View source for Alexander Cockburn

{{short description|Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer}}
{{other people}}
{{primary sources|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Alexander Cockburn
| image              = Alexander cockburn 2.jpg
| caption            = Cockburn in 2007
| birthname          = Alexander Claud Cockburn
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1941|6|6|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = Scotland
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2012|7|21|1941|6|6|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Bad Salzhausen]], Germany
| occupation         = Journalist, author
| parents            = [[Claud Cockburn]]<br />[[Patricia Cockburn]]
| spouse             = [[Emma Tennant]] (m. 1968; div. 1973)
| children           = 1
| credits            = ''[[CounterPunch]]'', ''[[The Nation]]'', ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
}}
'''Alexander Claud Cockburn''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|oʊ|b|ər|n}} {{respell|KOH|bərn}}; 6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was a Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up by British parents in Ireland, but lived and worked in the United States from 1972. Together with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]], he edited the political newsletter ''[[CounterPunch]]''. Cockburn also wrote the "Beat the Devil" column for ''[[The Nation]]'', and another column for ''[[The Week]]'' in London, syndicated by [[Creators Syndicate]].

==Background==

Alexander Cockburn was born on June 6, 1941, in Scotland and grew up in [[Youghal]], [[County Cork]], Ireland. He was the eldest son of journalist [[Claud Cockburn]], a former [[Communist]] author, and his third wife, [[Patricia Cockburn|Patricia Byron]], née Arbuthnot. (She wrote an autobiography, ''Figure of Eight''). His ancestral family included [[Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet]], who was responsible for the [[Burning of Washington]], DC in the [[War of 1812]].<ref name=NYT01/> His two younger brothers, [[Andrew Cockburn]] and [[Patrick Cockburn|Patrick]], are also journalists. 

His half-sister, [[Sarah Caudwell]], a barrister and mystery writer, died in 2000. His half-sister [[Claudia Cockburn]] and her husband [[Michael Flanders]] have two daughters, who are both journalists: [[Laura Flanders|Laura]] and [[Stephanie Flanders]]. Actress [[Olivia Wilde]] is the daughter of his brother Andrew.<ref name=NYT01/>

Cockburn grew up between his family home in Ireland and [[Glenalmond College]], an independent boys' boarding school, in [[Perthshire]], Scotland. He later studied English at [[Keble College, Oxford|Keble College]], [[University of Oxford]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jul/22/alexander-cockburn-obituary|title=Alexander Cockburn obituary|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=22 July 2012|author=Godfrey Hodgson|access-date=9 October 2016|archive-date=7 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107232913/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jul/22/alexander-cockburn-obituary|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Career==

===United Kingdom===
Cockburn graduated from Oxford in 1963, after which he worked at the ''[[New Left Review]]'', becoming its managing editor in 1966. He was also assistant editor at the  ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]'', and in 1967 worked at ''[[New Statesman]]''.<ref name=newleftreview.org>{{cite journal|author=Robin Blackburn|author-link=Robin Blackburn|title=Alexander Cockburn 1941–2012|journal=[[New Left Review]]|volume=II|issue=76|publisher=New Left Review|date=July–August 2012|url=http://newleftreview.org/II/76/robin-blackburn-alexander-cockburn-1941-2012|access-date=2 February 2014|archive-date=16 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316065911/http://newleftreview.org/II/76/robin-blackburn-alexander-cockburn-1941-2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1967 Cockburn co-edited ''The Incompatibles: Trade Union Militancy and the Consensus'' with [[Robin Blackburn]]. Blackburn described the book as "[bringing] together trade-union organizers, leftwing journalists including Paul Foot, Marxist economists and two liberals—[[Michael Frayn]] and [[Philip Toynbee]]—who mocked the demonization of union activists by [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] as well as [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] pundits."<ref name=newleftreview.org/> In 1969 the pair co-edited ''Student Power: Problems, Diagnosis, Action'', with contributors including [[Herbert Marcuse]], [[Perry Anderson]], and [[Tom Nairn]].<ref name=newleftreview.org/> In 1968, Cockburn published a letter to ''[[The Times]]'' supporting British socialists protesting the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>[[David Widgery]], ''The Left in Britain, 1956-68'', Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1976. {{ISBN|0140550992}} (p. 387-88).</ref>

