why is mario savio important

Mario Savio (December 8, 1942 – November 6, 1996) was an American activist and a key member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. He is most famous for his passionate speeches, especially the "Bodies Upon the Gears" address given at Sproul Hall

, University of California, Berkeley on December 2, 1964.

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Why was the Free Speech Movement Important?

Overview. The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a college campus phenomenon inspired first by the struggle for civil rights and later fueled by opposition to the Vietnam War. The Free Speech Movement began in 1964, when students at the University of California, Berkeley protested a ban on on-campus political activities.

What was Mario Savio known for?

Mario Savio (December 8, 1942 – November 6, 1996) was an American activist and a key member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. He is most famous for his passionate speeches, especially the "Bodies Upon the Gears" address given at Sproul Hall, University of California, Berkeley on December 2, 1964.

What did Mario Savio say in his famous speech?

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop.

Is Mario Savio alive?

November 6, 1996Mario Savio / Date of death

When did the Free Speech Movement end?

The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The Movement was informally under the central leadership of Berkeley graduate student Mario Savio.

What happened at Berkeley University in the 1960s?

The 1960s Berkeley protests were a series of events at the University of California, Berkeley, and Berkeley, California. Many of these protests were a small part of the larger Free Speech Movement, which had national implications and constituted the onset of the counterculture of the 1960s.

Who said you can't trust anyone over 30?

activist Jack Weinberg“Never trust anyone over 30,” said activist Jack Weinberg in 1964, rather offhandedly, during an interview in Berkeley at the height of the free speech movement. Much to his surprise, after Weinberg's quote appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, it was picked up everywhere in the media.

Who founded students for a Democratic Society?

Tom HaydenBill AyersAryeh NeierAlan HaberStudents for a Democratic Society/Founders

Why were teach ins held in the 1960s?

"Teach-ins" were popularized during the U.S. government's involvement in Vietnam. The first teach-in, which was held overnight at the University of Michigan in March 1965, began with a discussion of the Vietnam War draft and ended in the early morning with a speech by philosopher Arnold Kaufman.

What was significant about the Berkeley Free Speech Movement of 1964 quizlet?

The Free Speech Movement, begun in 1964, led by Mario Savio, began when the University of California at Berkeley decided to restrict students' rights to distribute literature and to recruit volunteers for political causes on campus.

What techniques did the students on Berkeley campus use to protest for free speech?

What techniques did the students on the Berkeley campus use to protest for free speech? Sit-ins, they also participated in campus wide strikes that stopped classes.

Which public park is also known as the People's Park?

BerkeleyWhile the land is the property of the University of California, People's Park has operated since the early 1970s as a free public park....People's Park (Berkeley)People's ParkPeople's Park, BerkeleyShow map of Oakland, California Show map of San Francisco Bay Area Show allNearest cityBerkeley, CaliforniaCoordinates37°51′56″N 122°15′25″W6 more rows

Where does the freedom of speech end?

To be sure, free speech is an immutable right protected by the First Amendment, which provides that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech….” But the right to free speech ends where it begins: with the plain language of the Constitution which guarantees it.

Are there limits to the freedom of speech?

"The categories of speech that fall outside of its protection are obscenity, child pornography, defamation, incitement to violence and true threats of violence," he explains. "Even in those categories, there are tests that have to be met in order for the speech to be illegal.

Where does freedom of speech end and bullying begin?

Expression, type, and location are where freedom of speech can end and theoretically bullying begins that can be regulated.

Why are there laws limiting the freedom of speech?

The First Amendment allows us to speak our mind and stand up for what we believe in. However, the limits on free speech are rooted in the principle that we're not allowed to harm others to get what we want. That's why we're not allowed to use to speech for force, fraud, or defamation.

Where did Mario Savio grow up?

Our story begins in Queens, New York, in 1942. Mario Savio was born during World War II and would later grow up in the conformist postwar decade in America. Savio was, however, every bit the counterculture youth. Think of him as John Travolta in Grease — except way smarter and without the grease.

Why was Savio in prison?

Despite his triumph in returning free speech to campus, Savio was still suspended and even sentenced to prison for his role in a certain protest. Savio eventually received a degree in physics and math and later became a teacher for various institutions in the Bay Area. He passed away in 1996.

Did Savio get a job after college?

