Richard Edward Swearingen, born 1947, was a librarian at Milwaukee Public Library
from 6 February 1975 to 2009. Swearingen attended the University of
Wisconsin–Madison during the political protests of 1967–1968. He was an active
member of Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative student organization. He also
joined both the University Wisconsin Young Republicans and the Dane County Young
Republicans during the 1967/1968 school year. Swearingen and three of his friends
(David Keene, Pat Korten and Mike Kelly) wrote a column for The Daily Cardinal, the university’s student newspaper, entitled “The
Convenient State.” By 1970, Swearingen changed his views on the Vietnam War from
pro-war to anti-war.