===United States===
{{Socialism US|commentators}}
Cockburn moved to the United States in 1972 and lived there for the rest of his years. He contributed pieces to ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', ''[[Esquire Magazine|Esquire]]'', ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's]]'', and, from 1973 to 1983, ''[[The Village Voice]]''. For the latter, he initiated the longstanding "Press Clips" column. His interview of [[Rupert Murdoch]] in ''[[The Village Voice|The Voice]]'' preceded Murdoch's purchase of the paper.<ref>{{cite web|title="Murdoch's NY Deals" {{!}} 1976–1977|url=http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=village-voice-history|work=The Pop History Dig|access-date=2 February 2014|archive-date=8 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208114739/http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=village-voice-history|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Adam Curtis |publisher=BBC Blog |title=Rupert Murdoch A Portrait of Satan. |date=30 January 2011 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Fadamcurtis%2F2011%2F01%2Frupert_murdoch_-_a_portrait_of.html |access-date=2 February 2014 |archive-date=26 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326211620/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/01/rupert_murdoch_-_a_portrait_of.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[James Ridgeway]] later noted that "Murdoch, when he owned the ''Voice'', was said to gag on some of Alex's pointed epithets, but he never did anything about it."<ref>{{cite web |author=Ridgeway, James |title=Remembering Alexander Cockburn |date=23 July 2012 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/07/ridgeway-alexander-cockburn |access-date=9 July 2018 |archive-date=13 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713202326/https://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/07/ridgeway-alexander-cockburn/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

In 1975 Cockburn wrote ''Idle Passion: Chess and the Dance of Death.''<ref>{{cite web |publisher=C-SPAN |title=In Depth with Alexander Cockburn |date=1 April 2007 |url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?196500-1/Cockbu |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=3 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203104528/http://www.c-span.org/video/?196500-1%2FCockbu |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1979 Cockburn and Ridgeway co-wrote ''Political Ecology.''{{cn|date=March 2022}}

In 1982 Cockburn was suspended from ''The Voice'' for "accepting a $10,000 grant from an Arab studies organization in 1982."<ref>{{cite news|title=Village Voice Suspends Alexander Cockburn Over $10,000 Grant|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|publisher=[[Dow Jones & Company|Dow Jones]]|page=12|date=18 January 1984}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/0543,50th1984,69230,31.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120919080437/http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/0543,50th1984,69230,31.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 September 2012|title=This Year in New York History: A ''Voice'' Timeline|access-date=22 August 2006|year=2006|work=The Village Voice 50th Anniversary Special|publisher=[[Village Voice]]}}</ref> In 1984, Cockburn became a regular contributor to ''The Nation'' with a column called "Beat the Devil", titled for [[Beat the Devil (novel)|the novel]] of the same name written by his father. During the 1980s Cockburn also contributed to the ''[[New York Press]]'', the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', the ''[[New Statesman]]'', the ''[[Anderson Valley Advertiser]]'', ''[[The Week]]'', ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', and ''[[Chronicles (magazine)|Chronicles]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/index.php/2009/03/16/how-the-networks-went-into-the-drug-peddling-business/|title=How the Networks Went into the Drug Peddling Business|work=[[Chronicles (magazine)|Chronicles]] online edition|date=16 March 2009|author=Alexander Cockburn|access-date=27 January 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004054102/http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/index.php/2009/03/16/how-the-networks-went-into-the-drug-peddling-business/|archive-date=4 October 2009}}</ref>

