Marcus Raskin

Marcus Raskin
Born	Marcus Goodman Raskin April 30, 1934
Birthplace	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	December 24, 2017 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Social critic, political activist, author, philosopher, professor
Known for	Co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies
Education	University of Chicago (BA, JD)
Spouse(s)	Barbara Bellman; Lynn Randels
Children	4, including Jamie Raskin

Marcus Goodman Raskin (April 30, 1934 – December 24, 2017) was an American social critic, political activist, author, philosopher, and professor of public policy. He is best known as the co-founder, along with Richard Barnet, of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, D.C., one of the oldest and most prominent progressive think tanks in the United States. Before establishing IPS, Raskin served as a member of the National Security Council staff during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, an experience that profoundly shaped his subsequent career as an advocate for peace, civil liberties, and social justice. Over more than five decades of public intellectual life, Raskin authored and edited numerous books on subjects ranging from national security and democracy to education and the philosophy of the common good. He also served as a professor of public policy at George Washington University. His son, Jamie Raskin, became a United States congressman from Maryland.

Early Life

Marcus Goodman Raskin was born on April 30, 1934, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up in a Jewish family and was raised in the milieu of progressive Jewish intellectual life in the American Midwest. His uncle was Max Raskin, a figure in Milwaukee public life.

As a young man, Raskin demonstrated exceptional musical talent and studied piano at the Juilliard School in New York City before turning his attention to the study of law and public affairs. This early training at one of the world's foremost music conservatories reflected a breadth of intellectual and creative interests that would characterize Raskin throughout his career. His transition from music to the social sciences and law represented a deliberate choice to engage with the political and moral questions that increasingly preoccupied him as a young man in postwar America.

Education

Raskin attended the University of Chicago, where he earned both his Bachelor of Arts degree and his Juris Doctor. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1957. The University of Chicago during this period was a center of rigorous intellectual inquiry, and Raskin's legal and philosophical training there laid the groundwork for his later work as a public intellectual and policy analyst. His education at Chicago exposed him to traditions of political philosophy and social thought that would inform his critiques of American foreign and domestic policy for decades to come.

Career

Kennedy Administration

After completing his legal education, Raskin entered government service. He joined the staff of several members of Congress as a legislative counsel before being recruited to serve on the National Security Council staff under President John F. Kennedy. According to his own later accounts and those of colleagues, Raskin's time in the Kennedy White House was a formative experience that exposed him to the inner workings of American national security policy during one of the most volatile periods of the Cold War.

As a young aide on the National Security Council, Raskin was assigned to work on disarmament issues and education policy. He served as a member of the special staff of McGeorge Bundy, Kennedy's National Security Advisor. Raskin grew increasingly disillusioned with the direction of American foreign policy, particularly regarding nuclear strategy and the emerging conflict in Vietnam. His discontent with what he perceived as the dangerous militarism and secrecy of Cold War policymaking motivated him to leave government and seek an alternative platform from which to challenge established thinking on national security, democracy, and social welfare.

Founding of the Institute for Policy Studies

In 1963, Raskin and Richard Barnet, a fellow former State Department official, co-founded the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. The institute was conceived as a progressive counterpart to established think tanks that Raskin and Barnet believed were too closely aligned with the national security establishment and corporate interests. IPS was designed to serve as a center for research, education, and advocacy on issues of peace, social justice, civil liberties, and democratic governance.

The founding of IPS represented a significant development in the landscape of American political thought. At the time of its creation, Washington's policy research community was dominated by organizations with close ties to the military and intelligence establishments. Raskin and Barnet envisioned IPS as an institution that would provide rigorous analysis informed by progressive values and serve as a resource for social movements, members of Congress, journalists, and citizens seeking alternatives to prevailing policy orthodoxies.

Under Raskin's leadership as co-director, IPS became one of the nation's most prominent progressive research organizations. Over the course of more than sixty years, the institute produced scholarship and advocacy on a wide range of issues, including arms control and disarmament, civil rights, economic inequality, environmental protection, and U.S. foreign policy. IPS fellows and associates played roles in many of the major social and political movements of the late twentieth century.

Opposition to the Vietnam War and the Spock Trial

Raskin emerged as one of the most prominent intellectual opponents of the Vietnam War during the 1960s. His criticisms of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia were rooted in his earlier experience on the National Security Council, where he had witnessed the policy decisions that escalated American military engagement. Raskin became active in the antiwar movement and used his position at IPS to produce analyses challenging the strategic and moral justifications for the war.

In January 1968, Raskin was among five men indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to aid, abet, and counsel young men to resist the military draft. The case, commonly known as the "Boston Five" or the "Spock trial," also involved Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician and author; William Sloane Coffin, the Yale University chaplain; Mitchell Goodman, a writer; and Michael Ferber, a graduate student. The indictment stemmed from the defendants' support for draft resistance, including their role in organizing and publicizing a statement called "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority," which urged young men to refuse induction into the armed forces.

The trial, held in Boston in 1968 before Judge Francis Ford, attracted widespread national attention and became a focal point of the debate over the legality and morality of the Vietnam War and the draft. Raskin was acquitted by the jury, while four of his co-defendants were convicted (their convictions were later overturned on appeal). Raskin's acquittal was seen as a significant outcome, as the prosecution had targeted him in part because of his role at IPS and his influence in progressive policy circles. The trial reinforced Raskin's standing as a leading voice of dissent and opposition to the war.

