Studs Terkel at 90 Going Strong

Louis Terkel was born in New York City on May 16, 1912, four weeks after the sinking of the Titanic. When his working family moved to Chicago ten years later, he had found the city of his liking. In 1934 Louis received a law degree from the University of Chicago but preferred to work in radio and print journalism. After James Farrell wrote the Studs Lonigan trilogy (1932-35), somebody tagged Terkel with the nickname Studs--and it stuck.

What made him famous was his unmatched skill of interviewing people who were neither rich nor famous, and chronicling what mattered to them most in their daily pursuits. "When I hear about a certain person," he explained, "that's the gold. Then I dig and that's the ore. But it's still not a bracelet or necklace. You still have to get them to talk, and I do that by listening."
His first book of interviews appeared in 1967: Division Street: America. A succession of such oral histories followed, focusing on people's reactions to the Great Depression, war, race relations, working men and women's lives, and the American dream. In 1984, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his tome The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two.

Among Terkel's many idiosyncrasies is his aversion to technology. He never drove a car or sent an e-mail. When he almost wiped an interview of Bertrand Russell off the tape, he commented: "I know of only one other guy unluckier with the tape recorder--Richard Nixon."

Studs likes to wear red-checkered shirts and matching red socks as a political message. He wants people to know that, if necessary, he may have to stand far to the left of the Democratic Party. Terkel, the law graduate of the University of Chicago, and Milton Friedman, the University's distinguished professor (who turned 90 on July 31) stand truly at opposite poles among America's socio-economic thinkers: Terkel unapologetically advocating the welfare state under an all-caring government; Friedman championing the free market with as little government involvement as possible. Both, however, pride themselves in being radical libertarians in their interpretation of the First Amendment freedoms.

Three years ago, at age 87, Studs began work on an interview series entitled Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for Faith. Over sixty people, ranging from the deeply religious to convinced atheists, shared their experiences of their own brushes with death, the passing of relatives and friends, and their thoughts about life in the hereafter. Folksinger Doc Watson gave Studs the title to the book from an old hymn:

"Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by? There's a better home awaiting far beyond the starry sky."

Studs had hardly begun his interviews when Ida, his wife for sixty years, died on December 23, 1999. For a few months, he was heart-broken, but a friend brought him back to life's reality. "For Christ sake," he reminded him, "you've had sixty great years with her." So Studs went back to work quoting his mantra:

"I wake up each morning and gather my wits.
I pick up the paper and read the obits.
If my name is not in it, I know I'm not dead.
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed."

Before Studs' reflections on dying and death could be published, some 3,000 Americans had perished in a horrendous mass murder plot on September 11, 2001. It grimly reminded everybody how tenuous man's hold is on this earthly life, in a world continuing to be plagued by untold fanatics and fools full of wrath and devoid of reason.

Studs' latest oral history yielded a chorus of diverse voices who experienced death as a destructive as well as a creative event. There is a recurring lesson in Studs' chronicle: Only in building upon the positive legacy of the dead are we truly celebrating their lives.

Wolf D. Fuhrig	Home	8-25-02
Studs Terkel at 90 Going Strong
Louis Terkel was born in New York City on May 16, 1912, four weeks after the sinking of the Titanic. When his working family moved to Chicago ten years later, he had found the city of his liking. In 1934 Louis received a law degree from the University of Chicago but preferred to work in radio and print journalism. After James Farrell wrote the Studs Lonigan trilogy (1932-35), somebody tagged Terkel with the nickname Studs--and it stuck. What made him famous was his unmatched skill of interviewing people who were neither rich nor famous, and chronicling what mattered to them most in their daily pursuits. "When I hear about a certain person," he explained, "that's the gold. Then I dig and that's the ore. But it's still not a bracelet or necklace. You still have to get them to talk, and I do that by listening." His first book of interviews appeared in 1967: Division Street: America. A succession of such oral histories followed, focusing on people's reactions to the Great Depression, war, race relations, working men and women's lives, and the American dream. In 1984, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his tome The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two. Among Terkel's many idiosyncrasies is his aversion to technology. He never drove a car or sent an e-mail. When he almost wiped an interview of Bertrand Russell off the tape, he commented: "I know of only one other guy unluckier with the tape recorder--Richard Nixon." Studs likes to wear red-checkered shirts and matching red socks as a political message. He wants people to know that, if necessary, he may have to stand far to the left of the Democratic Party. Terkel, the law graduate of the University of Chicago, and Milton Friedman, the University's distinguished professor (who turned 90 on July 31) stand truly at opposite poles among America's socio-economic thinkers: Terkel unapologetically advocating the welfare state under an all-caring government; Friedman championing the free market with as little government involvement as possible. Both, however, pride themselves in being radical libertarians in their interpretation of the First Amendment freedoms. Three years ago, at age 87, Studs began work on an interview series entitled Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for Faith. Over sixty people, ranging from the deeply religious to convinced atheists, shared their experiences of their own brushes with death, the passing of relatives and friends, and their thoughts about life in the hereafter. Folksinger Doc Watson gave Studs the title to the book from an old hymn: "Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by? There's a better home awaiting far beyond the starry sky." Studs had hardly begun his interviews when Ida, his wife for sixty years, died on December 23, 1999. For a few months, he was heart-broken, but a friend brought him back to life's reality. "For Christ sake," he reminded him, "you've had sixty great years with her." So Studs went back to work quoting his mantra: "I wake up each morning and gather my wits. I pick up the paper and read the obits. If my name is not in it, I know I'm not dead. So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed." Before Studs' reflections on dying and death could be published, some 3,000 Americans had perished in a horrendous mass murder plot on September 11, 2001. It grimly reminded everybody how tenuous man's hold is on this earthly life, in a world continuing to be plagued by untold fanatics and fools full of wrath and devoid of reason. Studs' latest oral history yielded a chorus of diverse voices who experienced death as a destructive as well as a creative event. There is a recurring lesson in Studs' chronicle: Only in building upon the positive legacy of the dead are we truly celebrating their lives.

Wolf D. Fuhrig

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8-25-02

Studs Terkel at 90 Going Strong