New Press }}</ref> Wiener's earlier book ''How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America'', based on his visits to ] monuments, museums, and memorials, emphasizes popular skepticism about America's victory.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=9780520271418 |title=How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America |last1=Wiener |first1=Jon |date=October 15, 2012|publisher=University of California Press }}</ref>

===Critical reaction===
Reactions by critics to Wiener's writings has been varied.<ref name=tws2MayU36XX>{{cite news |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |title=Nonfiction |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-05-26-bk-6170-story.html|access-date=31 May 2012|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=May 26, 1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Harris |first=John |title=Who'd be a Lennonist? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/dec/21/whodbealennonist |newspaper=The Guardian |date=December 21, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Gillette |first=Felix |title=In the Tower With the Tenure-Benders |url=http://www.nysun.com/arts/in-the-tower-with-the-tenure-benders/9033/ |newspaper=New York Sun |date=February 10, 2005}}</ref><ref name=Holden>{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Steven |title=Review of Come Together |newspaper=New York Times Book Review |date=November 25, 1984}}</ref> Kirkus Reviews called ''Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties'' "a richly detailed portrait of a city that seethed with rebellious energy."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mike-davis/set-the-night-on-fire-davis/|title=SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE &#124; Kirkus Reviews|via=www.kirkusreviews.com}}</ref> The reviewer for the '']'' described it as "a dense, detailed read" that was “authoritative and impressive.”<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-04-13/the-60s-movements-for-justice-in-los-angeles |title=Review: How L.A.'s '60s movements fought for justice — and sometimes even achieved it |date=2020-04-13 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> The '']'' called it "a monumental history of rebellion and resistance."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/set-night-fire/ |title=Set the Night on Fire |last1=Davis |first1=Mike |last2=Wiener |first2=Jon |website=Los Angeles Review of Books|date=April 14, 2020 |access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> Some reviewers found problems with the book – ''Publishers Weekly'' said it was an "overstuffed and often disjointed account" but declared that "Davis and Wiener write with passion and deep knowledge,” and concluded that the book was “an indispensable portrait of an unexplored chapter in history."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-78478-022-7 |title=Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties |website=www.publishersweekly.com|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> On April 22, 2020, in '']''{{'}}s ''Book of the Day'', ] called it "a vital primer in resistance, a gift to the future from the past."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/22/set-the-night-on-fire-by-mike-davis-and-jon-wiener-review-la-in-the-sixties |title=Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener review – the real LA in the 1960s |last=Ehrenreich |first=Ben |website=The Guardian|date=April 22, 2020 }}</ref> 