Authorship and Intellectual Contributions

Throughout his career, Raskin was a prolific author and editor. He wrote and co-authored numerous books addressing a wide array of subjects, including national security policy, the philosophy of the common good, education reform, democratic theory, and the relationship between government secrecy and democratic accountability. His written works reflected a consistent commitment to challenging what he saw as the concentration of power in the hands of military, corporate, and bureaucratic elites, and to articulating alternatives grounded in democratic participation and social justice.

Among his notable works, Raskin explored the concept of the "national security state" and its implications for democratic governance. He argued that the expansion of military and intelligence institutions since World War II had fundamentally altered the relationship between the American state and its citizens, concentrating power in secretive institutions insulated from democratic oversight. His writings on education called for reforms that would foster critical thinking and civic engagement rather than conformity and obedience. He also wrote extensively on the philosophy of the common good, seeking to articulate a moral and political framework for progressive governance.

Raskin's intellectual output was published in scholarly journals, popular magazines, and books over a period spanning more than half a century. His work appeared in and was reviewed by major publications, and he contributed to debates within both academic and activist communities. The breadth of his intellectual interests—from music and philosophy to law and public policy—gave his work a distinctive interdisciplinary character.

Academic Career

In addition to his work at IPS, Raskin held an academic appointment as a professor of public policy at George Washington University's School of Public Policy and Public Administration, also known as the Trachtenberg School. In this capacity, he taught courses and mentored students in subjects related to public policy, democratic governance, and social theory. His academic career allowed him to transmit his ideas and critical perspectives to new generations of students, many of whom went on to careers in government, advocacy, and scholarship.

Mentorship and Influence

Beyond his published writings and institutional leadership, Raskin was known for his role as a mentor to younger activists, scholars, and policymakers. Over the decades, IPS served as an incubator for progressive thought, and Raskin personally guided many individuals who later became significant figures in American political and intellectual life. His influence extended through the networks of people he trained and inspired, as well as through the institutional legacy of IPS itself.

Personal Life

Marcus Raskin was married twice. His first wife was Barbara Bellman, with whom he had children. He later married Lynn Randels. Raskin had four children, the most publicly prominent of whom is Jamie Raskin, who became a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives representing Maryland's 8th congressional district and gained national attention as a lead impeachment manager during the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Raskin lived in Washington, D.C. for most of his adult life, maintaining close ties to the progressive political and intellectual community centered around the Institute for Policy Studies. He was described by colleagues and friends as a deeply engaged intellectual who combined theoretical rigor with a commitment to practical political action.

Marcus Raskin died on December 24, 2017, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 83. A memorial service and celebration of his life and work was held on February 12, 2018, at which colleagues, friends, and family members, including Congressman Jamie Raskin, delivered tributes.

Recognition

Over the course of his career, Raskin received recognition from progressive, academic, and civic organizations for his contributions to American political thought and public life. His role as co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies was itself a significant source of his public standing, as the institute became one of Washington's most enduring progressive institutions.

Upon his death, Raskin was the subject of lengthy obituaries and tributes in major American publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Nation. These accounts highlighted his role in shaping progressive ideas over more than half a century, his opposition to the Vietnam War and the national security state, and his influence as a mentor and public intellectual.

The Washington Post published an opinion piece describing Raskin as "a true citizen" whose influence on ideas and on the many young people he mentored was profound. Jewish Currents characterized him as "one of the great progressive Jewish-universal thinker-activists of the 20th and early 21st centuries in the United States." Congressman Jamie Raskin delivered a eulogy for his father that was published by the Institute for Policy Studies, in which he reflected on the lessons he had learned from his father's life and work.

The University of Chicago Law School also published a tribute noting his contributions as an alumnus and his decades-long role in shaping left-leaning thought in the United States.

Legacy

Marcus Raskin's legacy is most directly embodied in the Institute for Policy Studies, which he co-founded and which continued to operate as one of America's oldest multi-issue progressive research organizations long after his death. With over sixty years of history, IPS has served as a platform for scholarship and advocacy on issues including peace, economic justice, civil liberties, and environmental sustainability. The institute's longevity and continued influence are a testament to the institutional vision that Raskin and Richard Barnet brought to its founding in 1963.

Raskin's intellectual contributions extended beyond the institutional framework of IPS. His critiques of the national security state, his arguments for democratic participation and the common good, and his analyses of the relationship between state power and individual liberty remain relevant to ongoing debates in American political life. His written works continue to be cited in academic and policy discussions.

The career of his son, Congressman Jamie Raskin, also represents a dimension of Raskin's legacy. Jamie Raskin has spoken publicly about his father's influence on his own intellectual and political development, and his career in constitutional law and progressive politics reflects many of the values and commitments that Marcus Raskin championed throughout his life.

Raskin's life spanned some of the most consequential decades in American political history—from the early Cold War through the civil rights movement, the Vietnam era, and into the twenty-first century. Throughout this period, he maintained a consistent commitment to challenging concentrations of power and advocating for a more democratic, equitable, and peaceful society. His career exemplified a model of the public intellectual who combined scholarly analysis with direct engagement in political movements and institutional change.