III SIXTIES 'fR~ NbiRB!Oll'N) fRESS NSE h~) 1Rt ~~r~ ·Of Al.TfR1l~T1VE ~~;t~f.d ME1>lh AlitRICh IN Smoking Typewriters SMOKING TYPEWRITERS The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America John McMillian OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OTIORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford University Press, Jnc, publishes works (hat further Oxford l;nlversiry"s objectIve of excellence 10 research, scholarship. and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town DO( es Salaam Hong Kong Kara(hi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico Ciry Nairobi :Sew Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronro With offices in Argentina Ausrria Braz.i! Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guaremala Hungary lcaly Japan Poland Porrugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thaitand Turkey Ukraine Viecnam Copyrighr <D 2011 by Oxford Universiry Press, Inc. Published by Oxford tiotversiry Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY rooI6 WWW.Qup.com Oxford is a registered rrademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No parr of chis publication may be reprcxiuced, srored in a rerrieval system, or uansmirred, in any form or by any means, elecrronic, mechanical, phorocopying, recording, or otherwise. wichout [he prior permission of Oxford t:niversicy Press. Library of Congress Caraloging*in-Publicarion Data McMillIan, John CampbelL Smoking cypewritcrs : rhe SixTies underground press and rhe rise of alrernative media in America I John McMillian. p em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-531992-7 L Underground press publicatiorlS-Uojred Srares-HistotY-lorh cenrury. 2. Radicalism-Un iced Scares-HisrorY-2och a'mury" .?" Press and politics-Uniced St!lces-HisrorY-2orh cenrury. L Tide'" P~4888.U5M35 201 r 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 r Prinred In the UnHed Scares of America on acid-free paper Fo r Harry Reed Contents Acknowledgments IX A Note on Sources xm Introduction I I "Our Founder, the Mimeograph Machine": Print Culture in Students for a Democratic Society 13 2 A Hundred Blooming Papers: Culture and Community in the 1960s Underground Press 31 3 "Electrical Bananas": The Underground Press and the Great Banana Hoax of 1967 66 4 "All the Protest Fit to Print": The Rise of Liberation News Service 82 5 "Either We Have Freedom of the Press ... or We Don't Have Freedom of the Press": Thomas King Forcade and the War against Underground Newspapers 5 I I 6 Questioning Who Decides: Participatory Democracy in the Underground Press 140 7 "From Underground to Everywhere": Alternative Media Trends since the Sixties 172 Afterword 186 Notes 191 Bibliography 249 Index 261 Vl11 I CONTENTS Acknowledgments IT'S A THRILL to be able to finally acknowledge the many people who have helped with this book. Let me first thank Alan Brinkley, my graduate advisor at Columbia University, who has done a wonderful job of helping me to shape this project from its beginning. Eric Foner has likewise provided wise and trusted counsel during my graduate career at Columbia and beyond. I am so fortunate to have worked work under the supervision of these two distin­ guished historians. I would also like to thank Todd Gitlin, Casey Blake, and James Miller for generously serving on my dissertation committee. Manning Marable likewise provided valuable feedback, as well as indispensable finan­ cial assistance through Columbia's Institute for Research in African-American Studies. Going back further, I had some truly outstanding professors at Michi­ gan State University, without whom I would not have acquired the skills or the confidence necessary to pursue a scholarly career. They include James Madison College professors Ken Waltzer, Katherine O'Sullivan See, and history department professors David Bailey, Christine Daniels, and Mark Kornbluh. The same must be said about John VanLooy, my high school English teacher. I was very sad to learn, recently, that Professor Doug Hoek­ stra, another great influence on me, passed away in 2006. I'm pleased that the James Madison College has established an endowment in his name. More than any of my past teachers, though, Harry Reed has been an inspi­ ration, friend and mentor. Had we not crossed paths during my sophomore year at MSU, my life might have taken a different and far less rewarding path. A long time ago, I declared that I would dedicate my first scholarly monograph to Dr. Reed, and I am happy to at last fulfill that promise.