(So what were you saying about how many seasons of Breaking Bad you got through last summer?) Savio transferred to UC Berkeley in the fall of ’64 and majored in philosophy — and yes, he did find a job after college.

Who was Mario Savio?

Mario Savio. Mario Savio (December 8, 1942 – November 6, 1996) was an American activist and a key member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. He is most famous for his passionate speeches, especially the "put your bodies upon the gears" address given at Sproul Hall, University of California, Berkeley on December 2, 1964.

What did Savio say to the crowd?

Savio said to the crowd, "I ask you to rise quietly and with dignity and go home," and the crowd did exactly what he said. After this Savio became the prominent leader of the newly formed Free Speech Movement. Negotiations failed to change the situation; therefore direct action began in Sproul Hall on December 2.

What did Savio do after he was in Mississippi?

After Savio participated in these protests, he was inspired to fight further against the violence he had witnessed. He came to see the violence and racism of the American South as the visible facet of an overall structure of nationwide socioeconomic hegemony. When Savio returned to Berkeley after his time in Mississippi, he intended to raise money for SNCC, but found that the university had banned all political activity and fundraising. He told Karlyn Barker in 1964 that it was a question as to whose side one was on. "Are we on the side of the civil rights movement? Or have we gotten back to the comfort and security of Berkeley, California, and can we forget the sharecroppers whom we worked with just a few weeks back? Well, we couldn't forget."

What was the name of the speech that Savio gave in front of 4,000 people?

There, Savio gave his most famous speech, on the "operation of the machine", in front of 4,000 people. He and 800 others were arrested that day. In 1967, he was sentenced to 120 days at Santa Rita Jail.

Why did Savio return to Berkeley?

When Savio returned to Berkeley after his time in Mississippi, he intended to raise money for SNCC, but found that the university had banned all political activity and fundraising. He told Karlyn Barker in 1964 that it was a question as to whose side one was on.

Why was Savio tailed?

In 1999, the media revealed that Savio had been tailed by the FBI from the moment that he had climbed onto the police car in which Jack Weinberg was detained. He was followed for more than a decade because he had emerged as the nation's most prominent student leader.

What high school did Savio go to?

Both his parents were devout Catholics and, as an altar boy, Savio planned to become a priest. He graduated from Martin Van Buren High School in Queens at the top of his class in 1960 and then went to Manhattan College on a full scholarship as well as Queens College.

How did Mario Savio impact Berkeley?

Savio’s gift as an orator propelled him to the forefront of Berkeley’s student movement. Archival footage in Mark Kitchell’s documentary Berkeley in the Sixties gives a good sense of his speaking abilities. On his soapbox, he doesn’t read from a script and doesn’t need one; his words just pour out. While he looks and sounds collected, he’s clearly not cool and calm. His speeches start slowly and build in intensity; at the end he’s nearly screeching. At times, he eggs on crowds of students. One clip from Berkeley in the Sixties shows him towering—he was over six feet tall—above a group of undergraduates. “If you don’t stand up for your freedom you’re dead,” he exclaims. It sounds like a taunt. One demonstrator unfriendly to the FSM carries a sign that says, “Mario Savio is a dupe of communism.” Other students chant, “We want Mario, we want Mario.”

Where did Mario Savio go to college?

Mario Savio was the valedictorian of his high school class in Queens, New York, a scholarship student at Berkeley, and the first in his immediate family to attend college. He quickly discovered that Berkeley wasn’t what he wanted it to me. Big, sprawling, and impersonal, Cal thought of itself as a “ multiversity .” The whole campus made Savio feel as though he was in a Kafka novel and that he had to act to keep himself from going insane or turning into an automaton.

What did Savio share with the Yippies who followed him?

One thing Savio did share with the Yippies who followed him was a belief in the power of theater, props, and costumes and the necessity of using “PR,” as he called it in a letter to Stevenson from Mississippi. His innate theatricality helps to explain the December 2, 1964 Sproul Hall speech for which he is best known—a speech that appeared to endorse the very opposite of civility:

What was the name of the steps to Sproul Hall after Mario Savio died?

The steps to Sproul Hall have been renamed the “Mario Savio Steps.” Former UC Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien observed that Savio’s name “is forever linked with one of our nation’s most cherished freedoms—the right to freedom of expression.” He added, “We are proud that he was part of the community at the University of California.”

What divided Savio from the radicals?

