Don Behm, journalist and activist in leftist Madison, Wisconsin politics, was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on June 12, 1952. During the early 1970's he served as a counselor at Madison's Vets House and contributed articles to the Madison publications Free for All and the Madison Press Connection. After studying journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1973-1975), Behm worked as an editorial intern at the Progressive magazine from 1976 to 1977. In 1976 he served as the Midwest organizer for the Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice, and in 1977 he became a coordinator and paid organizer for the Anti-Draft Referendum. Among Behm's other activities during the late 1970's were campaign work for the mayoral bid of James Rowen (1978-1979), fund raising and steering committee work for the Madison Common Sense Coalition (1978-1980), and coordinating the Peace and Jobs Referendum (1979, also known as “Guns and Butter”).
In 1979 Behm wrote a biographical sketch of University of Wisconsin biochemistry professor Karl Paul Link (1901-1978), a work commissioned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The following year he became the associate editor of the Madison-based alternative newspaper City Lights, where he stayed until 1982. Since 1982 Behm has been a free-lance journalist, and his pieces have appeared in the Milwaukee Sentinel, Madison's Isthmus, and City Lights.