In 1987, Cockburn completed the first of a series of books collecting columns, diary entries, letters, and essays dating from 1976, titled ''Corruptions of Empire''; the cover featured a portrayal of Admiral George Cockburn torching the [[White House]].<ref name=c-span.org>{{cite web |publisher=C-SPAN |title=Journalism in U.S. and How Americans Receive World News. |date=17 December 1987 |url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?241-1/USan |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=3 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203124729/http://www.c-span.org/video/?241-1%2FUSan |url-status=live }}</ref> Follow-up books included ''The Golden Age Is In Us: Journeys and Encounters'' (1995) and ''A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption, and American Culture'' (2013).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cockburn |first=Alexander |url=https://www.versobooks.com/books/1711-a-colossal-wreck |title=A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption and American Culture |date=September 2014|publisher=Verso Books |isbn=9781781682951 |publication-date=11 October 2011 |access-date=20 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040907/https://www.versobooks.com/books/1711-a-colossal-wreck |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> 
In the 1990s Cockburn contributed to, and eventually became co-editor of, the newsletter ''[[CounterPunch]]''.

Cockburn became a United States citizen in 2009.<ref name=NYT01>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/nyregion/alexander-cockburn-left-wing-writer-dies-at-71.html|title=Alexander Cockburn, Left-Wing Writer, Is Dead at 71|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 July 2012|author=Colin Moynihan|access-date=23 July 2012|archive-date=23 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723142816/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/nyregion/alexander-cockburn-left-wing-writer-dies-at-71.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn06192009.html|title=I Become an American|work=[[CounterPunch]]|date=19 June 2009|author=Alexander Cockburn|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622111752/http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn06192009.html|archive-date=22 June 2009}}</ref> He lived in New York City for many years, before moving to [[Petrolia, California|Petrolia]] in [[Humboldt County, California|Humboldt County]] in northern California in 1992.<ref>[http://www.newsun.com/daisy2.html Daisy Cockburn: Painting in My Father's Garden] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004194235/http://www.newsun.com/daisy2.html |date=4 October 2018 }} Retrieved 2016-11-25.</ref>

==Political views and activities==
{{Primary sources|section|date=January 2022}}

===Anti-war positions===
In a January 1980, ''[[Village Voice]]'' column, Cockburn criticized the US media's coverage of the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], and described Afghanistan as "An unspeakable country filled with unspeakable people, sheepshaggers and smugglers ... I yield to none in my sympathy to those prostrate beneath the Russian jackboot, but if ever a country deserved rape it's Afghanistan."<ref>"Iowa and Afghanistan" by Alexander Cockburn. Press Clips. ''Village Voice'' 21 January 1980</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Michael F.|last=Bérubé|title=The Left at War|publisher=[[NYU Press]]|location=New York City|date=2009|isbn=978-0814791479|page=261}}</ref> Cockburn later said that his comments were "satirical," "tasteless,"<ref name=c-span.org/> and that he "shouldn't have written it ... it was a joke."<ref>{{cite news|first=Jack|last=Shafer|authorlink=Jack Shafer|url=http://www.sfweekly.com/1995-07-05/calendar/the-tale-of-an-asp/full/|title=The Tale of an Asp|newspaper=[[SF Weekly]]|date=July 5, 1995|access-date=January 13, 2014|archive-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113205054/http://www.sfweekly.com/1995-07-05/calendar/the-tale-of-an-asp/full/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[USS Vincennes (CG-49)|USS ''Vincennes'']] fired a missile in 1988 that brought down [[Iran Air Flight 655]], killing 290 people.<ref>{{cite web |first=Les |last=Aspin |title=Witness to Iran Flight 655 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 18, 1988 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/18/opinion/witness-to-iran-flight-655.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328121442/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/18/opinion/witness-to-iran-flight-655.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-status=live }}</ref> With [[Ken Silverstein]], in reaction the two  men co-wrote articles critical of the United States military and its commanders.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Ken |last=Silverstein |authorlink=Ken Silverstein |title=A "Brilliant Life: Remembering Alexander Cockburn" |magazine=[[Harper's Magazine]] |date=25 July 2012 |url=http://harpers.org/blog/2012/07/a-brilliant-life-remembering-alexander-cockburn/ |access-date=3 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221044054/http://harpers.org/blog/2012/07/a-brilliant-life-remembering-alexander-cockburn/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first1=Alexander |last1=Cockburn |first2=Ken |last2=Silverstein |authorlink2=Ken Silverstein |title=The System That Brought Down Flight 655 |magazine=[[Harper's Magazine]] |date=September 1988 |url=http://harpers.org/archive/1988/09/the-system-that-brought-down-flight-655/ |access-date=3 February 2014 |archive-date=21 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221043710/http://harpers.org/archive/1988/09/the-system-that-brought-down-flight-655/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Cockburn also criticized economic and political [[International sanctions|sanctions]] imposed on the [[Iraqi government]] by the United Nations.<ref name=fpress>Cockburn, Alexander, [http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/2/2000/617 The Free Press – Independent News Media] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108180701/http://freepress.org/columns/display/2/2000/617 |date=8 November 2017 }}, 2/2000.<!-- Bot generated title --></ref> He said that such policies targeted "rogue states (most of which, like the [[Taliban]] or [[Saddam Hussein]], started off as creatures of US intelligence)."<ref>{{cite book|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|title=A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption and American Culture|publisher=[[Verso Books]]|location=New York City|date=2013|pages=201–202}}</ref> After the [[September 11 attacks]], he criticized the 2001 [[United States invasion of Afghanistan]],<ref>Bérubé, p. 261</ref> and the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] by United States-led forces.<ref name=fpress/>

