Editing Howard Zinn (section)

==Early life==
Zinn was born to a [[Jew]]ish immigrant family in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]], on August 24, 1922. His father, Eddie Zinn, born in [[Austria-Hungary]], immigrated to the US with his brother Samuel before the outbreak of [[World War I]]. His mother, Jenny (Rabinowitz) Zinn,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Howard Zinn |url=http://www.danjianbaowang.com/xiaomowenzhang/44933.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019164932/http://www.danjianbaowang.com/xiaomowenzhang/44933.html |archive-date=2017-10-19 |url-status=dead |website=danjianbaowang.com |publisher= |date= |access-date=2017-08-01}}</ref> emigrated from the Eastern [[Siberia]]n city of [[Irkutsk]]. His parents first became acquainted as workers at the same factory.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://howardzinn.org/about/biography/|title=Biography |website=HowardZinn.org|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-03}}</ref> During the [[Great Depression]], his father worked as a ditch digger and window cleaner, and for a brief time, his parents ran a neighborhood candy store, barely earning a living. For many years, Zinn's father was in the [[waiter]]s' [[trade union|union]] and worked as a waiter for weddings and [[bar mitzvah]]s.<ref name= "auto"/>

Both parents were factory workers with limited education when they met and married, and there were no books or magazines in the series of apartments where they raised their children. Zinn's parents introduced him to literature by sending 10 cents plus a coupon to the ''[[New York Post]]'' for each of the 20 volumes of [[Charles Dickens]]' collected works.<ref name="auto" /> As a young man, Zinn made the acquaintance of several young Communists from his Brooklyn neighborhood. They invited him to a [[political rally]] being held in [[Times Square]]. Despite it being a peaceful rally, mounted police charged the marchers. Zinn was hit and knocked unconscious. This would have a profound effect on his political and social outlook.<ref name="auto"/>

Howard Zinn studied [[creative writing]] at [[Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn)|Thomas Jefferson High School]] in a special program established by principal and poet [[Elias Lieberman]].<ref name= "EdUpdate2004">{{cite web |url= http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2004/apr04/issue/col_howardzinn.html|title= Howard Zinn:-Chronicling Lives from Spelman College to Boston U.| website= EducationUpdate.com| date= April 2004| access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

Zinn initially opposed entry into [[World War II]], influenced by his friends, by the results of the [[Nye Committee]], and by his ongoing reading. However, these feelings shifted as he learned more about [[fascism]] and [[fascism in Europe|its rise in Europe]]. The book ''[[Sawdust Caesar]]'' had a particularly large impact through its depiction of [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]. After graduating from high school in 1940, Zinn took the [[Competitive service|Civil Service exam]] and became an apprentice [[shipfitter]] in the [[New York Navy Yard]] at the age of 18.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duberman |first1= Martin |title=Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left |date=2013 |publisher=New Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3331mAEACAAJ|isbn=9781595589347 |pages= 9–10|via=Google Books| access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref>

Concerns about low wages and hazardous working conditions compelled Zinn and several other apprentices to form the Apprentice Association. At the time, apprentices were excluded from [[trade unions]] and thus had little bargaining power, to which the Apprentice Association was their answer.<ref name= "auto"/> The head organizers of the association, which included Zinn himself, would meet once a week outside of work to discuss strategy and read books that at the time were considered radical. Zinn was the Activities Director for the group. His time in this group would tremendously influence his political views and created for him an appreciation for unions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://howardzinn.org/howard-zinn-describes-work-in-the-navy-yards/| title= Howard Zinn Describes Work in the Navy Yards |website=HowardZinn.org |date=8 December 2008|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-03}}</ref>

===World War II===
Eager to fight [[fascism]], Zinn joined the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and became an officer. He was assigned as a [[bombardier (air force)|bombardier]] in the [[490th Bombardment Group]],<ref>{{cite book| title= The Politics of History| edition= 2nd | first= Howard |last= Zinn | publisher= University of Illinois Press| year= 1990| pages= 258–274 |isbn= 978-0-252-01673-8}}</ref> bombing targets in [[Berlin]], [[Czechoslovakia]], and [[Hungary]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100167600/extras/thebombexcerptcl.pdf |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.citylights.com/resources/titles/87286100167600/extras/thebombexcerptcl.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=The Bomb|website=Citylights.com|access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref> As bombardier, Zinn dropped [[napalm]] bombs in April 1945 on [[Royan#Destruction of Royan|Royan]], a seaside resort in western France.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zinn |first=Howard |title=Declarations of Independence |url=https://archive.org/details/declarationsofin00zinn |url-access=registration |year=1990 |publisher=HarperPerennial |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-092108-8}}</ref> The [[anti-war]] stance Zinn developed later was informed, in part, by his experiences.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.c-royan.com/histoire/histoire-contemporaine/les-guerres/1576-la-liberation-de-royan-avril-1945.html|title=La Libération de Royan avril 1945|website=C-royan.com |access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

