Walter Bowart

Infobox Writer
name = Walter Bowart

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imagesize =
caption = photo by Sophia Bowart, 2003
birthdate = birth date|1939|5|14
birthplace = Omaha, Nebraska
deathdate = death date and age|2007|12|18|1939|5|14
deathplace = Inchelium, Washington
occupation = Author, Publisher, Editor
genre = Non fiction
movement = 1960's countercultureNew Age
notableworks = "Operation Mind Control"
influences = Timothy LearySamuel L. Lewis
influenced =
footnotes =

Walter Howard Bowart (born May 14, 1939 in Omaha, Nebraska, died December 18, 2007 in Inchelium, Washington) [Fox, Marglit. " [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/arts/14bowart.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/M/Media&pagewanted=all Walter Bowart, Alternative Journalist, Dies at 68] " "The New York Times" January 14, 2008] was an American leader in the counterculture movement of the 1960s, [Woo, Elaine. " [http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-bowart13jan13,0,4246209.story Walter Bowart, 68; co-founder of the East Village Other] ", "Los Angeles Times" January 13, 2008] founder and editor of the first underground newspaper in New York City, the "East Village Other", and author of the book "Operation Mind Control".

Bowart was adopted as a newborn by Walter and Fenna Bowart. He was raised in Enid, Oklahoma, and won a McMahon Scholarship in journalism to the University of Oklahoma. In the early 1960s Bowart moved to New York City to pursue his interest in painting, and there he met his first wife Linda Dugmore, daughter of abstract expressionist Edward Dugmore, and had his first son Wolfe.

In 1965, Bowart, along with John Wilcock, Sherry Needham and Allan Katzman, founded the "East Village Other" (EVO). EVO offered a newsprint medium for the rants, artwork, poetry and comics of such 1960s icons as Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, Robert Crumb, Marshall McLuhan, Spain Rodriguez, and The Fugs. In 1966, Bowart testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency against banning LSD. He drew national attention when he recommended that committee members try the drug.

Through his connection with Timothy Leary and the psychedelic underground, Walter met his second wife, Peggy Hitchcock. They moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1968 where Bowart founded Omen Press, a publishing house for metaphysical books. Among other books, Omen Press published "This Is The New Age In Person" by “Sufi Sam”, for which Bowart wrote the foreword [Lewis, Samuel L. " [http://www.gnostic.org/murshidsam/forward.htm This Is The New Age In Person] " Tucson, AZ, Omen Press: 1972] . Bowart and Peggy Hitchcock had two daughters, Sophia and Nuria.

In 1973 Bowart located and reconnected with his biological parents, Thomas J. Kirby and Patricia J. Dooley, and discovered he had three younger sisters, Janet, Nancy and Kathy. His adoption had a profound impact on Bowart and he later published various articles under the names of his biological parents.

During this period Bowart wrote the book that was to become his seminal work, "Operation Mind Control". Published by Dell in 1978 with a foreword by "The Manchurian Candidate" author Richard Condon, "Operation Mind Control" was a 686-page investigative report into government mind control through the use of drugs such as LSD, behavior modification, hypnosis, and other “psycho-weapons” .

Following a European promotional tour, Bowart moved to Aspen, Colorado, where he continued his research, became a contributor to the "Aspen Daily News", and met Margo Jordan, his third wife.

In the early 1980s, Bowart created and published the "Port Townsend Daily News" in Port Townsend, Washington, where he met and married Rebecca Fullerton and had his fourth child, Wythe. In the late 1980s, Walter moved to Palm Springs, California to become the editor of "Palm Springs Life Magazine" [ [http://www.palmspringslife.com Palm Springs Life Magazine] ] where he published articles under the name Thomas Kirby, Tom Kirby, and Tom J.j. Kirby as well as W.H. Bowart [Kirby, Thomas. [http://www.palmspringslife.com/media/Palm-Springs-Life/March-1985/ "The Statue Of Liberty: Selling Lady Liberty's Hand-me-downs"] "Palm Springs Life" March 1985, Volume XXVII, Number 7, p. 219] .

In Bowart’s later years, he researched and wrote prolifically. He created The Freedom of Thought Foundation; a non-profit dedicated to the education of the public about mind control and was a frequently invited guest speaker at forums and conferences around the country.

Bowart died of colon cancer at his sister's home in Inchelium, Washington on December 18, 2007. At the time of his death, Bowart was working on several screenplays and novels, one entitled, "The Other Crusades", about New York City in the early 1960s.

References

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3232551.ece Obituary in "The Times", 23 January 2008]