3/16/24, 9:53 AM Studs Terkel - Wikipedia

Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008)[1]
Studs Terkel
was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He
received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for
The Good War and is best remembered for his oral histories of
common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio
show in Chicago.

Early life
Terkel was born to Russian Jewish immigrants, Samuel Terkel,
a tailor, and Anna (Annie) Finkel, a seamstress, in New York
City.[2] At the age of eight, he moved with his family to
Chicago, Illinois, where he spent most of his life. He had two
brothers, Meyer (1905–1958) and Ben (1907–1965). He
attended McKinley High School.[3]
Terkel in 1979
From 1926 to 1936, his parents ran a rooming house called the
Wells-Grand Hotel that also served as a meeting place for Born Louis Terkel
people from all walks of life. Terkel credited his understanding May 16, 1912
New York City, New
of humanity and social interaction to the tenants and visitors
York, U.S.
who gathered in the lobby there and the people who
Died October 31, 2008
congregated in nearby Bughouse Square.
(aged 96)
In 1939, he married Ida Goldberg (1912–1999), and the couple Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
had one son. Although he received his undergraduate degree in Pen name Studs Terkel
1932 and a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1934 Occupation Author · historian ·
(and was admitted to the Illinois Bar the following year), he radio personality ·
decided that, instead of practicing law, he wanted to be a actor
concierge at a hotel, and he soon joined a theater group.[4] Alma mater University of Chicago
(Ph.B., 1932; J.D.,
Career 1934)
Notable Pulitzer Prize for
A political leftist, Terkel joined the Works Progress awards General Non-Fiction,
Administration's Federal Writers' Project, working in radio, 1985
doing work that varied from voicing soap opera productions Spouse Ida Goldberg
and announcing news and sports to presenting shows of ​​(m. 1939; died 1999)​
recorded music and writing radio scripts and advertisements. Children 1
In the late 1940's he voiced characters in WMAQ's Destination
Website
Freedom series, written by Richard Durham.[5] His own well-
known radio program, titled The Studs Terkel Program, aired studsterkel.org (http://studsterkel.or
g)
on 98.7 WFMT Chicago between 1952 and 1997.[6] The one-
hour program was broadcast each weekday during those 45

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years. On this program, he interviewed guests as diverse as Martin Luther King Jr., Leonard
Bernstein, Mort Sahl, Bob Dylan, Alexander Frey, Dorothy Parker, Tennessee Williams, Jean
Shepherd, Frank Zappa, and Big Bill Broonzy.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Terkel was also the central character of Studs' Place, an
unscripted television drama about the owner of a greasy-spoon diner in Chicago through which
many famous people and interesting characters passed. This show, Marlin Perkins's Zoo Parade,
Garroway at Large, and the children's show Kukla, Fran, and Ollie are widely considered
canonical examples of the Chicago School of Television.

Terkel published his first book, Giants of Jazz, in 1956. He followed it in 1967 with his first
collection of oral histories, Division Street: America, with 70 people talking about the effect on the
human spirit of living in an American metropolis.[7][8][9]

He also served as a distinguished scholar-in-residence at the Chicago History Museum. He

appeared in the film Eight Men Out, based on the Black Sox Scandal, in which he played
newspaper reporter Hugh Fullerton, who tries to uncover the White Sox players' plans to throw the
1919 World Series. Terkel found it particularly amusing to play this role, as he was a big fan of the
Chicago White Sox (as well as a vocal critic of major league baseball during the 1994 baseball
strike), and gave a moving congratulatory speech to the White Sox organization after their 2005
World Series championship during a television interview.

Terkel received his nickname while he was acting in a play with another person named Louis. To
keep the two straight, the director of the production gave Terkel the nickname Studs after the
fictional character about whom Terkel was reading at the time—Studs Lonigan, of James T.
Farrell's trilogy.

Terkel was acclaimed for his efforts to preserve American oral history. His 1985 book "The Good
War": An Oral History of World War Two, which detailed ordinary peoples' accounts of the
country's involvement in World War II, won the Pulitzer Prize. For Hard Times: An Oral History
of the Great Depression, Terkel assembled recollections of the Great Depression that spanned the
socioeconomic spectrum, from Okies, through prison inmates, to the wealthy. His 1974 book,
Working, in which (as reflected by its subtitle) People Talk About What They Do All Day and How
They Feel About What They Do, also was highly acclaimed. Working was made into a short-lived
Broadway show of the same title in 1978 and was telecast on PBS in 1982. In 1995, he received the
Chicago History Museum "Making History Award" for Distinction in Journalism and
Communications. In 1997, Terkel was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and
Letters. Two years later, he received the George Polk Career Award in 1999.

