Richard Drinnon
American historian (1925–2012)
Richard T. Drinnon (January 4, 1925 – April 19, 2012) was professor emeritus of history at Bucknell University. He also taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught courses on American history. He was denied tenure due to his political activism and was about to be called up by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Drinnon participated in the Columbia University protests of 1968, and he published several books, including "Rebel in Paradise: A Biography of Emma Goldman" and "Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-Building."
Early life and education
Drinnon received a PhD from the University of Minnesota.
Career
In 1961, while Drinnon was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, he was discovered by police to be the next person on the target list of John Harrison Farmer, who felt that he was on a mission from God to kill people who he believed were associated with communism.
While there he taught two popular courses on "A Critical View of American History" which emphasized the negatives during American history from 1776 to the present. He ultimately was denied tenure because of his political activism. He protested the execution of Caryl Chessman, was the first faculty advisor for SLATE, the activist student union, and was about to be called up to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) because they suspected him of being a communist. At the time he was denied tenure he had already published his first book, Rebel in Paradise: A Biography of Emma Goldman.
During the Columbia University protests of 1968, Drinnon participated in a student walkout of a speech at Bucknell University by Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, when Humphrey blamed protesters for disorder on the campus.
“Richard Drinnon” enters the record as american historian (1925–2012). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Richard, Drinnon and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7329343. VIAF identifies the subject as 91349167. The Library of Congress control number is n79145407. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1925, 2012, 1968 and 1961.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard Drinnon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.