Among his earlier books, the '']'' wrote that Wiener's book ''Come Together: John Lennon in His Time'' "stands out as one of the few books that don't want to deify, dish the dirt about or otherwise exploit the slain former Beatle."<ref name="Holden" /> A second review of this book criticized Wiener's perspective for being "tunnel-visioned".<ref name="tws2MayU311">{{cite news |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-05-26-bk-6170-story.html |title=Nonfiction |date=May 26, 1985 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> He has been criticized by ] of '']''.<ref name="twsJunB314">{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Sullivan |title=The Daily Dish |newspaper=The Atlantic |date=October 28, 2002 |url=http://sullivanarchives.theatlantic.com/index.php.dish_inc-archives.2002_10_01_dish_archive.html |access-date=June 2, 2012 |archive-date=January 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130193341/http://sullivanarchives.theatlantic.com/index.php.dish_inc-archives.2002_10_01_dish_archive.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Wiener's ''Gimme Some Truth'' received positive reviews in '']'', ''London Independent'', and the '']''. A review of Wiener's book ''Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower'' criticized Wiener for having a left-leaning bias.<ref name="tws2MayU34">{{cite news |last=Gillette |first=Felix |url=http://www.nysun.com/arts/in-the-tower-with-the-tenure-benders/9033/ |title=In the Tower With the Tenure-Benders (title of review) Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower by Jon Wiener (title and author of book being reviewed) |date=February 10, 2005 |work=The New York Sun |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref> One reviewer described Wiener's ''Gimme Some Truth'' book as "sobering".<ref name="twsJunB623">{{cite news |author=J.F.K. |title=Media Jones: Pacifism Rocks! |newspaper=Mother Jones |date=November 1999 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/1999/11/media-jones |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
* '']'', by Jon Wiener and Mike Davis, Verso (publisher), April 14, 2020, {{ISBN|978-1784780227}}
* ''I Told You So: Gore Vidal Talks Politics''—interviews with ]<ref name=tws2DecW222>{{cite news |first=Martin |last=Chilton |title=I Told You So, Gore Vidal Talks Politics: review -- A new book of four interviews with Gore Vidal highlight his controversial views on Lincoln and Roosevelt - and include a witty tale of taking the mickey out of President Kennedy. |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=19 Nov 2012 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9684058/I-Told-You-So-Gore-Vidal-Talks-Politics-review.html |access-date=December 23, 2012}}</ref><ref name=tws2DecW223>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Kammen |title=I Told You So: Gore Vidal Talks Politics. Interviews with Jon Wiener |newspaper=Los Angeles Review of Books |quote=... Jon Wiener, Professor of History at UC Irvine and contributing editor at The Nation, knew Vidal for more than a quarter century; he interviewed him several times ... |date=November 6, 2012 |url=http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1148&fulltext=1&media |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415093916/http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1148&fulltext=1&media |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |access-date=December 23, 2012 }}</ref>
* ''How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America.''<ref name=tws2MayU11/> Berkeley: ], 2012. {{ISBN|9780520271418}}.
* ''Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Seven''. Edited with an introduction by Jon Wiener; afterword by Tom Hayden; drawings by Jules Feiffer. New York: The New Press, 2006. {{ISBN|9781565848337}}
* ''Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower'' . New York: ], 2005. {{ISBN|9781565848849}}<ref name=tws2MayU17/><ref name=tws2MayU19>{{cite news |title=Jon Wiener |work=Slate Magazine |date=May 21, 2012 |url=http://www.slate.com/authors.jon_wiener.html |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
* ''Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files'' Berkeley: ], 2000. {{ISBN|9780520222465}} <ref name=LATW061 /><ref name=tws2MayU11/><ref name=tws2MayU16>{{cite news |first=Jon |last=Wiener |title=Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files |work=NPR |quote=... This book is about: Archives, Lennon, John, Singers, United States |url=https://www.npr.org/books/titles/138003205/gimme-some-truth-the-john-lennon-fbi-files |access-date=May 21, 2012}}</ref>
* ''Professors, Politics and Pop''. London and New York: ], 1991. {{ISBN|9780860916727}}
* ''Come Together: John Lennon in his Time'' New York: ], 1984. {{ISBN|9780252061318}} <ref name=LATW061 /><ref name=tws2MayU17/>
* ''Social Origins of the New South: Alabama, 1865-1885''. Baton Rouge: ], 1978. {{ISBN|9780807108888}}
* "The Footnote Fetish." Telos 31 (Spring 1977). New York: Telos Press.

==See also==
* ]
* '']''
* ]
*Sean O'Hagan in The Guardian<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/26/set-the-night-on-fire-la-in-the-sixties-mike-davis-jon-wiener-review- |title=Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener – review |website=] |date=April 26, 2020 }}</ref>
*Kevin McCaighy in Socialist Review<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://socialistreview.org.uk/455/set-night-fire |title=Set the Night on Fire |access-date=April 27, 2020 |archive-date=July 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730135321/http://socialistreview.org.uk/455/set-night-fire |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*
* at '']''
* at University of California, Irvine
*{{C-SPAN|1014340}}
* *
* ''Fresh Air with ]'': interview with Jon Wiener
*
* * ''Fresh Air with Terry Gross'': interview with Jon Wiener

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American historian and journalist (born 1944)

This article is about the American historian. Not to be confused with Jon Weiner.
Jon Wiener
Born (1944-05-16) May 16, 1944 (age 80)
Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Alma materPrinceton University (BA) Harvard University (PhD)
Occupation(s)Historian,
Political writer,
Author
Years active38+
EmployerUniversity of California, Irvine
SpouseJudy Fiskin
Websitewww.jonwiener.com
Jon Wiener with Chinese dissent artist Ai Wei Wei at KPFK, 2017

Jon Wiener (born May 16, 1944) is an American historian and journalist based in Los Angeles, California. His most recent book is Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties, a Los Angeles Times bestseller co-authored by Mike Davis. He waged a 25-year legal battle to win the release of the FBI's files on John Lennon. Wiener played a key role in efforts to expose the surveillance, as well as the behind-the-scenes battling between the government and the former Beatle, and is an expert on the FBI-versus-Lennon controversy. A professor emeritus of United States history at the University of California, Irvine and host of The Nation's weekly podcast, Start Making Sense, he is also a contributing editor to the progressive political weekly magazine The Nation. He also hosts a weekly radio program in Los Angeles.

Set the Night on Fire (2020) is a movement history of Los Angeles. The backbone of the book is the story of the civil rights, Black power and Chicano movements, as well as the anti-war movement, gay liberation and women's liberation and the battles between young people and the LAPD on Sunset Strip and at Venice Beach. The counterculture provides another focus—the Ash Grove folk music club, the LA Free Press, KPFK radio and the Free Clinic.

Early life

Wiener was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the son of Gladys (née Aronsohn) and Dr. Daniel Wiener. He graduated from Central High School and then attended Princeton University where he founded a chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society to protest the Vietnam War. He received a bachelor's degree from Princeton in 1966, and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard, where he worked with Barrington Moore, Jr. and Michael Walzer, and also wrote for the underground paper The Old Mole.

Career

Academic career

At the University of California, Irvine, Wiener taught history courses on American politics and the Cold War. His scholarly works have been published in The American Historical Review, The Journal of American History, Radical History Review, and Past & Present. He led students on visits to the Nixon Library.

Journalism and political commentary

Wiener with John Waters, an American film director, screenwriter, author, actor, stand-up comedian, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, in 2010.

Since 1984, Wiener has been a contributing editor for The Nation magazine, where he has written about diverse topics including campus issues, intellectual controversies, and southern California politics. His writing has also appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and the Los Angeles Times. Wiener hosted a weekly podcast for The Nation, “Start Making Sense,” and a weekly radio program for Los Angeles radio station KPFK 90.7 FM.

In his journalism, Wiener, writing in the Los Angeles Times at the beginning of 2020, correctly predicted that 2020 would be "The Worst Year of Trump’s Life." He interviewed Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei about the international refugee crisis—the subject of Ai's film "Human Flow." He interviewed Georgia's voting rights organizer Stacey Abrams about her work. And he spoke with the award-winning novelist Margaret Atwood about “the shocking relevance of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” He also has written on historical topics – on the 50th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre, he wrote about the "forgotten hero" who "stopped the My Lai massacre," quoting from his interview for KPFK with army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson. And he wrote for the New York Times Book Review about how the sixties are remembered in America. While Wiener is perhaps best known for his battling to expose the FBI's surveillance of John Lennon, he also was instrumental in getting the FBI to release documents about its surveillance of comedian Groucho Marx.

