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.