===Opinion on conspiracy theories===
Cockburn opposed [[conspiracism]], particularly in regard to [[9/11 conspiracy theories]]. He interpreted the rise of these ideas as a sign of the decline of the [[American Left]].<ref name=counterpunch.org>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2006/11/28/the-9-11-conspiracists-and-the-decline-of-the-anmerican-left/|title=The 9/11 Conspiracists and the Decline of the American Left|date=28 November 2006|magazine=[[CounterPunch]]|access-date=19 January 2022|archive-date=19 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119173946/https://www.counterpunch.org/2006/11/28/the-9-11-conspiracists-and-the-decline-of-the-anmerican-left/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name='Debunking'>{{cite web|first1=Alexander|last1=Cockburn|first2=Jeffrey|last2=St. Clair|authorlink2=Jeffrey St. Clair|url=http://www.counterpunch.org/ninelevenconsp11252006.html|title=Debunking the Myths of 9/11|website=[[CounterPunch]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119110741/http://www.counterpunch.org/ninelevenconsp11252006.html |archive-date=January 19, 2007|access-date=November 28, 2006}}</ref> Cockburn also criticized conspiracy theories related to the 1963 [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of US president Kennedy]]<ref>Cockburn, A; ''The Golden Age Is In Us: Journeys and Encounters'', [[Verso Books]], 1995, pp. 352–353.</ref> and the [[Country Walk case]].<ref name=na93>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513034656/https://www.skepticfiles.org/rumor/j-renotn.htm |archive-date=2008-05-13 |first=Alexander |last=Cockburn |title=Janet Reno's Coerced Confession |magazine=[[The Nation]] |date=March 8, 1993 |pages=296–297 |url=https://ncrj.org/_fuster/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/CockburnBeatTheDevil.pdf |url-status=live }} [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/%22Janet$20Reno$27s$20Coerced$20Confession%22/misc.activism.progressive/cr1XmhTkYPs/86oJLevHrusJ Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927164018/https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/%22Janet$20Reno$27s$20Coerced$20Confession%22/misc.activism.progressive/cr1XmhTkYPs/86oJLevHrusJ |date=27 September 2018 }}</ref> He did suggest in writing that the US government had [[Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge conspiracy theory|prior knowledge]] of the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|1941 Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor]].<ref name='Debunking' />

Cockburn was a vehement opponent of the scientific consensus on [[climate change]]. He described the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to [[Al Gore]] and the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] as the result of "Bogus science topped off with toxic alarmism. It’s as ridiculous as if Goebbels got the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938, sharing it with the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for his work in publicizing the threat to race purity posed by Jews, Slavs and gypsies."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2007/10/13/al-gore-s-peace-prize/|title=Al Gore's Peace Prize|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|date=13 October 2007|website=CounterPunch.org}}</ref>

