Jon Wiener

Jon Wiener is professor of history at the University of California Irvine, a contributing editor to "The Nation" magazine, and a Los Angeles radio host. He is noted for being the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its files on John Lennon.

Freedom of Information case: Wiener v. FBI

In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act for their files on John Lennon, 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 American Civil Liberties Union 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 Supreme Court before the President Bill Clinton'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 [http://www.LennonFBIfiles.com] . The story of Lennon's battle with Nixon is also told in the documentary, "The U.S. Versus John Lennon", by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld, 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 [http://lennonfbifiles.com/fbi_release06.html] .

Career as an author and commentator

In his 2005 book "Historians in Trouble" (The New Press), Wiener notes that some historians accused of misconduct have their careers destroyed, while others end up receiving the National Humanities Medal from George W. Bush – and asks, why is that? “Wiener takes the modern university as his beat, and covers it like a police reporter," reviewer John Leonard wrote. "Wiener's mean streets are the think tank, the scholarly symposium, and the faculty lounge."

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.

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.

Wiener hosts a weekly afternoon drive-time interview show on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles. Guests have included Barbara Ehrenreich, Joan Didion, Gore Vidal, Victor Navasky, Mike Davis, Julian Bond, Al Franken, John Dean, and Terry Gross of the NPR show "Fresh Air."

Personal life

Wiener is a graduate of St. Paul Central High School. He has a B.A. from Princeton University, a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and has taught at UC Irvine since 1973. He lives in Los Angeles and is married to video artist and photographer Judy Fiskin.

Books by Jon Wiener

* "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.
* "Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower". New York: The New Press, 2005.
* "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files". Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
* "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

* [http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jon_wiener Biography] at "The Nation"
* [http://www.humanities.uci.edu/history/faculty/wiener/ Biography] at University of California, Irvine
* [http://www.lennonfbifiles.com/ The John Lennon FBI files website]
* [http://www.JonWiener.com/ Jon Wiener: On the Radio website]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6082349 "Fresh Air with Terry Gross": interview with Jon Wiener]