By Michele Willens
I was visiting my father, Harold Willens, one day in his Los Angeles home. In his mid-eighties then, he’d declared he was done with political/philanthropic work after many years.
Then the phone rang.I picked it up and heard a familiar voice saying, “Can I speak to Harold?” “Who is this,”? I asked. “It’s Paul,” came the response: “Newman.”
I handed over the phone and heard Newman say, “Come on, Harold, do you have one more fight in you? Join me in saving The Nation.” My dad agreed and The Circle of 100 was born.
Those two had met in the 1968 McCarthy campaign. They went on to support Robert Hutchins’ Center for The Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara; created the Center For Defense Information in Washington; were delegates to the United Nation’s Special Session on Disarmament in New York. When my dad was being honored for passing California’s Nuclear Freeze Initiative, Newman was the emcee. I did the final introduction, which seemed to go well. Later, the actor said to me, “your speech was tender..it was funny…” He had me at tender.So, yes, one more fight. They brought in enough supporters to bring the magazine back to health. I burst into tears when, at my dad’s backyard memorial in 2003, I saw Victor Navasky walk in. He’d flown that morning from New York, and after the ceremony, flew right back.
So, when Navasky died last year, I, of course, wrote several articles about his lifetime work. And, though a journalist—with occasional campaigns and speechwriting behind me– I am careful about showing my political colors too much. But when I was recently asked to join the magazine’s Navasky Memorial Fund, it sounded like the right thing to do. One more fight.
The more I learned about Navasky’s brilliant internship program at The Nation, the more impressed I became. And, at his final birthday gathering—at Ethical Culture on the Upper West Side—I heard many of the former interns—all now in respectable jobs—talk about what they learned from Victor. Wouldn’t all of us budding journalists have loved to have had such a program and leader to guide our way?
So now, as a member of the Nation Fund committee—focused on young people looking to tell important stories through their written words—I am now appreciating my dad’s life as one of the great fundraisers ever. Somehow, he knew how to get to your heart as well as your head. (And perhaps your guilt) But as the committee discussed its strategies for keeping Victor’s name and work alive, one person suggested we go for the families, the offspring of those who’d contributed in the past but may have become less active. The famous axiom is everything we do should be for our children.
But at some point, what can we do for our parents? In recognition and gratitude for their contributions? At the event where I introduced my dad, I joked about how deprived I’d been during much of the turbulent ‘60s. All my friends were protesting and arguing with their folks. No gap in my home. I recall being asked by others if I was going to the Moratorium. “I guess so,” I’d say, “my dad is paying for it.”
So, as I do my part in keeping the Navasky program alive, I remember Victor’s quiet integrity so well. As well as my father’s lifetime of giving back. He was about the issues more than the people or parties, per se, but he asked in such a way that it was hard for folks to say no. They were both great men and I, for one, am happy to help keep their passion alive.
Michele Willens is the co-writer of the play “Don’t Blame Me, I voted For Helen Gahagan Douglas.” She is also a board member of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism.