22 Facts About Marcus Raskin

Marcus Goodman Raskin was an American progressive social critic, political activist, author, and philosopher.

Marcus Raskin was the co-founder, with Richard Barnet, of the progressive think tank the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC.

Marcus Raskin was a professor of public policy at The George Washington University's School of Public Policy and Public Administration.

At the age of 16, Marcus Raskin left home to study piano performance at the Juilliard School under Rosina Lhevinne and Lee Thompson.

Marcus Raskin abandoned a piano career to study at the University of Chicago.

Marcus Raskin studied under Rexford Guy Tugwell, an economist and member of FDR's Brain Trust, and Quincy Wright, a legal scholar for whom Marcus Raskin served as an assistant during his law school years.

Marcus Raskin graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts in 1954 and from the University of Chicago Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1957.

Marcus Raskin soon became the secretary for the Liberal Project, a group of House liberals, organized by Kastenmeier and Roosevelt into a liberal leadership group.

In 1961, Marcus Raskin became McGeorge Bundy's assistant on national security affairs and disarmament as a member of the Special Staff of the National Security Council.

In 1963, Marcus Raskin left government service, and with Richard Barnet, a State Department official in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, created an independent institution, outside of government, to critique official policy.

Marcus Raskin co-authored the Vietnam Reader with Bernard Fall in 1965, which was used in teach-ins across the country.

Not long after his acquittal, Marcus Raskin published the book Washington Plans an Aggressive War with Barnet and Ralph Stavins.

In 1971, Marcus Raskin received from Daniel Ellsberg, documents that became known as the Pentagon Papers.

Marcus Raskin put Ellsberg in touch with New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, whom Ellsberg had first met in Vietnam.

Marcus Raskin directed the project, which led to the publication of the 1978 book The Federal Budget and Social Reconstruction.

Marcus Raskin worked with labor leaders to organize the Progressive Alliance, a coalition of 16 labor unions and 100 public interest groups that laid out a progressive alternative political agenda.

Marcus Raskin served as a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, in addition to teaching at George Washington University's School of Public Policy and Public Administration and serving on the editorial board of The Nation magazine.

Marcus Raskin advised the Congressional Progressive Caucus and conceptualized the network of local elected officials that evolved into the Institute for Policy Studies' Cities for Peace project, which has coordinated hundreds of city council resolutions against the Iraq War.

Marcus Raskin resided in Washington, DC with his wife, Lynn Randels Raskin with whom he had one child, Eden Raskin.

Marcus Raskin continued his passion for classical music, releasing his first piano recording, Elegy for the End of the Cold War in 2004.

Marcus Raskin died at the age of 83 on December 24,2017, from a heart ailment.

Marcus Raskin was the nephew of Max Marcus Raskin, a Milwaukee politician who later served as a state judge.