37 Facts About Harold Willens

Harold Willens was a Ukraine-born American businessman and political activist.

In 1982, Harold Willens headed Proposition 12, a successful California ballot initiative calling for a bilateral nuclear weapons freeze between the US and the Soviet Union.

Harold Willens was born in the Chernigov region of the Russian Empire on April 26,1914, the son of a tailor and a garment worker.

Harold Willens took a job at a food market to help support his family during the Great Depression.

Harold Willens started a food business with his wife Grace.

Harold Willens graduated from UCLA with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1939.

Harold Willens volunteered to serve in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.

Harold Willens was taught to read, write and speak the Japanese language, and was sent to the Pacific War as a translator and interpreter.

Harold Willens was shocked by the devastation of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Harold Willens eventually found the four swords in storage, and displayed them in his California home during the 1950s and 1960s, hanging on the wall of his den.

Harold Willens inquired ahead to locate the owner, who was now 60 years old.

Harold Willens formally handed the ornate swords to their grateful Japanese owner on a morning television program.

Harold Willens bought two modest grocery stores on the outskirts of Wilshire Boulevard before he left for war.

Harold Willens parlayed these holdings into a real estate fortune, including whole blocks of Wilshire commercial property.

Harold Willens provided textile machinery to factories through his privately owned business, the Factory Equipment Supply Corp.

In 1989, Harold Willens teamed with businessman Wesley Bilson to assist entrepreneurs in the newly opened Soviet Union.

In 1961, Harold Willens was inspired to begin donating money to charitable causes, after listening to Aldous Huxley and other speakers at Hutchins Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

Harold Willens donated $50,000 in 1968 to help anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy run for president, and he was able to convince ten other businessmen to do the same.

Harold Willens was a central member of the casual group known as the Malibu Mafia.

Harold Willens helped fund the failed 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern, who was running as the anti-war candidate, opposing the Vietnam War.

Harold Willens served as a Democratic Party delegate from California at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida.

In 1975, Harold Willens urged his wealthy friends to form the Energy Action Committee, initially funded with $500,000 for the purpose of countering the political power of Big Oil.

Harold Willens hosted many political meetings at his Malibu home, including one attended by Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Neil Diamond and Warren Beatty.

In 1968, Harold Willens founded the Businessmen's Educational Fund to reduce the influence of the defense industry on government policy, to stop the nuclear arms race.

Harold Willens was convinced that Jimmy Carter would work to halt the arms race, and so he donated his time and money to Carter's campaign in the 1976 United States presidential election.

Harold Willens was appointed by Carter to the United Nations Disarmament Commission which met in New York in 1978.

Harold Willens felt betrayed when Carter declined to speak or even appear at the conference, undermining its purpose.

Harold Willens joined in 1979 with Reverend George F Regas and Rabbi Leonard Beerman to form the Interfaith Center to Reverse the Arms Race.

In 1981, Harold Willens started a bilateral nuclear freeze movement in California, to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the US and the USSR.

In 1982, Harold Willens created Californians for a Bilateral Nuclear Weapons Freeze to put a nuclear freeze ballot initiative in front of California voters.

In January 1982, Harold Willens spoke before Congress on the topic of nuclear freeze.

Harold Willens argued that the Soviets could be destroyed several times over by the current US stockpile, but Reagan was not moved.

Harold Willens published a book in 1984, The Trimtab Factor, which details how wealthy donors can stop the nuclear arms race.

Harold Willens lived in Santa Monica, California, during the 1960s, and was president of the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, organizing Pancho Segura Day in 1966 to raise money for the club's tennis pro.

Harold Willens moved to Malibu in the 1970s, to live on the beach in a two-story home in the affluent community known as "The Colony" on Malibu Point.

Harold Willens had two sons and one daughter: Larry, Ron and Michele.

Harold Willens died of heart failure at his home in Brentwood on March 17,2003, at the age of 88.