Wiener and the Lennon FBI files

Chronology of Wiener v. FBI
Dates Event Notes
1969 Lennon releases the single
"Give Peace a Chance"
1971–1972 FBI closely monitors Lennon
1972-03-06 INS tries to deport Lennon
1973-03 Judge rules Lennon must leave
US in two months
1973-06 Lennon countersues US
1976-06 Lennon wins countersuit;
can stay in US
1980-12-10 John Lennon murdered
1981 Wiener researches book
on Lennon
1981 Wiener requests documents
Gets some, most held back
1981 Wiener sues FBI
to release documents
1983 FBI claims national
security danger
1991 9th circuit court: FBI
didn't show "adequate
grounds" for secrecy
1992 Justice Dept appeals
9th Circuit decision
to Supreme Court
1992 Court refuses appeal,
sides with Wiener/ACLU
1997 FBI releases more documents
except for ten documents
2000 Report: Lennon may have
secretly funded IRA
says MI5
doubted by Lennon supporters
2004 Federal judge orders
remaining ten
documents released
2004 FBI agrees to release
final 10 documents
2006-12-20 FBI releases final
eight or ten documents
2006 The U.S. Versus John Lennon
Documentary; Wiener is consultant
2006-12-21 Wiener discussed contents of
declassified material on NPR

Background

According to one report, FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover sent a memo to Nixon's chief of staff describing Lennon as a sympathizer of Trotskyist communists in England.
John and Yoko Lennon recording the song Give Peace a Chance in 1969.

The legal battle between Wiener and the United States government was waged over two and a half decades, and has been examined by other historians. In the late sixties, many young Americans became opposed to the Vietnam War, and John Lennon became an antiwar advocate who made then-president Richard Nixon nervous about his reelection prospects in 1972. The consensus view is that Nixon asked the FBI to begin surveillance of Lennon, possibly after Lennon went to New York on a visa and met up with radical anti-war activists. Government surveillance of Lennon had been extensive, although there was no documentary evidence of wiretapping, and lasted about 11 months.

It is likely that Lennon was unaware of the FBI surveillance during the early 1970s.

The attempt to deport Lennon

The Immigration and Naturalization Service, acting on a suggestion from Senator Strom Thurmond, and probably at the behest of Richard Nixon, ordered Lennon to be deported in the spring of 1972. According to Wiener's account, the key issue for the Nixon administration was that Lennon had been talking to anti-war leaders about a "tour that would combine rock music with anti-war organizing and voter registration," possibly as a way to court first-time eighteen-year-old voters, who were believed to have a tendency to vote for the Democratic party.

The Republican National Convention in August 1972; Nixon's wife Pat Nixon addressed the crowd. Nixon was reelected in November 1972.

Reporter Adam Cohen writing in 2006 in The New York Times agreed that the FBI surveillance of Lennon had been motivated not only by antiwar concerns but by concerns of a political nature. According to Cohen, what was most revealing was that the timing of these events suggested there was an underlying political motivation behind the surveillance and deportation proceedings. Numerous friends, including folk singer Bob Dylan, wrote letters to the Immigration and Naturalization Service advocating that Lennon should be allowed to stay. On December 8, 1972, after Nixon's reelection in November, the FBI closed its investigation of Lennon, partially because Lennon has shown "inactivity in Revolutionary Activities." According to Wiener, the FBI had succeeded in "neutralizing" Lennon's opposition to Nixon's reelection. John Lennon was murdered in December 1980.

Wiener vs. the FBI

Document with text almost all blacked out, dated 1972.
The FBI released heavily blacked out, or redacted, pages of the Lennon FBI file, including this one, initially in response to Jon Wiener's Freedom of Information request.
Document with portions of text blacked out, dated 1972.
Wiener received this less-heavily blacked out copy of the same file page after more than a decade of litigation by the ACLU of Southern California.

In 1981, while conducting research for a book about John Lennon, Wiener learned of the FBI surveillance, and that there were either 281 or 400 pages of files on the ex-Beatle. Wiener requested the release of the FBI's files on Lennon by citing the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI refused to release two-thirds or 199 pages of the files on the grounds that they contained "national security" information. The pages that were released were heavily blacked out with magic marker, or redacted.

In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act with assistance from the ACLU of Southern California, including attorneys Dan Marmalefsky of Morrison & Foerster and Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU. In response, the FBI turned over some documents, but withheld others claiming they contained "national security information provided by a foreign government under an explicit promise of confidentiality" and added that releasing the documents could lead to "military retaliation against the United States."

