Gordon Zahn | |
---|---|
Born |
Gordon Charles Paul Roach 7 August 1918 Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Died | 9 December 2007 Wauwatosa, Wisconsin |
(aged 89)
Cause of death | Alzheimer's disease |
Nationality | United States |
Known for | Peace activist |
Title | professor emeritus University of Massachusetts Amherst |
Gordon Zahn (born Gordon Charles Paul Roach; 7 August 1918 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – 9 December 2007 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin) was an American sociologist, pacifist, professor, and author.
Born out of wedlock, Zahn took his stepfather's last name. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector, and served in a Civilian Public Service camp established by the Catholic Worker Movement. Zahn later transferred to Rosewood State Training School in Maryland, a school for the developmentally disabled. He worked there as a conscientious objector until April, 1946. His experiences at Rosewood were published in the Catholic Worker in the July and October 1946 issues, as a continuation of his attempt to reform Rosewood.
Gallagher describes Zahn's career in detail. In 1946 Zahn and a friend went to Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. There they met Eugene McCarthy, who hired them when he became a U.S. Senator. Zahn got a PhD from The Catholic University of America and then a job at Loyola University Chicago. According to Gallagher, Cardinal Bea pressured Loyola and a German publisher to stop Zahn's book German Catholics and Hitler's Wars, but it did not work. Zahn was later hired away by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.