Title: James Rowen Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1969-1979

Creator:

• Rowen, James, 1945-

Call Number: Mss 652

Quantity: 1.8 c.f. (4 archives boxes and 1 flat box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of a journalist and liberal politician, mainly documenting his work as assistant to Madison, Wisconsin, Mayor Paul Soglin (1973-1978) and his own unsuccessful campaign for mayor in 1979. Included are an administrative subject file, correspondence, campaign materials, and newspaper clippings. Of special note are trial documents, correspondence, and newsclippings relating to the trial of David Fine for participation in the anti-Vietnam War bombing of the Army Math Research Center on the University of Wisconsin campus.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00652

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James Rowen, journalist, political activist, and assistant to Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, was born on May 26, 1945 in Washington D.C., the son of noted journalist Hobart Rowen.

He entered the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1963 and received a B.A. in political science in 1967. During his senior year Rowen joined the Wisconsin Draft Resistance Union and signed the WDRU's “We Won't Go” statement, thus beginning a period of visible political activity. Prior to entering graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Rowen married Susan McGovern. While completing the required coursework for a master's degree in English, he obtained a full time staff position writing for the student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal. After a brief break to help in the reelection campaign of his father-in-law, South Dakota's Senator George McGovern, in 1968, Rowen returned to Madison to write and do investigative reporting for the Cardinal in the position of contributing editor. His major piece of journalism during this period was a series on the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin and its financial structure.

In early 1969 Rowen became involved in the Students for a Democratic Society and later that year helped to organize the Mother Jones Revolutionary League, an underground adjunct of SDS. However, after constant frustration with political activity, Rowen and his wife left Madison in May 1970 to work in journalism in New Mexico and Washington, D.C. In 1972 Rowen worked on McGovern's presidential campaign.

After returning to Madison in 1973, Rowen was appointed to the position of mayoral assistant by Mayor Paul Soglin. In this capacity for the next five and one-half years, Rowen chaired and served on several economic development, energy, and other high-level city committees, as well as serving as the general public liaison in the mayor's office.

In 1976 Rowen became the focus for controversy after David Fine, a suspected participant in the bombing of the U.S. Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin in 1969, was captured by the FBI in the San Francisco area. During the trial and subsequent hearings Rowen took custody of Fine, and Fine lived in Rowen's home.

In December 1978 Rowen resigned in order to launch his own campaign to succeed Soglin. He was defeated in the general election in April 1979. More recently Rowen has been working as a journalist for the Milwaukee Journal.

This collection highlights that portion of Rowen's career that was spent in Madison. The documentation consists of papers from his mayoral assistantship, his campaign for mayor, and his ties with David Fine during the latter's trial for bombing the Army Math Research Center.

There are no personal papers and very little documentation on his early journalism work. The papers are divided into four series: CORRESPONDENCE, SUBJECT FILES, ROWEN FOR MAYOR, and DAVID FINE. Added to the papers in the Archives is a photocopy of the ORAL HISTORY interview with Rowen recorded by the University of Wisconsin Archives in 1978.

The CORRESPONDENCE contains a small quantity of City of Madison inter-departmental mail on a variety of subjects. The second section, which is larger, consists of chronological general correspondence. Many of the individual letters here are marked personal but the majority address public policy decisions, conferences, and general citizen concerns.

The alphabetical SUBJECT FILES were compiled during Rowen's tenure as mayoral assistant. Coverage is quite broad, ranging from national issues and city government to conferences and personal information. Some of the larger and/or more important files deal with the United States Conference of Mayors, the Madison Economic Development Corporation, the introduction of group health insurance, Awareness House (reports to the Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice), the Institute for Policy Studies and the Conference on Alternative State and Local Public Policy, and the Madison Police Department's “Affinity Files.” Also included are a bibliography, copies of a few free-lance articles and speeches by Rowen, and a run of press releases from the mayor's office.

The ROWEN FOR MAYOR series is not large, but is quite broad in its documentation. Included are campaign finance reports, a list of contributors, campaign literature and leaflets, position papers, press releases, information about volunteers, and newsclippings. The clippings have been extensively weeded due to the availability on microfilm in the Society Library of the Madison newspapers of the period. Also included in the series is a computer analysis of candidate support.

The DAVID FINE series consists of bail hearing and trial documents, correspondence praising Rowen for taking custody of Fine, telephone call records, and newsclippings. Newsclippings about the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, some of which were written by Rowen, complete the series.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Jim Rowen, Madison, Wisconsin, June 2, 1983. Accession Number: M83-152

Processing Information

Processed by Bill Beaudreau and Carolyn Mattern, 1988.

	Series: Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	City of Madison, Inter-departmental, 1973-1978
Box   1 Folder   2-8	General, 1973-1979
	Series: Subject File	⇧
Box   1 Folder   9	Airport, 1973
Box   1 Folder   10	Art Fair, 1974
Box   1 Folder   11	Awards, Personal, 1978
Box   1 Folder   12	Awareness House, 1973
Box   1 Folder   13	Building inspectors, 1972-1973
Box   1 Folder   14	Business of the mayor, 1973-1974
Box   1 Folder   15	Car pooling, 1973-1974
Box   2 Folder   1	Conference of mayors, 1973, 1978
Box   2 Folder   2	Economic development, 1979
Box   2 Folder   3	Economic Development Corporation, 1977-1979
Box   2 Folder   4	Free-lance articles, 1969-1976
Box   2 Folder   5	Gas shortage, 1973
Box   2 Folder   6	Group health insurance, 1973
Box   2 Folder   7	Handicapped and elderly transportation, 1977
Box   2 Folder   8	Housing, 1973-1979
Box   2 Folder   9	Institute for Policy Studies, 1975
Box   2 Folder   10	Legal opinions, 1973
Box   2 Folder   11	Madison parks, 1973
Box   2 Folder   12	Madison police, 1973-1976
Box   2 Folder   13	Mayor's office budget, 1973
Box   2 Folder   14	Neighborhood needs assessment, 1978
Box   2 Folder   15	Nixon impeachment, 1973
Box   2 Folder   16	Nuclear power, Koshkonong Plant, 1974-1976
Box   3 Folder   2	Parking violations, 1973
Box   3 Folder   3	Pest control, 1973-1974
	Press releases
Box   2 Folder   17-18	1973-1974
Box   3 Folder   1	1975-1976
Box   3 Folder   4	Reorganization of city government, 1969, 1973
Box   3 Folder   5	Speeches, 1977-1979
Box   3 Folder   6	Systems and Procedures Task Force, 1973
Box   3 Folder   7	Tax incremental financing, 1978
	Series: Rowen for Mayor	⇧
Box   3 Folder   8	Campaign finance report and list of contributors, 1979
Box   3 Folder   9	Campaign schedules, 1979
Box   3 Folder   10	Campaign literature, 1979
Box   5	Computer printed campaign slogans
Box   5	Computer statistics analysis, 1978
Box   3 Folder   11-12	Newsclippings, 1979
Box   3 Folder   13	Position papers, League of Women Voters questionnaire, 1979
Box   4 Folder   1	Press releases, 1978-1979
Box   4 Folder   2	Skornicka releases, 1979
Box   4 Folder   3	Volunteer and contribution material
	Series: David Fine	⇧
Box   4 Folder   4	Bail hearing and court documents, 1976
Box   4 Folder   5	Clippings, 1976
Box   4 Folder   6	Correspondence, 1976
Box   4 Folder   7	Telephone calls, 1976
Box   4 Folder   8	Army Math Research Center newsclippings, 1969
Box   4 Folder   9	Series: Oral History Transcript, 1978	⇧