Wiener chronicled much of his frustration with getting documents in his 1984 book Come Together including many "Orwellian moments" during the "tortoise-like progress" of the lawyers. While Wiener lost many of the early "skirmishes", a turning point came in 1991 when the 9th Circuit appeals court ruled in his favor, and declared that the FBI had failed to provide "adequate grounds" to keep the data secret. As a result, the FBI had to keep filing affidavits which had "sufficient detail" which allowed Wiener to keep advocating for their release, and for judges to "intelligently judge" the contest, according to several reports. Then-Justice Department lawyer John Roberts, who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, appealed the decision, but the Supreme Court declined to review it.

The case of Wiener v FBI escalated over many years. A settlement with the FBI was reached in 1997 before the case could be heard before the Supreme Court, and most documents except ten were released to Wiener as part of the agreement. According to Wiener, the government paid $204,000 in court costs and attorney fees. The justice department lawyers retained ten documents under the national security proviso of the FOIA. In 2006, the final eight or ten documents of Lennon's file were released. According to Wiener, the ten pages revealed there had been contacts between Lennon and leftist and anti-war groups in London in the early 1970s but that there had been no signs that government officials saw Lennon as a serious threat, and only regarded solicitation of funds for a "left-wing bookshop and reading room in London" but that Lennon did not provide any funds for this purpose. Wiener wrote:

I doubt that Tony Blair's government will launch a military strike on the U.S. in retaliation for the release of these documents ... Today, we can see that the national security claims that the FBI has been making for 25 years were absurd from the beginning.

— Jon Wiener, 2006, in USA Today
A parrot, similar to this one, was reported to have said "Right on!" whenever discussion got heated.

Wiener expressed amazement that so much of the information had been withheld:

One of the items here is a report from an undercover agent on a meeting of anti-war radicals in the East Village ... The undercover agent reports — this is to J. Edgar Hoover — that at this loft in the East Village, there is a parrot, and whenever the conversation gets heated, the parrot shouts, "Right on!" Now, it's kind of mildly interesting, but why does J. Edgar Hoover need to know this? Why should this be classified "confidential"?

— Jon Wiener, in 2000, in an interview

Chronicling the case

Wiener wrote about his legal battles in his book, Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files, published by the University of California Press in 2000. The book includes copies of 100 key documents from the Lennon file, 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." He also wrote about the case and its significance for The Guardian, The Nation, the L.A. Times, and The New Republic.

Wiener's work provided the basis for the 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon. Wiener served as a historical consultant to the production and also appears in the film. He also appears in the documentary LENNONYC, which aired on the PBS show "American Masters" in 2010. He was interviewed about the Lennon FBI Files by Terry Gross on the NPR program "Fresh Air." ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum said that the Wiener v FBI case revealed "government paranoia at a pathological level and an attempt to shield executive branch abuse of civil liberties under the rubric of national security."

Books

Wiener is the author of seven books. In addition to his co-authored 2020 book Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties, Wiener also wrote Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower. he examined various academic scandals and concluded that media spectacles end careers only when powerful, usually right-leaning external groups demand punishment. He also edited and wrote the introduction to Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Seven which included an abridged transcript of the 1968 Chicago Conspiracy trial; in that trial, Bobby Seale, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Dave Dellinger and others faced charges stemming from anti-war demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention, and witnesses included Timothy Leary, Norman Mailer, Arlo Guthrie, and Allen Ginsberg; the book includes an afterword by defendant Tom Hayden and drawings by Jules Feiffer. Wiener's earlier book How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America, based on his visits to Cold War monuments, museums, and memorials, emphasizes popular skepticism about America's victory.

