Interview with Lenny Siegel : The Movement Oral History Project
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Leonard M. Siegel (Lenny Siegel), a Stanford undergraduate during the late 1960s, describes his family background and early life, his involvement in anti-Vietnam War activism at Stanford, and the trajectory of his life as a community organizer in Mountain View and the surrounding area. He highlights his work with the Stanford chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, describes various protest actions, including the sit-in at the Applied Electronics Laboratory and the demonstration at SRI’s Hanover Street facility, and talks about student activists’ efforts to educate about and mobilize against Stanford’s involvement in research used to further the war in Vietnam.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Extent | 1 text file |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | February 12, 2019 - February 27, 2019 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Siegel, Lenny | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Siegel, Lenny | |
| Interviewer | Marine-Street, Natalie | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Siegel, Lenny |
|---|---|
| Subject | Students for a Democratic Society (U.S.) |
| Subject | College Students > Political Activity > United States |
| Subject | Vietnam War, 1961-1975 > Protest Movements |
| Subject | Anti-war demonstrations |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Summary | Growing up in Culver City, California • Activist parents and siblings; family politics; early participation in activism • Interest in computers and physics • Jewish heritage • Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy • Escalation of the Vietnam War and threat of the draft • Registering voters in Watts, California • Coming to Stanford • Living in Grove House • Stanford Committee for Peace in Vietnam • Students for a Democratic Society • Western Civilization course at Stanford • The Experiment • Hubert Humphrey’s visit to Stanford • Publication of “Stanford Research Goes to War” leads to further research on Stanford’s involvement in the Vietnam War • Ed McLanahan’s short story “Another Great Moment in Sports” re the protest at SRI’s Hanover Street facility • Loss of interest in physics • Working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (now SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) and other student jobs • Hubert Humphrey’s visit to campus • Movement leadership structure and Siegel’s role as “bureaucrat”--“I managed the money and the lists” • Stanford Anti-Draft Union and draft counseling • Stop the Draft Week, 1967 • Movement infiltrators and informants • Police encounters • Factions within the movement • Reflections on nonviolence • “We Won’t Go” statement against the draft • Protesting CIA recruitment on campus • Old Union sit-in, 1968 • Children of elites in the Stanford antiwar movement • Faculty interactions • “We Accuse” posters of Stanford leaders • Producing Through the Looking Glass: A Radical Guide to Stanford • Through the Looking Glass radical student guide (continued) • Views of incoming president Kenneth Pitzer and sit-in at Pitzer’s office • Events of Fall 1968, including election of Richard Nixon • Disruption of Board of Trustees meeting at the Faculty Club in January 1969 • Trial of the Stanford 29 • Open forum meeting with students and members of the board of trustees, March 1969 • Protesting military research • Representing community interests on Navy and National Academy of Science environmental cleanup committees • April Third Meeting, 1969 • March Fourth/Forth • SRI Coalition • Applied Electronics Laboratory Sit-In • Using print shop at AEL to produce newsletters during the sit-in • Meetings, voting, and participant statement • Classified materials; William Rambo and the Old Crows • Garnering support for the sit-in from various campus constituencies • End of the AEL sit-in • Turning attention to SRI • Encina Hall sit-in • Young Americans for Freedom • Affinity groups and blockade of SRI’s Hanover Street facility • Outcome of SRI protests, including role of Bob Beyers • Reflections on police arrests and informers • Changes and factions within SDS nationally and the Stanford movement, including the formation of the Revolutionary Union and Venceremos • Pacific Studies Center origins and publications • Day After demonstration • Researching and protesting Stanford’s land use policies and the jobs-housing imbalance • Vietnam Moratorium march through the Stanford Industrial Park • Off ROTC demonstrations; Siegel’s civil trial for violating injunction • Sit- in at Old Union in 1970; Alice in ROTC Land and “trashing” incidents on campus • Student strike in response to invasion of Cambodia • Summer of 1970; publications Operation Total Victory and Sandstone and Fire: The Last Radical Guide to Stanford • New Left Project and the Inquisition focus on the use of the Computation Center • Reflections on protests at the Computation Center and Henry Cabot Lodge’s speech, and the firing of faculty member Bruce Franklin • Communicating with hacked long distance calling codes in the wake of the invasion of Laos • The Young Crows; critique of the electronic battlefield; writing and educating about military technology • Pacific Studies Center (continued) • Military-environmental organizing • Reflections on the staying power of the antiwar movement at Stanford and its afterlife • Thoughts on the evolution of Silicon Valley and the tech industry • Gender dynamics of the movement • Race and ethnicity in the movement • Thoughts about term “the movement” • Memories of the first Earth Day • Lessons learned from activism • Empowering others to pursue activism and example of defeating plan to bring air cargo into Moffett Field • Mentors and leaders • Reflections on “confrontational politics” and working with adversaries and examples from military environmental cleanup work • Working for change in housing policy in Mountain View • Love-hate relationship with Stanford • Advice for future generations of activists • A3M archive; buttons and other memorabilia from the movement • Looking back on what was accomplished |
|---|---|
| Biographical Profile | Lenny Siegel studied Physics at Stanford from 1966 to 1969. While a student, he became active in Students for a Democratic Society and the Stanford Anti-Draft Union. Ever since his Stanford days, he has been involved in activism and community organizing throughout the Bay Area, particularly in Mountain View. He has served as a City Council member in Mountain View from 2015 to 2018 and served as Mountain View’s mayor in 2018. |
| Audio |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
| Location | SC1432 |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/qh662yw1627 |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright (c) The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
The Movement oral history project, 2018
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