===Support of US constitutional rights===
{{external media
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| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAIbxcPERJE Digital Commons discussion.] Battle of Ideas 2007, [[Royal College of Art]], [[London]].
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Cockburn supported [[freedom of speech|free speech]], writing that "Free speech counts most when it's most risky".<ref>{{cite web |last=Cockburn |first=Alexander |title=The Free Speech Movement and Howard Stern |date=October 16, 2004 |website=[[CounterPunch]] |url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/10/16/the-free-speech-movement-and-howard-stern/ |access-date=20 July 2014 |archive-date=11 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911015906/http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/10/16/the-free-speech-movement-and-howard-stern/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He said, "America is well on its way to making it illegal to say anything nasty about gays, Jews, blacks and women [...] with the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] gone the way of the dodo."<ref>{{cite web |last=Cockburn |first=Alexander |title=The Hate Crimes Bill: How Not to Remember Matthew Shepard |date=June 26–28, 2010 |url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/06/26/the-hate-crimes-bill-how-not-to-remember-matthew-shepard/ |website=[[CounterPunch]] |access-date=20 July 2014 |archive-date=28 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128063128/http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/06/26/the-hate-crimes-bill-how-not-to-remember-matthew-shepard/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Cockburn wrote approvingly of the right-wing [[Patriot movement]] and militia rallies.<ref name="wlwr">{{cite magazine|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|title=Who's Left? Who's Right?|magazine=[[The Nation]]|date=12 June 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Justin|last=Raimondo|authorlink=Justin Raimondo|title=Alexander Cockburn, RIP|website=Anti-War|date=23 July 2012|quote="...when Bill Clinton was targeting the alleged danger posed by the militia movement in the 1990s, Cockburn defended them, likened them to the [[Zapatista Army of National Liberation|Zapatistas]], and described one militia rally he attended as "amiable""...|url=http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/07/22/alexander-cockburn-rip/|accessdate=12 January 2014|archive-date=12 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112172412/http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/07/22/alexander-cockburn-rip/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Asked about his position on the [[Second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Second Amendment]] and gun control, Cockburn once said, "a native Mexican turkey wandered onto my property in Humboldt County, unaware that the California Fish and Game regulations permitted a window of vulnerability for the aforementioned wild turkey. I then proceeded to my 12-gauge and brought that turkey down, thirteen and a half pounds, plucked it, drew it, and ate it, with my loved ones as they say," but also said "I think that people shouldn't carry [[Howitzer]]s."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?161120-1/five-days-shook-world-seattle-beyond|title=[Five Days That Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond] &#124; C-SPAN.org|website=www.c-span.org|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-date=30 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330065438/https://www.c-span.org/video/?161120-1%2Ffive-days-shook-world-seattle-beyond|url-status=live}}</ref> Following the 2007 [[Virginia Tech massacre]], Cockburn wrote, "There have been the usual howls from the anti-gun lobby, but it's all hot air. America is not about to dump the Second Amendment giving people the right to bear arms." He suggested several alternative measures to increased gun control around institutions of mandatory and elective education.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|title=Lessons to be learned from the Virginia Tech shooting|magazine=[[The Week]]|date=19 April 2007|url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/americas/43432/lessons-be-learned-virginia-tech-shooting#ixzz2sH5OcMmW|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=21 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221012632/http://www.theweek.co.uk/americas/43432/lessons-be-learned-virginia-tech-shooting#ixzz2sH5OcMmW|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Social topics===
Among other social topics, Cockburn wrote extensively about his opposition to “scaremongering” about [[illegal immigration]] to the United States,<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?196500-1/depth-alexander-cockburn|title=In Depth with Alexander Cockburn &#124; C-SPAN.org|website=www.c-span.org|access-date=2 April 2022|archive-date=30 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330065438/https://www.c-span.org/video/?196500-1%2Fdepth-alexander-cockburn|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Cockburn|first1=Alexander|last2=Pollitt|first2=Katha|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/exchange-katha-pollitt-and-alexander-cockburn-hispanic-crime-rate/|title=Exchange: Katha Pollitt and Alexander Cockburn on Hispanic Crime Rates|work=[[The Nation]]|date=February 12, 2010|access-date=November 5, 2019|archive-date=5 