Howard Machtinger

Early education and activism Howard ("Howie") Machtinger was born in the Bronx, New York, on April 23, 1946. He was born to "Harry" Herszla Machtinger and Yetta [Migden], who were Polish-Jewish immigrants. His siblings included Barbara, Evelyn and Leonard. While a student at Columbia, besides playing on the tennis team, He became an active SDS member while he was a graduate student in sociology at the University of Chicago in 1968. Machtinger was a regional director of SDS from autumn of 1968 until the SDS split, and made contributions to New Left Notes, an SDS publication. He was part of a steering committee which took over the administration building at University of Chicago on January 30, 1969. During the takeover, 300 students occupied the university's administration building, protesting the non-renewal of Marlene Dixon's contract with the Sociology department. Students believed the department voted her out because she was a woman with politically radical views.

Weatherman Machtinger was one of the founding members of Weatherman (later known as the Weather Underground), an organization that formed as a result of the SDS split in June 1969. He was a part of the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM), a faction of SDS who believed revolution was imperative. Machtinger, like other members of RYM, criticized members of the Progressive Labor (PL) faction of SDS for placing emphasis on the class struggle rather than focusing on the issue of racism, which he viewed as a dire problem plaguing America. Machtinger was one of the eleven co-authors of the Weatherman statement, which appeared in the issue of New Left Notes presented at the 1969 SDS National Convention in Chicago. Machtinger co-wrote "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" with Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Jeff Jones, Mark Rudd, John Jacobs, Terry Robbins, Jim Mellen, Karin Ashley, Gerry Long, and Steve Tappis. Machtinger participated in the Days of Rage and was present at the Flint, Michigan "War Council" in December 1969. He was among the Weathermen who eventually went underground. Machtinger was released on bail, and subsequently went back underground. In his letter, written October 16, 1973, Machtinger explores the dilemma of being a revolutionary fugitive in the following excerpt: What should I do? Go to jail and do time--for how long?...Do my political work behind steel bars, get out and figure a new way to integrate myself in the revolution? Or, if I had the opportunity, return to what I had been doing: trying to build secret--from the state power--bases of strength as one means of aiding in the overthrow of the imperialist, sexist, racist state.

Resurfacing and recent history Machtinger surrendered in Criminal Court on May 11, 1978. Upon resurfacing, he continued to pursue education, earning an A.A.S degree in computer science and business technology from Seattle Central Community College in 1981. He taught high school history from 1993 until he received his master's degree in history from San Francisco State University in 1996. Machtinger's 1995 dissertation, titled Clearing Away the Debris : New Left Radicalism in 1960s America, further explores the New Left movement of the 1960s. He served on the planning committee for East Chapel Hill High School from 1995 to 1996 He died in Durham on July 24, 2024. His obituary in the Columbia University alumni magazine describes him as having been "a public high school teacher and director of a teacher training program at UNC Chapel Hill, a social justice organizer who mentored many young activists and a steadfast friend to many throughout his life."