Paul Jacobs

Background

Jacobs was born on August 24, 1918, in New York City, the son of Julius Jacobs, a businessman, and Tecla Schmidt.

Education

A graduate of Townsend Harris High School, Jacobs attended City College of New York and the University of Minnesota. His formal education gave way to an intense interest in social and labor problems of the 1930's and 1940's.

Career

Calling himself a "professional revolutionist, " Jacobs was an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (1941-1943). For another two years (1946-1948) he served as race relations specialist for the American Jewish Committee. This was the first professional application of his inherited affiliation with the Jewish faith of his parents.

From 1948 to 1951 he was international representative of the Oil Workers International Union. A major portion of Jacobs's varied career opened in 1956 as staff member at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California. That connection continued until 1969, and he was an associate of the research staff of the Center for the Study of Law and Society, at the University of California Berkeley, from 1964 to 1972. Overlapping that was his growing interest in national events.

In 1970 he accepted an associate fellowship at the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies in Washington, D. C. While these assignments were in force, Jacobs contributed many articles to newspapers and magazines. Among them were the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, the Reporter, Commentary, Commonweal, New Politics, Economist, Dissent, New America, and even Playboy. Publications he particularly liked were Mother Jones (1974-1976) and Newsday (from 1977). Jacobs produced one book after another on socially inflammatory issues. These began with Old Age and Political Behavior (1959), in which friends Frank Pinner and Philip Selznick joined.

His next partner was Michael Harrington, and in 1961 they brought out Labor in a Free Society. There followed Dead Horse and the Featherbird (1962); State of the Unions (1963); Is Curly Jewish? (1965), describing his boyhood; with Saul Landau, The New Radicals: A Report With Documents (1966); Dialogue on Poverty (1967); Prelude to a Riot: A View of Urban America From the Bottom (1968), an investigation of African-American civil rights; Between the Rock and the Hard Place (1970), a description of Jewish-Arabic relations; with Saul Landau and Eve Pell, To Serve the Devil (1971), a history of American minority groups; and The Red, Black and Brown Experience in America (1971).

One of Jacobs's characteristics was to move into new means as well as new subjects. Thus he became a producer of public television programs, for which he frequently served as commentator. A notable program he helped develop was a 1972 documentary, The Jail, which was filmed in the San Francisco County Jail. The 1958 Sigma Delta Chi award for distinguished public service in magazine journalism honored Jacobs, for exposing the Atomic Energy Commission's activities in Nevada. In the May 16, 1957, issue of the Reporter, Jacobs set out his views under the title "Clouds from Nevada. " This award recognized Jacobs's exploration of the nuclear test site which he subsequently believed was the source of the cancer of which he died. Jacobs spent the years 1943-1946 in the United States Army Air Forces, from which he was discharged with the rank of sergeant. Jacobs died in San Francisco, on January 3, 1978.

Achievements

• Paul Jacobs has been listed as a notable author by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Prelude to Riot a View of Urban America from Bottom
  • The state of the unions
  • Dead Horse and the Featherbird
  • The new radicals;: A report with documents,
  • Is Curly Jewish?: A political self-portrait illuminating three turbulent decades of social revolt, 1935-1965
  • Between the Rock and the Hard Place

Connections

Jacobs married Ruth Rosenfield on January 1, 1939; they had no children.

Father:

Julius Jacobs

Mother:

Tecla Schmidt

Spouse:

Ruth Rosenfield