Critical reaction

Reactions by critics to Wiener's writings has been varied. Kirkus Reviews called Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties "a richly detailed portrait of a city that seethed with rebellious energy." The reviewer for the Los Angeles Times described it as "a dense, detailed read" that was “authoritative and impressive.” The LA Review of Books called it "a monumental history of rebellion and resistance." Some reviewers found problems with the book – Publishers Weekly said it was an "overstuffed and often disjointed account" but declared that "Davis and Wiener write with passion and deep knowledge,” and concluded that the book was “an indispensable portrait of an unexplored chapter in history." On April 22, 2020, in The Guardian's Book of the Day, Ben Ehrenreich called it "a vital primer in resistance, a gift to the future from the past." 

Among his earlier books, the New York Times Book Review wrote that Wiener's book Come Together: John Lennon in His Time "stands out as one of the few books that don't want to deify, dish the dirt about or otherwise exploit the slain former Beatle." A second review of this book criticized Wiener's perspective for being "tunnel-visioned". He has been criticized by Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic. Wiener's Gimme Some Truth received positive reviews in The Washington Post, London Independent, and the Christian Science Monitor. A review of Wiener's book Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower criticized Wiener for having a left-leaning bias. One reviewer described Wiener's Gimme Some Truth book as "sobering".

Selected bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ Weinstein, Henry (December 20, 2006). "FBI to release last of its John Lennon files". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  2. ^ Wiener, Jon (May 21, 2012). "Jon Wiener". The Nation. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  3. Note: estimate assumes began career at age 30
  4. Davis, Mike; Wiener, Jon (2020). Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties. : Verso. ISBN 978-1-78478-022-7. OCLC 1109409493.
  5. "Bestsellers List Sun., June 14, 2020". Los Angeles Times. June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  6. ^ "FBI releases final file on John Lennon". USA Today. Associated Press. December 21, 2006. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  7. "FBI Releases Last Pages From Lennon File". Washington Post. Associated Press. December 20, 2006. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  8. Wiener, Jon (February 25, 2000). "John Lennon's MI5-FBI Files". Common Dreams. Archived from the original on March 21, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  9. "Emeriti Faculty". www.humanities.uci.edu.
  10. "Jon Wiener". April 2, 2010.
  11. "Start Making Sense". October 22, 2015.
  12. "Living In The USA". KPFK 90.7 FM. September 2, 2023.
  13. "Gladys Aronsohn (Wiener) Spratt". Duluth News Tribune. July 12, 2009. Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  14. ^ Anna Windemuth (November 18, 2016). "Princeton students stage sanctuary campus walk-out". ... Wiener is the host and producer of "Start Making Sense,"... professor emeritus of history at UC Irvine. ... A member of Princeton's class of 1966, Jon Wiener founded the Princeton chapter of Students for a Democratic Society to protest the Vietnam War when he was a student ... he thinks the sanctuary movement is a great cause ...
  15. "The Scholar Squirrels and the National Security State: An Interview with Gore Vidal -- Jon Wiener". Radical History Review. Spring 1989. Retrieved June 2, 2012. Non-Thematic Issue -- Issues 44
  16. Nagourney, Adam (August 6, 2010). "Watergate Becomes Sore Point at Nixon Library". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  17. William M. Welch (April 1, 2011). "Nixon library now tells full Watergate story". USA Today. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  18. Nagourney, Adam (September 12, 2011). "What's a Presidential Library to Do?". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  19. ^ "Uncovering The 'Truth' Behind Lennon's FBI Files". NPR. October 8, 2010. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  20. Welch, Matt (September 9, 2011). "In fact, on Dec. 7, 1951, Pearl Harbor wasn't remembered". Reason Magazine. Retrieved June 2, 2012. Writing in the L.A. Times, Jon Wiener compares two 10-year anniversaries.
