Edward Michael Keating

Summary

Edward Michael Keating, Sr. (1925–2003), was an American newspaper publisher, journalist, author, lawyer, politician, and businessman.[1] He was the founder and publisher of Ramparts, a magazine in print 1962 to 1975, that had started as a Catholic literary magazine and evolved into a voice for the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, and support of the New Left movement.[2][3][4]

Edward Michael Keating
Born(1925-04-17)April 17, 1925
DiedApril 2, 2003(2003-04-02) (aged 77)
Other namesEdward M. Keating
Alma materStanford Law School
Occupation(s)Newspaper publisher, journalist, author, lawyer, politician, businessman
Known forLeft-wing politics, activism
SpouseHelen English
Children6

Early life edit

Edward Michael Keating, Sr. was born on April 17, 1925, in New Jersey.[2][5] In 1940, when he was a teenager, the family moved to Menlo Park, California.[2] During World War II, Keating served in the Pacific in the United States Navy.[2] He attended Stanford Law School, graduating in 1950.[2] He married Helen English, who also attended Stanford.[6]

He was raised as a Protestant and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1954.[2][7]

Career edit

After college he worked for 4 years as a commercial real estate lawyer, followed by teaching English at the Santa Clara University for one year.[2][6] In 1962, he found and published Ramparts, a Catholic quarterly literary magazine based in Menlo Park.[3] He personally financed the quarterly publication, and the magazine reached circulation of 400,000.[1][3] Ramparts printed articles about the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi; and in 1967 they exposed the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret financing of the National Student Association.[2] Writers in Ramparts included Susan Sontag, Seymour Hersh, Robert Scheer, Eldridge Cleaver, and John Howard Griffin.[3]

In 1965, Keating left the Catholic church and became agnostic, and in the same year wrote the book The Scandal of Silence (1965) about the Catholic Church during World War II.[3]

On December 12, 1966, Keating helped Eldridge Cleaver get paroled from Folsom State Prison and get hired as a staff writer at Ramparts.[6] Keating was forced to leave Raparts in 1967, and ran for United States Congress for the 11th Congressional District seat in San Mateo.[3][8] He lost the election to Pete McCloskey.[3][9]

Keating wrote a few books, short stories, and novellas after his Congressional run. He served on the legal council for Huey Newton of the Black Panthers Party.[3] In 1971, Keating published the book Free Huey!. In March 2003, he donated his 1960s Black Panther documents to the Black Panthers Papers at Stanford University.[3]

Death edit

Keating died of pneumonia on April 2, 2003, at Stanford Hospital in Stanford, California.[10][5] At the time of his death he was living in Mountain View, California.[11][3] He was survived by 6 children.[1]

Publications edit

  • Keating, Edward M. (1965). The Scandal of Silence. New York City, NY: Random House.
  • Keating, Edward M. (1971). Free Huey!. a Dell book. Charles R. Garry (introduction). Berkeley, CA: Rapparts Press. ISBN 9780878670000.
  • Keating, Edward M. (1975). The Broken Bough: The Solution to the Riddle of Man. New York City, NY: Atheneum. ISBN 9780689106798.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Edward Keating, 77, Founder of Ramparts". The New York Times. 2003-04-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Obituary: Edward Keating". the Guardian. 2003-05-03. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j McLellan, Dennis (2003-04-12). "Edward Keating, 77; Founder of Ramparts". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  4. ^ America, History and Life, Volume 29, Issue 2. Clio Press. 1992. p. 439.
  5. ^ a b "Edward M. Keating Sr. Obituary (2003)". Legacy.com. San Jose Mercury News. April 4, 2003. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  6. ^ a b c Richardson, Peter (2009-08-18). A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America. The New Press. pp. 14–16. ISBN 978-1-59558-525-7.
  7. ^ Burns, Jeffrey M. (1990). "No Longer Emerging: "Ramparts" Magazine and the Catholic Laity, 1962-1968". U.S. Catholic Historian. 9 (3): 321–333. ISSN 0735-8318. JSTOR 25153917.
  8. ^ Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri (2001-02-08). Peace Now!: American Society and the Ending of the Vietnam War. Yale University Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-0-300-08920-2.
  9. ^ "CA District 11 - Special Primary Race - Nov 14, 1967". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  10. ^ Buchanan, Wyatt (2003-04-10). "Edward Keating -- Ramparts founder". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  11. ^ "E. Keating, Ramparts founder". The Seattle Times. April 13, 2003. Retrieved 2022-02-22.

External links edit

  • Video: Edward M. Keating on the Huey Newton Trial (1968), KTVU News, from the Bay Area Television Archive, San Francisco State University
  • Archive: Merton's Correspondence with: Keating, Edward Michael (1963–1967), from The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University