Penn Kemble
Encyclopedia
Richard Penn Kemble commonly known as "Penn," was an American political activist and a founding member of Social Democrats, USA. He supported democracy
and labor unions in the USA and internationally, and so was active in the civil rights movement
, the labor movement, and the social-democratic
opposition to communism. He founded organizations including Negotiations Now!, Frontlash
, and Prodemca. Kemble was appointed to various government boards and institutions throughout the 1990s, eventually becoming the Acting Director of the U.S. Information Agency under President Bill Clinton
.
in 1941 and grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
. He studied at the University of Colorado
in the early 1960s, where he helped to organize a local branch of the Young People's Socialist League
, the youth section of the Socialist Party of America
. While at the University of Colorado, Kemble was influenced by the thinking of Alex Garber, a professor of sociology
, who was a social democratic anti-communist
.
After moving to New York, Kemble stood out as a neatly dressed, muscular Protestant youth, in a urban political setting that was predominantly Catholic and Jewish. He worked at The New York Times
but was fired for refusing to cross a picket line
during a typesetters' strike
. A leader in the East River chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality
, Kemble helped to organize a non-violent blockade of the Triborough Bridge
during rush hour, to raise consciousness among suburbanites of the lives of Harlem residents.
(YPSL). In the Party, Kemble's realignment caucus attained majority of the votes in 1968. His caucus included Paul Feldman, editor of the party paper New America
and Tom Kahn
, chief of the League for Industrial Democracy
. Kemble was elected as the National Chairman of the YPSL, thereby becoming an ex officio member of the National Committee of the Socialist Party. Following its July 1968 National Convention the governing National Committee elected Kemble the new National Secretary of the Socialist Party, replacing George Woywod. He was also active in the Congress of Racial Equality
.
Kemble was a founder of Negotiation Now!, a group which called for an end to the bombing of North Vietnam
and a negotiated settlement of the Vietnam War
. He was opposed to a unilateral withdrawal of U.S forces from Vietnam. In 1972, Kemble organized a protest of the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy, featuring a picket line
of 76 Vietnamese. Kemble's protest infuriated its master of ceremonies, Bruce P. Cameron.
In 1972, Kemble was a founder the Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM), an association of centrist Democrats that opposed the "new politics" liberalism exemplified by Senator George McGovern
, who suffered the worst defeat of a Presidential candidate in modern times, despite the widespread dislike of Nixon. Kemble was Executive Director of CDM from 1972-76, at which time he left to become a special assistant and speechwriter for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
. He remained with Moynihan until 1979.
Concerned about the direct and indirect role of the Communist Party USA
and of sympathizers of Marxist-Leninist politics in the US Peace Movement and in the National Council of Churches
, Kemble helped found the Institute on Religion and Democracy
.
From 1981 until 1988 was the President of the Committee for Democracy in Central America (PRODEMCA), which criticized Marxist–Leninists in Central America
, especially the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the FMLN in Central America
. Beyond criticizing revolutionaries, Kemble lobbied Congress to support the Christian Democratic President of El Salvador
José Napoleón Duarte
, during the Salvadoran Civil War; he also argued that Congress should fund the Nicaraguan Contras
, then engaged in an armed campaign against the Sandinistas, to pressure the Sandinistas to negotiate a peace treaty with more guarantees for the civic opposition. In his support of Congressional funding of the Contras, Kemble was one of the "Gang of Four
" of prominent social-democrats or opponents of the Vietnam War; a second was a former antagonist during the Vietnam War, Bruce Cameron, and the others were Robert S. Leiken
and Bernard W. Aronson
. The Gang of Four differed from the Reagan Administration on some questions. For example, they supported efforts to transfer control of Contra funding from the CIA and Department of Defense to the Department of State's USAID; they also supported negotiations opposed by Reagan Administration "hard-liners" who wished to defeat the Sandinistas, according to Cameron. Kemble's 1980s Central American politics were unpopular among liberals and democratic socialists in the Democratic Party.
He supported the Bill Clinton's campaign for the Presidency. During the Presidency of Bill Clinton
, Kemble served first in 1993 as the Deputy Director and then in 1999 as Acting Director of the U.S. Information Agency. He was also made a special representative of Secretary of State
Madeleine K. Albright to the Council for a Community of Democracies
initiative.