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105131013/https://www.thenation.com/article/exchange-katha-pollitt-and-alexander-cockburn-hispanic-crime-rate/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceC">{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|title=The Bogus Hispanic Crime Wave|website=[[CounterPunch]]|date=March 5–7, 2010|url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/03/05/the-bogus-hispanic-crime-wave/|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=21 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221060252/http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/03/05/the-bogus-hispanic-crime-wave/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|title=The Republicans, Immigration and the Minimum Wage|website=[[CounterPunch]]|date=30 September – 2 October 2011|url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/30/goodbye-%E2%80%9Cpeak-oil%E2%80%9D-hello-glut/|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=21 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221070944/http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/30/goodbye-%E2%80%9Cpeak-oil%E2%80%9D-hello-glut/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[anti-Semitism]] and use of anti-Semitism accusations in modern politics<ref name=AKP>{{cite book|first1=Alexander|last1=Cockburn|first2=Jeffrey|last2=St. Clair|authorlink2=Jeffrey St. Clair|year=2003|url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofantise00alex|url-access=registration|title=The Politics of Anti-Semitism|publisher=AK Press|location=[[Oakland, California]]|isbn=978-1-90259-377-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2002/05/16/israel-and-quot-anti-semitism-quot/|title=Israel and "Anti-Semitism"|work=[[CounterPunch]]|date=16 February 2002|author=Alexander Cockburn|access-date=23 January 2019|archive-date=23 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123223501/https://www.counterpunch.org/2002/05/16/israel-and-quot-anti-semitism-quot/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://counterpunch.org/alexgraham.html|title=When Billy Graham Planned To Kill One Million People|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|work=[[CounterPunch]]|date=12 March 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061101054537/http://www.counterpunch.org/alexgraham.html|archive-date=1 November 2006}}</ref> (for which he received criticism),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Algemeiner|first=The|title=Guardian Praises Anti-Semitic Site "CounterPunch" as Progressive|url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2012/07/25/guardian-praises-anti-semitic-site-counterpunch-as-progressive/|access-date=2021-08-12|website=Algemeiner.com|language=en-US|archive-date=25 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725075139/https://www.algemeiner.com/2012/07/25/guardian-praises-anti-semitic-site-counterpunch-as-progressive/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2005d/111105/forum/forum3.htm|title=Letters|first=Alan|last=Dershowitz|authorlink=Alan Dershowitz|date=November 11, 2005|newspaper=[[National Catholic Reporter]]|access-date=October 7, 2006|archive-date=26 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926221252/http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2005d/111105/forum/forum3.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2003/0716.asp|title=Kristof's Conspiratorial Sources|work=Times Watch|publisher=[[Media Research Center]]|date=16 July 2003|first=Clay|last=Waters|access-date=20 July 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231050356/http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2003/0716.asp|archive-date=31 December 2006}}</ref> and his support of the [[Occupy Wall Street movement]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmzo4Ru3Jv4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/mmzo4Ru3Jv4| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Occupy MLK|work=james decker|date=16 January 2012|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/06/biggest-financial-scandal-in-britains-history-not-a-single-occupy-sign-what-happened/|title=Biggest Financial Scandal in Britain's History, Yet Not a Single Occupy Sign; What Happened?|website=[[CounterPunch]]|date=July 6-8, 2012|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=12 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112185226/http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/06/biggest-financial-scandal-in-britains-history-not-a-single-occupy-sign-what-happened/|url-status=live}}</ref> Cockburn also wrote about [[same-sex marriage]]<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="creators.com">{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|title=Gay Marriage and the Shackles of Matrimony|website=Creators.com|date=May 18, 2012|url=http://www.creators.com/opinion/alexander-cockburn/gay-marriage-and-the-shackles-of-matrimony.html|access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=18 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218022539/http://www.creators.com/opinion/alexander-cockburn/gay-marriage-and-the-shackles-of-matrimony.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Scientology]].<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>{{Cite news|first=Alexander|last=Cockburn|url=http://www.scientology.de/scnnews/press/eng/mar/97031301.htm|title=About Scientologists Take Offensive In Reich Land|newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=June 15, 2000}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==

