Mae Brussell

Mae Magnin Brussell (May 29, 1922 – October 3, 1988) was an American radio personality and conspiracy theorist. She was the host of Dialogue: Conspiracy (later renamed World Watchers International).

Mae Magnin Brussell
Born
Mae Magnin

(1922-05-29)May 29, 1922
Beverly Hills, California, US
DiedOctober 3, 1988(1988-10-03) (aged 66)
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, US
EducationStanford University
University of California, Berkeley
OccupationRadio host
Children5
Parent(s)Edgar Magnin
Evelyn Magnin
RelativesIsaac Magnin (paternal great-grandfather)
Mary Ann Magnin (paternal great-grandmother)

Early life

Mae Magnin was born on May 29, 1922, in Beverly Hills, California.[1] Her father, Edgar Magnin, was a Reform rabbi at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.[2] Her paternal great-grandparents, Isaac Magnin and Mary Ann Magnin, were the founders of I. Magnin, an upscale women's clothing store in San Francisco, California.

She attended Stanford University in Palo Alto and received an associate degree from the University of California, Berkeley on June 3, 1942.[2][3]

Career

She was a radio host.[1] Much of her radio programming focused on the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.[1] She also covered the history of fascism.[1]

Distraught by the murder of President Kennedy, she purchased all 26 printed volumes issued by the Warren Commission report, and attempted to make sense of them by cross-indexing the entire work with stories from major newspapers and magazines that she thought showed connections and patterns that she found disturbing.[4]

Her career in radio started in May 1971 when, as a guest on the independently owned radio station KLRB, she questioned the Warren Commission.[1] She suggested Lee Harvey Oswald might not have been the only person involved in the assassination of the president.[1] She became a weekly guest.[1] Shortly after, she became the host of Dialogue: Conspiracy (later renamed World Watchers International).[1] From 1983 to 1988, she hosted the same show on KAZU, a radio station based in Pacific Grove.[1]

Additionally, she wrote articles that were published in The Realist, a magazine published by Paul Krassner.[1] An impressed John Lennon donated money so Krassner could afford to print Mae Brussell's work.[4]

Brussell was profiled on episode six of Slate's Slow Burn podcast.[5]

Personal life

She married twice and had five children:[1] two sons with her first husband, David Goodwin and John Goodwin; and three daughters with her second husband, Barbara Brussell, Keyenne Brussell, and Bonnie Brussell (who predeceased her in 1970).[6]

Death

She died of cancer on October 3, 1988[1] in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

Bibliography

Articles

Collected works
  • Constantine, Alex (ed). The Essential Mae Brussell: Investigations of Fascism in America. Introduction by Paul Krassner. Port Townsend, Was.: Feral House (2014). ISBN 978-1936239986, 1936239981. OCLC 937871969.

References
  1. Knight, Peter (2003). "Mae Brussell." In: Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1: A–L. Foreword by David Brion Davis. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 140-141. ISBN 1576078124, 978-1576078136. OCLC 773633696.
  2. Staff writer (Jul. 14, 1941). "Rabbi to Deliver Sunday Sermon." The Stanford Daily, vol. 99a, no. 8. p. 1. Full issue.
  3. University of California, Los Angeles (1942). The Twenty-Third Commencement Exercises, June 3, 1942 (event program). Los Angeles, Calif.: The Open Air Theater. p. 3.
    Published in Register: University of California, vol. 2. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press 1943), p. 611.
  4. Constantine, Alex (ed). The Essential Mae Brussell: Investigations of Fascism in America. Introduction by Paul Krassner. Port Townsend, Was.: Feral House (2014). ISBN 978-1936239986, 1936239981. OCLC 937871969.
  5. Slow Burn (podcast), with Leon Neyfakh. Season 1, Episode 6: "Rabbit Holes". Slate Plus (Jan. 9, 2018). View transcript.
  6. Staff writer (Oct. 4, 1988). "Conspiracy Theorist Mae Brussell Dies of Cancer" (obituary). The Monterey Herald. Archived from the original.
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