  21. Wiener, Jon (January 25, 2012). "When art and politics collided in L.A.: The Tower of Protest, being rebuilt as part of Pacific Standard Time, incited passion and vandalism for a few months in 1966". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  22. Jon Wiener (book reviewer) (January 13, 2002). "Survival During a Dark Time (book review title) A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered, By Ruth Kluger (book and author being reviewed)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  23. "Opinion: 2020 will be the worst year of Trump's life". Los Angeles Times. January 1, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  24. Wiener, Jon (October 13, 2017). "Ai Weiwei on the Refugee Crisis: 'People Have Been Forced Into a State of Movement'". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  25. Wiener, Jon (April 5, 2019). "Stacey Abrams: 'Open That Door'". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  26. Wiener, Jon (April 28, 2017). "Margaret Atwood: The Shocking Relevance of 'The Handmaid's Tale'". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  27. "Op-Ed: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago today". Los Angeles Times. March 16, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  28. Wiener, Jon (June 8, 2016). "'Witness to the Revolution,' by Clara Bingham". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  29. Smith, Dinitia (September 14, 1998). "Would Groucho Have Joined a Party That Would Have Him as a Member?". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  30. Tribune News Services (September 14, 1998). "Groucho Marx Was On Fbi's Watch List". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  31. Wiener, Jon (1999). "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files". University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-520-22246-5. FBI Airtel report; Figure 46 NY-17 of FBI documents; page 194 in Wiener's book
  32. ^ JONATHAN LEVI (book reviewer) (December 30, 1999). "The U.S. Campaign Against John Lennon (title of book review) GIMME SOME TRUTH, The John Lennon-FBI Files; by Jon Wiener (title and author of book)". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  33. Note: the month is uncertain but the year 1973 is probably right.
  34. Note: the month is uncertain but the year 1976 is probably right.
  35. ^ Amy Goodman (interviewer) Jon Wiener (interviewee) (May 25, 2000). "Gimme Some Truth: The FBI Files of John Lennon". Democracy Now!. Retrieved June 2, 2012. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  36. ^ "FBI Releases Its Final Files on John Lennon". NPR. December 21, 2006. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  37. Bright, Martin (February 19, 2000). "Lennon aided IRA, claims MI5 renegade". The Guardian. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  38. ^ Weinstein, Henry (December 20, 2006). "FBI to Release Last of Its John Lennon Files: The U.S. had said such an act could stir military retaliation. The papers, withheld 25 years, don't seem to bear that out". Common Dreams. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  39. Friedman (editor), John S.; James Carroll (October 2005). The Secret Histories: Hidden Truths That Challenged the Past and Changed the World (First ed.). New York: MacMillan. pp. 252–254. ISBN 0-312-42517-1. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  40. ^ Cohen, Adam (September 21, 2006). "While Nixon Campaigned, the F.B.I. Watched John Lennon". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  41. ^ Robert Scheer (interviewer) Jon Wiener (interviewee) (September 12, 2006). "Jon Wiener on John Lennon (interview)". truthdig. Retrieved June 2, 2012. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  42. Wiener, Jon (December 18, 2006). "He didn't have to do it. That's one reason he's still admired". The Guardian. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  43. Wiener, Jon (December 18, 2006). "He didn't have to do it. That's one reason he's still admired: The FBI campaign against John Lennon shows how far the state can go to deal with stars who refuse to toe the line". The Guardian. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  44. ^ Wiener, Jon (October 9, 2010). "Bob Dylan's Defense of John Lennon". Common Dreams. Retrieved June 2, 2012. (Dylan's request around 1972)
  45. ^ FBI (1999). "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files". University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-520-22246-5. FBI document; Figure HQ-32; page 305 in Wiener's book -- date of FBI memorandum: October 24, 1972 ... verbatim from document: "... Inasmuch as there is no indication that the subject ever appeared in Miami Beach during either of the national political conventions in July and August, 1972, no further investigation is being conducted by Miami."
  46. Wiener, Jon (1999). "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files". University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-520-22246-5. see page 13 of Wiener's book, first paragraph: "... they withheld 199 ..."
  47. Margolick, David (September 6, 1981). "Seeing F.B.I. Files on Lennon: A Hard Day's Night". The New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  48. Wiener v. F.B.I., 943 F.2d 972 (9th Cir. 1991-07-12).
