100 Years Ago: Timothy Leary Born
Today in 1920, LSD guru Timothy Leary entered into the real world
Timothy Leary may have lived the most interesting life of any human ever.
Overstatement? Judge for yourself. Here is an abridged chronology of his life:
receives Ph.D in psychology from Berkeley
becomes a Harvard lecturer
launches an LSD research center with Ram Dass
gets fired from Harvard
marries a model who would later give birth to Uma Thurman
has D.A. Pennebaker photograph his wedding while Charles Mingus performs
testifies before Congress on the therapeutic benefits of LSD
stays with John & Yoko in the "Give Peace a Chance” hotel room
wins a landmark Supreme Court case — Leary v. United States
runs for Governor of California against Ronald Reagan
popularizes the phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out” suggested to him by Marshall McLuhan
becomes a character in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
is called "the most dangerous man in America” by Nixon
gets sentenced to 20 years in prison
gets busted out of prison by the Weathermen
becomes an international fugitive
is held hostage by Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver in Algeria
lives in Switzerland with an arms dealer
gets arrested in Kabul
gets sent to Folsom Prison and put in solitary confinement
befriends Charles Manson while serving in a cell next to him
godfathers actress Winona Ryder
godfathers MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito
is denounced by Allen Ginsberg for becoming an FBI informant
starts writing articles for an odd mix of National Review and Hustler
attacks Dylan and Lennon for “plastic protest songs to a barbiturate beat”
enters the Witness Protection Program
befriends everyone from G. Gordon Liddy to Susan Sarandon
dies uttering the final words “Why? Why not? Why? Why not? Beautiful.”
Now the bummer part: the dude was full of shit. Leary — born 100 years ago today — was an attention-seeking quack who peddled hedonism disguised as counterculture, and then backstabbed his friends to save his ass. Here is how Louis Menand characterized him a New Yorker profile:
The only things Leary was serious about were pleasure and renown... He liked women, he liked being the center of attention, and he liked to get high.
It’s a mystery that HBO has not succumbed to a series about him. He’s the quintessential American character: the mercurial egomaniac grifter. Every bullet point above could be an episode; some, an entire season.
Anyone have Sorkin’s number?
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30 Years Ago Today: A.S. Byatt’s novel Possession was published. It would win the 1990 Booker Prize.