Later life
In 2004, Terkel received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws
degree from Colby College. In August 2005, Terkel underwent successful open-heart surgery. At
the age of 93, he was one of the oldest people to undergo this form of surgery and doctors reported
his recovery to be remarkable for someone of that advanced age. Terkel smoked two cigars a day
until 2004.

On May 22, 2006, Terkel, along with other plaintiffs, including Quentin Young, filed suit in federal
district court against AT&T Inc., to stop the telecommunications carrier from giving customer
telephone records to the National Security Agency without a court order.[10]

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Having been blacklisted from working in

television during the McCarthy era, I know the
harm of government using private corporations to
intrude into the lives of innocent Americans.
When the government uses the telephone
companies to create massive databases of all our
phone calls it has gone too far.

The lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Matthew F. Kennelly

on July 26, 2006. Judge Kennelly cited a "state secrets
privilege" designed to protect the government from being
harmed by lawsuits.
Studs Terkel before his 95th birthday
In an interview in The Guardian celebrating his 95th party at the Chicago History Museum

birthday, Terkel discussed his own "diverse and

idiosyncratic taste in music, from Bob Dylan to Alexander Frey, Louis Armstrong to Woody
Guthrie".[11]

Terkel published a new personal memoir entitled Touch and Go in fall 2007.[12]

Terkel was a self-described agnostic,[13] which he jokingly defined as "a cowardly atheist" during a
2004 interview with Krista Tippett on American Public Media's Speaking of Faith.[14]

One of his last interviews was for the documentary Soul of a People on Smithsonian Channel. He
spoke about his participation in the Works Progress Administration.

At his last public appearance, in 2007, Terkel said he was "still in touch—but ready to go".[1] He
gave one of his last interviews on the BBC HARDtalk program on February 4, 2008.[15] He spoke
of the imminent election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, and offered him some
advice, in October 2008.[16]

Terkel died in his Chicago home on Friday, October 31, 2008, at the age of 96. He had been
suffering since a fall in his home earlier that month.[17]

Legacy and audio recordings

From a donation by Terkel, the Chicago History Museum, External audio
Library of Congress, and WFMT created the Studs Terkel Louis Daniel Armstrong talks with
Radio Archive (https://www.studsterkel.org)[1], digitally Studs Terkel on WFMT; 1962/6/24
preserving his entire interview archive − "a remarkably rich (https://soundcloud.com/studsterkel-
history of the ideas and perspectives of both common and radio-archive/louis-daniel-armstrong
influential people living in the second half of the 20th -talks-with-studs-terkel-on-wfmt-196
century," per the Library of Congress. 2624), 33:43, Studs Terkel Radio
Archive[18]
"For Studs, there was not a voice that should not be heard, a
story that could not be told," said Gary T. Johnson, Museum Poet Laureate Gwendolyn
president. "He believed that everyone had the right to be Brooks talks with Studs – Poetry
heard and had something important to say. He was there to Month; 1967 (https://soundcloud.co
listen, to chronicle, and to make sure their stories are m/studsterkel-radio-archive/gwendol
yn-brooks-talks-with-studs-pt-1-poet
remembered."[21] On September 5, 2019, podcast The Radio
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Diaries, produced by Radiotopia on PRX, released an episode ry-month-1967), 45:01, Studs Terkel
called "The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel." In it, Terkel's Radio Archive[19]
taped interviews with working people are played and Studs Terkel's Music Interviews
examined.[22] (http://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2
014/07/studs-terkels-music-intervie
Awards and honors ws/), includes excerpts of interviews
with Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Oscar
In 1982, Terkel was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Petersen, and Memphis Slim.
Letters from the University of Illinois at Chicago.[23] Library of Congress[20]

In 1985, Terkel received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-

Fiction for his book The Good War.

Bill Clinton, then the President of the United States, awarded Terkel the National Humanities
Medal in 1997.[24]

The National Book Foundation awarded Terkel the 1997 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to
American Letters.[25]

In 2001, Terkel was made an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Northwestern University.[26]

In 2001, Terkel was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the
Community.[27]

In 2004, Terkel was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the
Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in the area of
Communications.[28]

In 2006, Terkel received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dayton Literary Peace Prize,
the first and only annual U.S. literary award recognizing the power of the written word to promote
peace.[29][30]

In 2010, Terkel was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.[31]

Terkel was a recipient of the 1999 George Polk Career Award[32] and the National Book Critics
Circle 2003 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.[33]

Terkel, despite not being black, was inducted into Chicago State University's National Literary Hall
of Fame for Writers of African Descent at the insistence of Professor Haki Madhubuti.[34][35]

Selected works

Articles
Terkel, Studs, ed. (February 1972). "Servants of the State: Speaking truth to power: an
interview with Daniel Ellsberg, Tony Russo and Eqbal Ahmed" (https://harpers.org/archive/197
2/02/). Harper's Magazine. Vol. 244, no. 1461. pp. 52+.