In 2001, Kemble was appointed to the Board of International Broadcasting by President George W. Bush. He also became the Washington, D.C.
representative of Freedom House
; in his last years, he was especially involved in supporting peace efforts in the Middle East. He declined several offers of official positions in the Bush administration. However, Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell appointed Kemble to be the Chairman of the International Eminent Persons Group on Slavery, Abduction and Forced Servitude in Sudan
.
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and labor unions in the USA and internationally, and so was active in the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
, the labor movement, and the social-democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
opposition to communism. He founded organizations including Negotiations Now!, Frontlash
Frontlash
Frontlash was a non-profit organization founded in 1968 to help minority and young people register to vote and to engage in voter education. Initially sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the United States Youth Council, and the NAACP Youth Council, the AFL-CIO became the group's most important financial...
, and Prodemca. Kemble was appointed to various government boards and institutions throughout the 1990s, eventually becoming the Acting Director of the U.S. Information Agency under President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
Early years
Penn Kemble was born in Worcester, MassachusettsWorcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
in 1941 and grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
. He studied at the University of Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
in the early 1960s, where he helped to organize a local branch of the Young People's Socialist League
Young People's Socialist League (1907)
The Young People's Socialist League , founded in 1907, was the official youth arm of the Socialist Party of America. Its political activities tend to concentrate on increasing the voter turnout of young democratic socialists and affecting the issues impacting that demographic group.- Foundation and...
, the youth section of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
. While at the University of Colorado, Kemble was influenced by the thinking of Alex Garber, a professor of sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, who was a social democratic anti-communist
Anti-Stalinist left
The anti-Stalinist left is an element of left-wing politics that is critical of Joseph Stalin's policies and the political system that developed in the Soviet Union under his rule...
.
After moving to New York, Kemble stood out as a neatly dressed, muscular Protestant youth, in a urban political setting that was predominantly Catholic and Jewish. He worked at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
but was fired for refusing to cross a picket line
Picket line
A picket line is a horizontal rope, along which horses are tied at intervals. The rope can be on the ground, at chest height , or overhead. The overhead form usually is called a high line....
during a typesetters' strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
. A leader in the East River chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
, Kemble helped to organize a non-violent blockade of the Triborough Bridge
Triborough Bridge
The Robert F. Kennedy ' Bridge, formerly known as the Triborough Bridge , is a complex of three separate bridges in New York City, United States...
during rush hour, to raise consciousness among suburbanites of the lives of Harlem residents.
Political career
From the middle 1960s, Kemble was active in the youth section of the Socialist Party of America, the Young People's Socialist LeagueYoung People's Socialist League (1907)
The Young People's Socialist League , founded in 1907, was the official youth arm of the Socialist Party of America. Its political activities tend to concentrate on increasing the voter turnout of young democratic socialists and affecting the issues impacting that demographic group.- Foundation and...
(YPSL). In the Party, Kemble's realignment caucus attained majority of the votes in 1968. His caucus included Paul Feldman, editor of the party paper New America
New America (newspaper)
New America was the weekly newspaper of Socialist Party of America .The initial "prepublication issue" was dated Labor Day 5 September 1960. New America remained the official journal of the Socialist Party after when it changed its name to Social Democrats, USA in December 1972...
and Tom Kahn
Tom Kahn
Tom David Kahn was an American social democrat known for his leadership in other organizations. He was an activist and influential strategist in the African-American civil-rights movement. He was a senior adviser and leader in the U.S. labor movement.Kahn was raised in New York City. At...
, chief of the League for Industrial Democracy
League for Industrial Democracy
The League for Industrial Democracy , from 1960-1965 known as the Students for a Democratic Society , was founded in 1905 by a group of notable socialists including Harry W. Laidler, Jack London, Norman Thomas, Upton Sinclair, and J.G. Phelps Stokes...
. Kemble was elected as the National Chairman of the YPSL, thereby becoming an ex officio member of the National Committee of the Socialist Party. Following its July 1968 National Convention the governing National Committee elected Kemble the new National Secretary of the Socialist Party, replacing George Woywod. He was also active in the Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
.
Kemble was a founder of Negotiation Now!, a group which called for an end to the bombing of North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
and a negotiated settlement of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. He was opposed to a unilateral withdrawal of U.S forces from Vietnam. In 1972, Kemble organized a protest of the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy, featuring a picket line
Picket line
A picket line is a horizontal rope, along which horses are tied at intervals. The rope can be on the ground, at chest height , or overhead. The overhead form usually is called a high line....
of 76 Vietnamese. Kemble's protest infuriated its master of ceremonies, Bruce P. Cameron.
