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Norman Cousins
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Norman Cousins
Norman Cousins (June 24, 1915 – November 30, 1990) was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace through world state advocate.
Cousins was born to Jewish immigrant parents Samuel Cousins and Sarah Babushkin Cousins, in West Hoboken, New Jersey (which later became Union City). At age 11, he was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis and placed in a sanatorium. Despite this, he was an athletic youth, and he claimed that as a young boy he "set out to discover exuberance."
Cousins attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx, New York City, graduating on February 3, 1933. He edited the high school paper, "The Square Deal," where his editing abilities were already in evidence. Cousins received a bachelor's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City.
His sister Jean married Tom Middleton.
He joined the staff of the New York Evening Post (now the New York Post) in 1934, and in 1935 was hired by Current History as a book critic. He later ascended to the position of managing editor. He also befriended the staff of the Saturday Review of Literature (later renamed Saturday Review), which had its offices in the same building, and by 1940, joined the staff of that publication as well. He was named editor-in-chief in 1942, a position he would hold until 1972. Under his direction, circulation of the publication increased from 20,000 to 650,000.
Cousins joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty in 1978 and became an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He taught ethics and medical literature. His research interest was the connection between attitude and health.
Politically, Cousins was an advocate of liberal causes, such as nuclear disarmament and world peace, which he promoted through his writings in Saturday Review. In a 1984 forum at the University of California, Berkeley, titled "Quest for Peace", Cousins recalled the editorial he wrote on August 6, 1945, the day the United States dropped the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Titled "The Modern Man is Obsolete", Cousins, who stated that he felt "the deepest guilt" over the bomb's use on civilian targets, discussed in the editorial the implications of the atomic bomb and nuclear power. He got it published the next day in the Review, and the response was considerable, as it was reprinted in newspapers and enlarged into a book, was reprinted in seven languages, and had an estimated circulation in the United States of seven million. An element of the book is that Cousins rejected what later became known as MAD and Deterrence theory. The possibility of war, he suggested, increases in proportion to the effectiveness of weapons. “Far from banishing war, the atomic bomb may in itself constitute a cause of war.” It promises aggressors a “lightening blow of annihilation… What a temptation for the blitzkrieger!” Later, he added a collection of non-fiction books on the same subjects, such as the 1953 Who Speaks for Man?, which advocated a World Federation and nuclear disarmament.
Despite his role as an advocate of liberalism, he jokingly expressed opposition to women entering the workforce. In 1939, upon learning that the number of women in the workforce was close to the number of unemployed males, he offered a solution: "Simply fire the women, who shouldn't be working anyway, and hire the men. Presto! No unemployment. No relief rolls. No depression."
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Norman Cousins
Norman Cousins (June 24, 1915 – November 30, 1990) was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace through world state advocate.
Cousins was born to Jewish immigrant parents Samuel Cousins and Sarah Babushkin Cousins, in West Hoboken, New Jersey (which later became Union City). At age 11, he was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis and placed in a sanatorium. Despite this, he was an athletic youth, and he claimed that as a young boy he "set out to discover exuberance."
Cousins attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx, New York City, graduating on February 3, 1933. He edited the high school paper, "The Square Deal," where his editing abilities were already in evidence. Cousins received a bachelor's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City.
His sister Jean married Tom Middleton.
He joined the staff of the New York Evening Post (now the New York Post) in 1934, and in 1935 was hired by Current History as a book critic. He later ascended to the position of managing editor. He also befriended the staff of the Saturday Review of Literature (later renamed Saturday Review), which had its offices in the same building, and by 1940, joined the staff of that publication as well. He was named editor-in-chief in 1942, a position he would hold until 1972. Under his direction, circulation of the publication increased from 20,000 to 650,000.
Cousins joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty in 1978 and became an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He taught ethics and medical literature. His research interest was the connection between attitude and health.
Politically, Cousins was an advocate of liberal causes, such as nuclear disarmament and world peace, which he promoted through his writings in Saturday Review. In a 1984 forum at the University of California, Berkeley, titled "Quest for Peace", Cousins recalled the editorial he wrote on August 6, 1945, the day the United States dropped the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Titled "The Modern Man is Obsolete", Cousins, who stated that he felt "the deepest guilt" over the bomb's use on civilian targets, discussed in the editorial the implications of the atomic bomb and nuclear power. He got it published the next day in the Review, and the response was considerable, as it was reprinted in newspapers and enlarged into a book, was reprinted in seven languages, and had an estimated circulation in the United States of seven million. An element of the book is that Cousins rejected what later became known as MAD and Deterrence theory. The possibility of war, he suggested, increases in proportion to the effectiveness of weapons. “Far from banishing war, the atomic bomb may in itself constitute a cause of war.” It promises aggressors a “lightening blow of annihilation… What a temptation for the blitzkrieger!” Later, he added a collection of non-fiction books on the same subjects, such as the 1953 Who Speaks for Man?, which advocated a World Federation and nuclear disarmament.
Despite his role as an advocate of liberalism, he jokingly expressed opposition to women entering the workforce. In 1939, upon learning that the number of women in the workforce was close to the number of unemployed males, he offered a solution: "Simply fire the women, who shouldn't be working anyway, and hire the men. Presto! No unemployment. No relief rolls. No depression."
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