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"Women at Work". Ramparts. April 1974. pp. 38–44.

Books
Giants of Jazz (1957). ISBN 1-56584-769-5
Division Street: America (1967), ISBN 0-394-42267-8
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970), ISBN 0-394-42774-2
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do
(1974). ISBN 0-394-47884-3
Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times (1973, reprinted 1977), ISBN 0-394-41102-1
American Dreams: Lost and Found (1983), ISBN 0-345-29736-9
The Good War (1984), ISBN 0-394-53103-5
Chicago (1986), ISBN 5-551-54568-7
The Great Divide: Second Thoughts on the American Dream (1988), ISBN 0-394-57053-7
Race: What Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession (1992),
ISBN 978-1565840003
Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who've Lived It (1995), ISBN 1-56584-
284-7
My American Century (1997), ISBN 1-59558-177-4
The Spectator: Talk About Movies and Plays With Those Who Make Them (1999), ISBN 1-
56584-633-8
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith (2001),
ISBN 0-641-75937-1
Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times (2003), ISBN 1-56584-837-3
And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey (2005), ISBN 1-59558-003-4
Touch and Go (2007), ISBN 1-59558-043-3
P.S. Further Thoughts from a Lifetime of Listening (2008), ISBN 1-59558-423-4

Notes
1.^ The Archive is housed at the epononymous https://www.studsterkel.org, which currently
redirects to a subdomain of WFMT's website, https://studsterkel.wfmt.com.

References
1. Kogan, Rick (October 31, 2008). "Studs Terkel dies" (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi
-studs-terkel-dead-story.html). Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
2. Grimes, William (October 31, 2008). "Studs Terkel, Listener to Americans, Dies at 96" (https://w
ww.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/books/01terkel.html?_r=1). The New York Times. Retrieved
November 17, 2008.
3. Terkel, Studs (2012). Studs Terkel's Chicago (https://books.google.com/books?id=yYs4AAAAQ
BAJ&pg=PA46). New York: New Press. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-1-59558-718-3.
4. Ammeson, Jane (May 28, 2007). "Storytelling with Studs Terkel" (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0070808212436/http://chicagolife.net/content/interview/Storytelling_with_Studs_Terkel).
Chicago Life. Archived from the original (http://chicagolife.net/content/interview/Storytelling_wit
h_Studs_Terkel) on August 8, 2007.
5. "Studs Terkel Biography" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXauCbhLuo&list=PLlUoyloCGl
WwWpbzUccApPOWYsOP4mu0Z&index=7). Old Time Radio Researchers – via YouTube.

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6. Stein, Alan H. (2007). "Studs Terkel" (https://books.google.com/books?id=n3Xn7jMx1RYC&pg=