In 1972, Kemble was a founder the Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM), an association of centrist Democrats that opposed the "new politics" liberalism exemplified by Senator George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
, who suffered the worst defeat of a Presidential candidate in modern times, despite the widespread dislike of Nixon. Kemble was Executive Director of CDM from 1972-76, at which time he left to become a special assistant and speechwriter for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...
. He remained with Moynihan until 1979.
Concerned about the direct and indirect role of the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
and of sympathizers of Marxist-Leninist politics in the US Peace Movement and in the National Council of Churches
National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is an ecumenical partnership of 37 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, and historic peace...
, Kemble helped found the Institute on Religion and Democracy
Institute on Religion and Democracy
The Institute on Religion and Democracy is a Christian think tank that promotes Christian conservatism in public life. The organization comments on current events in the Christian community...
.
From 1981 until 1988 was the President of the Committee for Democracy in Central America (PRODEMCA), which criticized Marxist–Leninists in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, especially the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the FMLN in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. Beyond criticizing revolutionaries, Kemble lobbied Congress to support the Christian Democratic President of El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
José Napoleón Duarte
José Napoleón Duarte
José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes was a Salvadoran political figure who, from March 3, 1980, to 1982, led the civil-military Revolutionary Government Junta that took power in a 1979 coup d'état...
, during the Salvadoran Civil War; he also argued that Congress should fund the Nicaraguan Contras
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
, then engaged in an armed campaign against the Sandinistas, to pressure the Sandinistas to negotiate a peace treaty with more guarantees for the civic opposition. In his support of Congressional funding of the Contras, Kemble was one of the "Gang of Four
Gang of Four (pro-Contra)
In the U. S. political history of the 1980s, the Gang of Four refers to Bernard W. Aronson, Bruce P. Cameron, Robert S. Leiken, and Penn Kemble, four advocates of U.S. Congressional funding for the Nicaraguan Contras, who were engaged in an armed campaign in opposition to the Sandinista...
" of prominent social-democrats or opponents of the Vietnam War; a second was a former antagonist during the Vietnam War, Bruce Cameron, and the others were Robert S. Leiken
Robert S. Leiken
Robert S. Leiken is an American intellectual, political scientist, and historian. He is the Director of the Immigration and National Security Program and the Mexico Program at the Center for the National Interest.-Early life:...
and Bernard W. Aronson
Bernard W. Aronson
Bernard William Aronson was United States Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs from 1989 to 1993.-Early life and education:...
. The Gang of Four differed from the Reagan Administration on some questions. For example, they supported efforts to transfer control of Contra funding from the CIA and Department of Defense to the Department of State's USAID; they also supported negotiations opposed by Reagan Administration "hard-liners" who wished to defeat the Sandinistas, according to Cameron. Kemble's 1980s Central American politics were unpopular among liberals and democratic socialists in the Democratic Party.
He supported the Bill Clinton's campaign for the Presidency. During the Presidency of Bill Clinton
Presidency of Bill Clinton
The United States Presidency of Bill Clinton, also known as the Clinton Administration, was the executive branch of the federal government of the United States from January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001. Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term...
, Kemble served first in 1993 as the Deputy Director and then in 1999 as Acting Director of the U.S. Information Agency. He was also made a special representative of Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Madeleine K. Albright to the Council for a Community of Democracies
Council for a Community of Democracies
Council for a Community of Democracies is a Washington, D.C. based NGO which was established in order to promote global interest in and support for the Community of Democracies, improved relationships among democracies, and democratic transitions in general...
initiative.
In 2001, Kemble was appointed to the Board of International Broadcasting by President George W. Bush. He also became the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
representative of Freedom House
Freedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
; in his last years, he was especially involved in supporting peace efforts in the Middle East. He declined several offers of official positions in the Bush administration. However, Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Colin L. Powell appointed Kemble to be the Chairman of the International Eminent Persons Group on Slavery, Abduction and Forced Servitude in Sudan
Slavery in Sudan
Slavery in Sudan began in ancient times, and has continued to the present day. During the Arab slave trade, many Black-Sudanese were purchased as slaves and brought for work in the Middle East....
.