In December 1968, Cockburn married writer [[Emma Tennant]]; their daughter Daisy Alice Cockburn was born in February 1969.<ref>{{cite book|first=Charles|last=Mosley|year=2003|title=Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, Clan Chiefs, Scottish Feudal Barons|publisher=[[Burke's Peerage|Burke's Peerage & Gentry]]|location=London, England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rg11SQAACAAJ|volume=1|edition=107|pages=107, 1571|isbn=9780971196629|access-date=21 September 2020|archive-date=6 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706234234/http://books.google.com/books?id=rg11SQAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Cockburn and Tennant divorced in 1973. 

Cockburn had a complicated personal and professional relationship with British author and journalist [[Christopher Hitchens]]. [[Robin Blackburn]] commented that Cockburn “sort of invented Christopher. He showed him what could be done."<ref name=frontlineclub.com>{{cite web|url=https://www.frontlineclub.com/remembering-alexander-cockburn/|title=Remembering Alexander Cockburn|work=[[Frontline Club]]|date=17 October 2013|access-date=23 January 2019|archive-date=30 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930082731/https://www.frontlineclub.com/remembering-alexander-cockburn/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Cockburn, A; The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys and Encounters, 1995, p. 112.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=C-SPAN Q&A: Christopher Hitchens – Transcript|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?285444-1/qa-christopher-hitchens|publisher=C-SPAN|date=26 April 2009|access-date=30 November 2014|archive-date=10 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110061740/http://www.c-span.org/video/?285444-1%2Fqa-christopher-hitchens|url-status=live}}</ref>

Cockburn died on 21 July 2012, in [[Bad Salzhausen]], Germany, age 71, after suffering from cancer for two years.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=John|last=Nichols|url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/168996/alexander-cockburn-and-radical-power-word|title=Alexander Cockburn and the Radical Power of the Word|magazine=[[The Nation]]|date=July 21, 2012|access-date=22 July 2012|archive-date=22 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722155051/http://www.thenation.com/blog/168996/alexander-cockburn-and-radical-power-word|url-status=live}}</ref> 

In ''CounterPunch'', [[Jeffrey St. Clair]] wrote, "[Cockburn] didn't want the disease to define him. He didn't want his friends and readers to shower him with sympathy. He didn't want to blog his own death as [[Christopher Hitchens]] had done. Alex wanted to keep living his life right to the end."<ref name="farewell">{{cite web|first=Jeffrey|last=St. Clair|authorlink=Jeffrey St. Clair|url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/21/farewell-alex-my-friend/|title=Farewell, Alex, My Friend|website=[[CounterPunch]]|date=July 22, 2012|access-date=21 July 2012|archive-date=21 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721140805/http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/21/farewell-alex-my-friend/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Works==
{{external media
| float = right
| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?112353-1/white-out-cia-drugs-press ''White Out: The CIA, Drugs and the Press.''] Cockburn discussed his book about the CIA's alleged involvement with the illicit drug trade in Los Angeles, California. ''[[Book TV]]'' on [[C-SPAN]], September 25, 1998.
}}
'''Books'''
* ''The Incompatibles: Trade Union Militancy and the Consensus'' (1967) with [[Robin Blackburn]].
* [[iarchive:studentpowerprob00cock|''Student Power'']] (1969) with [[Robin Blackburn]].
* ''Idle Passion: Chess and the Dance of Death'' (1975)
* ''Smoke: Another Jimmy Carter Adventure'' (1978) with [[James Ridgeway]].
* ''Political Ecology'' (1979) with [[James Ridgeway]].
* [[iarchive:corruptionsofemp00cock|''Corruptions of Empire'']] (1988)
* [[iarchive:fateofforest00hech|''The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon'']] (1989) with [[Susanna Hecht]].
* [[iarchive:goldenageisinusj00cock|''The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys and Encounters'']] (1995)
* [[iarchive:washingtonbabylo00cock|''Washington Babylon'']] (1995) with [[Ken Silverstein]].
* [[iarchive:whiteoutciadrugs00cock|''Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press'']] (1998) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [[iarchive:fivedaysthatshoo0000cock|''5 Days That Shook The World: The Battle for Seattle and Beyond'']] (2000) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [[iarchive:algoreusersmanua00cock|''Al Gore: A User's Manual'']] (2000) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* ''CounterPunch: The Journalism That Rediscovers America'' (2002) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [[iarchive:politicsofantise00alex|''The Politics of Anti-Semitism'']] (2003) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [[iarchive:serpentsingarden0000unse|''Serpents in the Garden'']] (2004) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=62r6BvX6DdEC ''Imperial Crusades''] (2004) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [[iarchive:dimesworthofdiff00alex|''Dime's Worth of Difference'']] (2004) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=VLdjW05z0VUC ''End Times: Death of the Fourth Estate''] (2006) with [[Jeffrey St. Clair]].
* [https://www.scribd.com/book/276328789/A-Colossal-Wreck-A-Road-Trip-Through-Political-Scandal-Corruption-and-American-Culture ''A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption, And American Culture''] (2013)