On a post-doctoral research mission nine years later, Zinn visited the resort near [[Bordeaux]] where he interviewed residents, reviewed municipal documents, and read wartime newspaper clippings at the local library. In 1966, Zinn returned to Royan after which he gave his fullest account of that research in his book, ''The Politics of History''. On the ground, Zinn learned that the aerial bombing attacks in which he participated had killed more than a thousand French civilians as well as some German soldiers hiding near Royan to await the war's end, events that are described "in all accounts" he found as ''"une tragique erreur"'' that leveled a small but ancient city and "its population that was, at least officially, friend, not foe." In ''The Politics of History'', Zinn described how the bombing was ordered—three weeks before the war in Europe ended—by military officials who were, in part, motivated more by the desire for their own career advancement than in legitimate military objectives. He quotes the official history of the US Army Air Forces' brief reference to the [[Eighth Air Force]] attack on Royan and also, in the same chapter, to the bombing of [[Plzeň]] in what was then [[Czechoslovakia]]. The official history stated that the [[Škoda Works]] in Plzeň "received 500 well-placed tons", and that "because of a warning sent out ahead of time the workers were able to escape, except for five persons. "The Americans received a rapturous welcome when they liberated the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dspace5.zcu.cz/bitstream/11025/11417/1/Misterova.pdf |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://dspace5.zcu.cz/bitstream/11025/11417/1/Misterova.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=The Reception of the Presence of the U.S. Army in Pilsen in 1945 in Local Periodicals |website=Dspace5.zcu.cz |access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

Zinn wrote:

<blockquote>I recalled flying on that mission, too, as deputy lead bombardier, and that we did not aim specifically at the 'Skoda works' (which I would have noted, because it was the one target in Czechoslovakia I had read about) but dropped our bombs, without much precision, on the city of Pilsen. Two Czech citizens who lived in Pilsen at the time told me, recently, that several hundred people were killed in that raid (that is, Czechs)—not five.<ref>{{cite book| title= The Politics of History| edition= 2nd | first= Howard |last= Zinn | publisher= University of Illinois Press| year= 1990| pages= 260 |isbn= 978-0-252-01673-8}}</ref></blockquote>

Zinn said his experience as a wartime bombardier, combined with his research into the reasons for, and effects of the bombing of Royan and Pilsen, sensitized him to the ethical dilemmas faced by [[GI (military)|GIs]] during wartime.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://progressive.org/mag_zinn0106 |title= Interview with Zinn |website=Progressive.org| first= Howard| last= Zinn| interviewer= |date=January 2006 |access-date=2010-01-28}}</ref> Zinn questioned the justifications for military operations that inflicted massive civilian casualties during the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] bombing of cities such as [[Bombing of Dresden in World War II|Dresden]], Royan, [[Bombing of Tokyo|Tokyo]], and [[Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] in World War II, [[Hanoi]] during the [[War in Vietnam]], and [[Baghdad]] during the war in [[Iraq]] and the civilian casualties during bombings in [[Afghanistan]] during the war there. In his pamphlet, ''Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence''<ref>{{cite book |url=http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Personal/zinn.html |title=Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence |first= Howard |last= Zinn |access-date=2008-01-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080725072904/http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Personal/zinn.html |archive-date=July 25, 2008 |via= polymer.bu.edu}}</ref> written in 1995, he laid out the case against targeting civilians with aerial bombing.

Six years later, he wrote:

<blockquote>Recall that in the midst of the [[Gulf War]], the US military [[Amiriyah shelter bombing|bombed an air raid shelter]], killing 400 to 500 men, women, and children who were huddled to escape bombs. The claim was that it was a military target, housing a communications center, but reporters going through the ruins immediately afterward said there was no sign of anything like that. I suggest that the history of bombing—and no one has bombed more than this nation—is a history of endless atrocities, all calmly explained by deceptive and deadly language like "accident", "military target", and "[[collateral damage]]".<ref>{{cite web |last=Zinn |first=Howard |url=http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/28-7 |title= A Just Cause, Not a Just War| work= [[The Progressive]]| date= December 2001 |publisher= | via= Commondreams.org |access-date=2012-03-05 |archive-date=2012-10-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007045944/http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/28-7 |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>

===Education===
After World War II, Zinn attended [[New York University]] on the [[GI Bill]], graduating with a BA in 1951. At [[Columbia University]], he earned an MA (1952) and a PhD in history with a minor in political science (1958). His master's thesis examined the [[Ludlow massacre|Colorado coal strikes of 1914]].<ref name="EdUpdate2004"/> His [[doctoral dissertation]] ''Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress'' was a study of [[Fiorello La Guardia]]'s congressional career, and it depicted "the conscience of the twenties" as LaGuardia fought for public power, the right to strike, and the redistribution of wealth by taxation. "His specific legislative program," Zinn wrote, "was an astonishingly accurate preview of the [[New Deal]]." It was published by the [[Cornell University]] Press for the [[American Historical Association]]. ''Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress'' was nominated for the American Historical Association's [[Beveridge Award|Beveridge Prize]] as the best English-language book on American history.<ref>{{cite news| first= Michael| last= Powell| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29zinn.html|title=Howard Zinn, Historian, Is Dead at 87|date=28 January 2010|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| access-date= February 26, 2024}}</ref>

His professors at Columbia included [[Harry Carman]], [[Henry Steele Commager]], and [[David Herbert Donald|David Donald]].<ref name="EdUpdate2004"/> But it was Columbia historian [[Richard Hofstadter]]'s ''[[The American Political Tradition]]'' that made the most lasting impression. Zinn regularly included it in his lists of recommended readings, and, after [[Barack Obama]] was elected [[President of the United States]], Zinn wrote, "If Richard Hofstadter were adding to his book ''The American Political Tradition'', in which he found both 'conservative' and 'liberal' Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, maintaining for dear life the two critical characteristics of the American system, nationalism and capitalism, Obama would fit the pattern."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/05/what-next-for-the-struggle|title=What next for struggle in the Obama era?|website= SocialistWorker.org| first= Howard| last= Zinn| date= November 5, 2008| access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref>

In 1960–61, Zinn was a [[post-doctoral]] fellow in [[East Asian Studies]] at [[Harvard University]].