  49. ^ Weinstein, Henry (December 20, 2006). "FBI to release last of its John Lennon files: The U.S. had said such an act could stir military retaliation. The papers, withheld 25 years, don't seem to bear that out". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  50. Harrington, Richard (October 1, 2006). "Missing Peace: John Lennon's Legal Battles With the U.S." Washington Post. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  51. "FBI releases final file on John Lennon". USA Today. December 21, 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  52. FBI (1999). "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files". University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-520-22246-5. FBI document; Figure NY-88 page 5 after settlement, of FBI documents; page 251 in Wiener's book -- date of FBI document: March 5, 1972 ... verbatim quote: "Linda's parrot interjects Right On whenever the conversation gets rousing ...
  53. Wiener, Jon (1999). Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520222465.
  54. FBI (1999). "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files". University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-520-22246-5. FBI document; Figure HQ-24 page 1; page 289 in Wiener's book -- date of FBI "AirTel" document: July 27, 1972 ... verbatim quote: "... with regards to subject being arrested if at all possible on possession of narcotics charge."
  55. "The U.S. vs. John Lennon". IMDb.
  56. Cohen, Adam (September 21, 2006). "While Nixon Campaigned, the F.B.I. Watched John Lennon". The New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  57. "LENNONYC". PBS. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  58. TOM ZELLER JR. (December 20, 2006). "Has Stephen Colbert Been Hiding John Lennon's F.B.I. Legacy?". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  59. Wiener, Jon (2005). Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower. New Press. ISBN 9781565848849.
  60. Leonard, John (January 2005). "New Books". Harper's. Vol. 310, no. 1856. Harper's Foundation. p. 90. Retrieved December 14, 2018.(subscription required)
  61. Wiener, Jon (2006). Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Eight. The New Press. ISBN 9781565848337.
  62. Wiener, Jon (October 15, 2012). How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey across America. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520271418.
  63. Hilburn, Robert (May 26, 1985). "Nonfiction". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  64. Harris, John (December 21, 2006). "Who'd be a Lennonist?". The Guardian.
  65. Gillette, Felix (February 10, 2005). "In the Tower With the Tenure-Benders". New York Sun.
  66. ^ Holden, Steven (November 25, 1984). "Review of Come Together". New York Times Book Review.
  67. "SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE | Kirkus Reviews" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
  68. "Review: How L.A.'s '60s movements fought for justice — and sometimes even achieved it". Los Angeles Times. April 13, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  69. Davis, Mike; Wiener, Jon (April 14, 2020). "Set the Night on Fire". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  70. "Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  71. Ehrenreich, Ben (April 22, 2020). "Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener review – the real LA in the 1960s". The Guardian.
  72. Hilburn, Robert (May 26, 1985). "Nonfiction". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  73. Sullivan, Andrew (October 28, 2002). "The Daily Dish". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 30, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  74. Gillette, Felix (February 10, 2005). "In the Tower With the Tenure-Benders (title of review) Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud, and Politics in the Ivory Tower by Jon Wiener (title and author of book being reviewed)". The New York Sun. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  75. J.F.K. (November 1999). "Media Jones: Pacifism Rocks!". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  76. Chilton, Martin (November 19, 2012). "I Told You So, Gore Vidal Talks Politics: review -- A new book of four interviews with Gore Vidal highlight his controversial views on Lincoln and Roosevelt - and include a witty tale of taking the mickey out of President Kennedy". The Telegraph. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
  77. Kammen, Michael (November 6, 2012). "I Told You So: Gore Vidal Talks Politics. Interviews with Jon Wiener". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2012. ... Jon Wiener, Professor of History at UC Irvine and contributing editor at The Nation, knew Vidal for more than a quarter century; he interviewed him several times ...
  78. "Jon Wiener". Slate Magazine. May 21, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  79. Wiener, Jon. "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files". NPR. Retrieved May 21, 2012. ... This book is about: Archives, Lennon, John, Singers, United States
  80. "Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener – review". TheGuardian.com. April 26, 2020.
  81. "Set the Night on Fire". Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.

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