'''Articles'''
* [https://archive.org/download/will-there-always-be-an-england-by-alexander-cockburn-ramparts-magazine-apr.-1974-pp.-31-37/Will%20There%20Always%20Be%20an%20England%2C%20by%20Alexander%20Cockburn%20%28Ramparts%20Magazine%2C%20Apr.%201974%29%2C%20pp.%2031-37.pdf "Will There Always Be an England?"] ''[[Ramparts Magazine]]'' (Apr. 1974), [https://archive.org/download/will-there-always-be-an-england-by-alexander-cockburn-ramparts-magazine-apr.-1974-pp.-31-37/Will%20There%20Always%20Be%20an%20England%2C%20by%20Alexander%20Cockburn%20%28Ramparts%20Magazine%2C%20Apr.%201974%29%2C%20pp.%2031-37.pdf pp. 31-37.]
* "Beat the Devil." ''[[The Nation]]'' (Nov. 29, 1993), pp. 646-647.
* [http://www.jstor.org/stable/43878210 "Tuna, Free Trade and Cocaine,"] with [[Ken Silverstein]]. ''[[Earth Island Journal]]'', vol. 11, no. 3 (Summer 1996), [http://www.jstor.org/stable/43878210 p. 7.] {{JSTOR|43878210}}.

'''Book reviews'''
* [https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1982/09/23/the-natural-artificer/ "The Natural Artificer."] Review of [[iarchive:pgwodehousebiogr0000dona_k4y4|''P. G. Wodehouse: A Biography'']] by [[Frances Donaldson]]. ''[[New York Review of Books]]'' (Sep. 23, 1982).

'''Audio/spoken word'''
* [https://www.allmusic.com/album/beating-the-devil-the-incendiary-rants-of-alexander-cockburn-mw0000227622 ''Beating the Devil: The Incendiary Rants of Alexander Cockburn''.] [[AK Press]] (2002).

'''Interviews'''
* [[Noam Chomsky|Chomsky, Noam]]. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/25007794 "Models, Nature, and Language."] Interview with Alexander Cockburn. ''[[Grand Street (magazine)|Grand Street]]'', no. 50 (Autumn 1994), pp. 170–176. {{doi|10.2307/25007794}}. {{JSTOR|25007794}}.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.CounterPunch.org ''CounterPunch'' website]
*[http://www.creators.com/opinion/alexander-cockburn.html Column archive] at ''[[Creators Syndicate]]''
*[http://www.thenation.com/authors/alexander-cockburn Column archive] at [[The Nation (magazine)|''The Nation'']]
*[http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/alexander-cockburn/ Column archive (1974–1982)] at ''[[The New York Review of Books]]''
*[http://www.outloudopinion.com Podcasts of Cockburn's recent articles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211020406/http://outloudopinion.com/ |date=11 February 2021 }}
*{{C-SPAN|675}}
**[http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Cockbu ''In Depth'' interview with Cockburn, 1 April 2007]
*{{IMDb name|1769207}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockburn, Alexander}}
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