Dreams Die Hard: Three Men's Journey Through the SixtiesOn March 14, 1980, Dennis Sweeney, a hero of the civil rights struggle, walked into the office of Allard Lowenstein, Sweeney's mentor and the architect of the "Dump Johnson" campaign. Sweeney shot Lowenstein in the chest, emerged from the office, put the gun in the receptionist's "out" tray, sat down, lit a cigarette, and waited for the police to arrive. In Dreams Die Hard, journalist David Harris brings us a stunning insider portrait of the sixties, using the bizarre murder as a catalyst to examine the issues that are as vital today as they were decades ago. The story unfolds through the lives of three men: Allard Lowenstein, a dean at Stanford at the beginning of the decade, and at its close a New York congressman who still believed in working within the system; Dennis Sweeney, a Lowenstein protege at Stanford and key figure of the Mississippi civil rights struggle, who abandoned traditional political activism for a full-scale countercultural assault on society, by the end of the decade beginning his descent into madness; and David Harris, with Sweeney, a leader of the draft resistance and also a protege of Lowenstein's, Stanford student body president, a one-time all-American boy who ended the decade in a federal prison. |
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Allard Lowenstein American antiwar arrested asked Atlantic City began Berkeley Bob Moses Bobby California called campaign campus candidate civil rights claimed COFO Congress congressional Cooley Street crowd David Harris delegation Democratic party Dennis Sweeney Dennis's draft Dump Johnson East Palo Alto election Eugene McCarthy eventually finally former protégé freedom house Freedom Vote friends front Gans going head issue Jackson Joan Baez journalist Kennedy knew later liberal lives looked Lowen Lyndon Lyndon Johnson McCarthy McComb meeting MFDP Mississippi months movement National Student Association never North Vietnam organization Palo Alto peace Pincus police political remember reportedly Resistance returned Rodney Rosencranz seemed Selective Service Senator SNCC SNCC's someone speech Stanford Daily Stanford students stop story student body president Summer Project Sweeney's talked things thought took trying Vietnam voice wanted week York young