JUly MEETING BY ZOOM
Gregory Cumming, Ph.D
the challenges and opportunities
of writing a historical account
of a famous person
SATURDAY JUly 10, 2021 AT 10 AM
Our guest speaker for Saturday, July 10 via Zoom beginning at 10 am will be Gregory Cumming, Ph.D, Resource Archivist and Staff Historian Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, and author of “The Symbionese Liberation Army and Patricia Hearst, Queen of the Revolution.”
The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), as it existed originally, endured for a brief 192 days. It formed in the months leading up to November 1973 in Oakland, California. In concentrating their activities around the Berkeley area, the SLA had hoped to recapture the excitement and passion of the protest movements of the 1960s.
Patricia Hearst's actions suggests she became a willing participant in the SLA after her kidnapping. Her transformation into Tania, the urban guerilla, left the country in shock. Unlike any group before or after, the SLA had unlimited access to the media. The world watched in horror and amazement as the SLA continued to wreak havoc and outmaneuver the FBI time and time again.
Dr. Cumming will talk about the challenges and opportunities of writing a historical account of a famous person.
Dr. Gregory Cumming obtained his B.A. (1986) in history at the University of LaVerne and M.A. (1988) and PhD (2010) in history at the University of California, Riverside. In 1989, Dr. Cumming joined the staff of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley as an archivist. In 2003, Dr. Cumming moved to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, CA as the Director of Archives Programs. In 2006, he re-joined the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as the Supervisory Archivist of the new federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum and is currently is serving as the Library’s Staff Historian. Dr. Cumming also serves as a Senior Adjunct Professor at the University of LaVerne where he has taught since 2005 with upper division courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, California History, The Sixties, American Involvement in Vietnam, The Reagan Years and lower division survey courses on U.S. history, colonial to present and world civilizations.
Dr. Cumming is currently researching President Ronald Reagan and his speechwriters for what he anticipates will be a book and several articles. The premise of the book will be the conservative roots of many of President Reagan’s speechwriters and their impact upon the administration and the nation.
Stemming from his dissertation, Dr. Cumming co-authored a history of the Symbionese Liberation Army and the fall of the New Left. The title of the book is Queen of the Revolution: Patricia Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Dr. Cumming also published two articles pertaining to his upcoming book: The Symbionese Liberation Army: Coming Togther, 1973 (History Compass, June 2011) and A Terrorist Cell’s Final Days (Prologue, Spring 2012).
Gregory Cumming is a native of San Jose, CA. He and his wife, Lupe, and children Taylor and Jake, reside in Yorba Linda, CA.
To join the zoom meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84251056636?pwd=RUZHNEgxbFBtRklSQ3ZqVDluWEJBdz09
The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), as it existed originally, endured for a brief 192 days. It formed in the months leading up to November 1973 in Oakland, California. In concentrating their activities around the Berkeley area, the SLA had hoped to recapture the excitement and passion of the protest movements of the 1960s.
Patricia Hearst's actions suggests she became a willing participant in the SLA after her kidnapping. Her transformation into Tania, the urban guerilla, left the country in shock. Unlike any group before or after, the SLA had unlimited access to the media. The world watched in horror and amazement as the SLA continued to wreak havoc and outmaneuver the FBI time and time again.
Dr. Cumming will talk about the challenges and opportunities of writing a historical account of a famous person.
Dr. Gregory Cumming obtained his B.A. (1986) in history at the University of LaVerne and M.A. (1988) and PhD (2010) in history at the University of California, Riverside. In 1989, Dr. Cumming joined the staff of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley as an archivist. In 2003, Dr. Cumming moved to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, CA as the Director of Archives Programs. In 2006, he re-joined the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as the Supervisory Archivist of the new federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum and is currently is serving as the Library’s Staff Historian. Dr. Cumming also serves as a Senior Adjunct Professor at the University of LaVerne where he has taught since 2005 with upper division courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, California History, The Sixties, American Involvement in Vietnam, The Reagan Years and lower division survey courses on U.S. history, colonial to present and world civilizations.
Dr. Cumming is currently researching President Ronald Reagan and his speechwriters for what he anticipates will be a book and several articles. The premise of the book will be the conservative roots of many of President Reagan’s speechwriters and their impact upon the administration and the nation.
Stemming from his dissertation, Dr. Cumming co-authored a history of the Symbionese Liberation Army and the fall of the New Left. The title of the book is Queen of the Revolution: Patricia Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Dr. Cumming also published two articles pertaining to his upcoming book: The Symbionese Liberation Army: Coming Togther, 1973 (History Compass, June 2011) and A Terrorist Cell’s Final Days (Prologue, Spring 2012).
Gregory Cumming is a native of San Jose, CA. He and his wife, Lupe, and children Taylor and Jake, reside in Yorba Linda, CA.
To join the zoom meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84251056636?pwd=RUZHNEgxbFBtRklSQ3ZqVDluWEJBdz09