PA498). In Sisson, Richard; Zacher, Christian K.; Cayton, Andrew Robert Lee (eds.). The
American Midwest: an interpretive encyclopedia. Indiana University Press. p. 498. ISBN 978-0-
253-00349-2.
Previous Terkel radio work included for WENR (1944 Wax Museum) and WCFL (beginning
November 30, 1947). A TV show (Studs' Place) began in November 1949 and lasted to 1951.
7. Terkel, Studs (September 17, 1967). Division Street: America (https://archive.org/details/divisio
nstreetam0000terk). New Press. ISBN 978-1-59558-072-6. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
8. Lyon, Peter (February 5, 1967). "Chicago Voices" (https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.co
m/books/99/09/26/specials/terkel-division.html). The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved
August 30, 2023.
9. "Studs Terkel, Recordings from Division Street" (http://studsterkel.matrix.msu.edu/dstreet.php).
Chicago History Museum. Retrieved September 27, 2016. 23 original audio recordings as aired
by Terkel
10. "Author Studs Terkel, Other Prominent Chicagoans Join in Challenge to AT&T Sharing of
Telephone Records with the National Security Agency" (https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/au
thor-studs-terkel-other-prominent-chicagoans-join-challenge-att-sharing-telephone). ACLU
(Press release). May 22, 2006. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
11. Younge, Gary (January 23, 2008). "Let Me Tell You A Story" (https://www.theguardian.com/boo
ks/2008/jan/23/history.usa). The Guardian.
12. "Terkel records life in a 'Touch and Go' way" (https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/0
6/28/terkel-records-life-in-a-touch-and-go-way/2468491/). USA Today. December 19, 2007.
Retrieved October 15, 2017.
13. Allison, Jay; Gediman, Dan, eds. (2006). This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of
Remarkable Men and Women (https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805086584/page/n21/mod
e/2up?q=agnostic). Henry Holt and Company. p. xxi. ISBN 978-0-8050-8658-4.
14. Tippett, Krista (November 13, 2008). "Studs Terkel: Life, Faith, and Death" (https://onbeing.org/
programs/studs-terkel-life-faith-and-death/). On Being. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
15. Sackur, Stephen (February 4, 2008). "Studs Terkel" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/ha
rdtalk/7226682.stm). HARDtalk. BBC News. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
16. Lifson, Edward (November 23, 2008). "Studs for Obama" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edwa
rd-lifson/studs-for-obama_b_137278.html). Huffington Post.
17. American prize-winning author Studs Terkel dead at 96 at Wikinews
18. "Louis Daniel Armstrong talks with Studs Terkel on WFMT; 1962/6/24" (https://soundcloud.com/
studsterkel-radio-archive/tracks). Studs Terkel Radio Archive. June 24, 1962. Retrieved
September 27, 2016.
19. "Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks talks with Studs – Poetry Month; 1967" (https://soundcloud.
com/studsterkel-radio-archive/gwendolyn-brooks-talks-with-studs-pt-1-poetry-month-1967).
Studs Terkel Radio Archive. 1967. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
20. "Studs Terkel's Music Interviews" (http://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2014/07/studs-terkels-mus
ic-interviews/). Library of Congress. 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2016. Includes excerpts of
interviews with Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Oscar Petersen, and Memphis Slim.
21. "Library Collaborates With Chicago History Museum To Preserve Radio Icon Studs Terkel's
Historic Recordings" (https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-115.html) (Press release). Library
of Congress. May 14, 2010. ISSN 0731-3527 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0731-3527).
Retrieved October 15, 2017.
22. Richman, Joe (April 4, 2019). "The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel" (http://www.radiodiaries.org/
working-tapes-studs-terkel/). Radio Diaries. Radiotopia.
23. "Honorary Degrees" (https://commencement.uic.edu/about/history/honorary-degrees/).
University of Illinois Chicago. Retrieved August 30, 2023.

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24. "Clinton Gives Medals in Arts and Humanities to Studs Terkel, Others" (https://www.chicagotrib
une.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-09-29-9709300073-story.html). Chicago Tribune. September 29,
1997. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
25. "Studs Terkel Accepts the 1997 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" (http
s://www.nationalbook.org/studs-terkel-accepts-the-1997-medal-for-distinguished-contribution-to
-american-letters/). National Book Foundation. February 24, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
26. "Recipients" (https://www.northwestern.edu/provost/about/committees/honorary-degrees/honor
ary-degree-recipients.html). Office of the Provost. Northwestern University. Retrieved June 8,
2022.
27. "Studs Terkel" (https://chicagolgbthalloffame.org/terkel-studs/). Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.
Retrieved August 30, 2023.
28. "The Honor Roll of Laureates" (https://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/laureates/convocations/#
2004). The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
29. "2006 Lifetime Achievement Award" (https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2006-2/).
Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
30. "Studs Terkel to receive first Dayton literary prize" (https://web.archive.org/web/200902050735
27/https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-07-19-terkel_x.htm). USA Today.
Associated Press. July 19, 2006. Archived from the original (https://www.usatoday.com/life/boo
ks/news/2006-07-19-terkel_x.htm) on February 5, 2009.
31. "Studs Terkel" (https://chicagoliteraryhof.org/inductees/profile/studs-terkel). Chicago Literary
Hall of Fame. 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
32. "Past George Polk Award Winners" (https://www.liu.edu/polk-awards/past-winners#1999). Long
Island University. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
33. "The Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award" (https://www.bookcritics.org/awards/sandrof/).
National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
34. Marsh, Michael (October 28, 1999). "Writer's Best Friend" (https://chicagoreader.com/news-poli
tics/writers-best-friend/). Chicago Reader. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
35. Terkel, Studs (2007). Touch and Go: A Memoir (https://books.google.com/books?id=VSpVn3vlJ
gcC&q=I%2520also%2520may%2520be%2520the%2520only%2520white%2520in%2520th
e%2520Hall%2520of%2520Fame%2520of%2520Black%2520Writers.). New York: The New
Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-59558-587-5.

External links
Official website (http://www.studsterkel.org)
Studs Terkel (https://curlie.org/Society/History/Historians/Terkel%2C_Studs/) at Curlie
Studs Terkel (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0855602/) at IMDb
Studs Terkel (https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96724840) on National
Public Radio in 1985
Appearances (https://www.c-span.org/person/?22647) on C-SPAN

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