(There were also substantial political differences—most notably over Vietnam—which divided Savio from the radicals in SDS [including Hayden, though they were both Catholics born before the boomers], the Yippies, and the anti-war coalition known as the MOBE.) As John Murray Cuddihy pointed out decades ago in The Ordeal of Civility , the sixties generation gap widened principally over questions of proper and improper speech, not over ideology. Yippies and SDS members would probably cheer Anity Levy, the associate secretary at the American Association of University Professors, who said, in response to Chancellor Dirk’s email: “That the university which gave rise to the free speech movement should celebrate it by embracing the notion of civility is patently absurd.”

What is the value of subversive history?

The great value of Subversive as history is that Rosenfeld connects the arc of Savio’s career as a radical to the arc of Reagan’s rise to power as a politician. Rosenfeld reminds readers that Reagan warned California voters about a group of Berkeley conspirators, including Savio, who were “bent on destroying our society and our democracy” and who would “go to any ends to achieve their purpose.” The image of Savio atop the police car sent a clear message all the way to Hoover in Washington, D.C. and to Reagan in California: students were out of control and the police were powerless to corral them. By the time of the protest in 1969 at “People’s Park,” as protesters called it, Governor Reagan would send in the National Guard to clean up “that mess in Berkeley.” Students trashed the Bank of America. Frank Bardacke called for chaos in the streets. At least fifty demonstrators were shot; one was killed, more than a thousand were arrested, and the campus was tear-gassed.

Who were the women in Mario Savio?

One of the things that’s missing from The Essential Mario Savio is a group portrait of the women who surrounded him. There were at least half-a-dozen Berkeley co-eds who helped create Mario Savio as a historical icon: besides Stevenson, there was Bettina Aptheker, a New Yorker and the daughter of Communist Party historian Herbert Aptheker, who was an important source of ideas and inspiration; Suzanne Goldberg, a graduate student in philosophy and a teaching assistant who became Suzanne Savio, Mario’s first wife, and who helped write FSM papers; Jackie Goldberg, a member of the FSM Steering Committee and a Young Democrat who often spoke in public; and Barbara Garson, the editor of the FSM newsletter and the author of the 1966 hit satire, Macbird, which portrayed LBJ as Macbeth. And there were dozens more women in the Free Speech Movement, including Jentri Anders, the star of Kitchell’s documentary, and Savio’s second wife Lynne Hollander Savio, who explains in the epilogue to The Essential Mario Savio that after the FSM he “withdrew from almost all active political participation” and that he was “uncomfortable with the rhetoric of the Left during the late 1960s and the 1970s.”

What did Savio do?

Savio went on to become a teacher of mathematics, physics and philosophy at Sonoma State University, to speak and organize in favor of immigrant rights and affirmative action and against U.S.intervention in Central America.

When did Mario Savio die?

Mario Savio died on November 6, 1996, in the middle of a struggle against university fee hikes that hurt working-class students.

Why did Savio return to Berkeley?

Having spent the summer as a civil rights worker in segregationist Mississippi, Savio returned to Berkeley at a time when students throughout the country were beginning to mobilize in support of racial justice and against the deepening American involvement in Vietnam.

What does "there comes a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious" mean?

On Freedom and Resistance: "There comes a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop, And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, the people who own it, that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all." (1964)

What major did Savio go to?

A philosophy major, Mr. Savio enrolled at the University of California in 1963 and became caught up in the civil rights movement, and interested in political action.

Where did Mario Savio live?

Mario Savio, an incendiary and highly vocal student protest leader at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1960's, died yesterday in Columbia-Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol, Calif. He was 53 and lived in Sonoma County, Calif.

Why did Mario Savio start the Free Speech Movement?

Savio started Free Speech Movement to protest Berkeley's political activity restrictions. In 1964, Mario Savio and 500 fellow students marched on Berkeley’s administration building to protest the university’s order. He and other leaders called for an organized student protest to abolish all restrictions on students’ free-speech rights ...

What did Savio say about the FSM?

Savio continued to insist that the First Amendment was the only valid guideline for student activities, especially political, and he condemned the administration’s rules as “ prior restraint .”

How many people attended the Savio sit in?

As the first step, 1,500 of Savio’s audience entered the building for a nonviolent sit-in demonstration. After thousands witnessed an increasingly violent police action to remove the demonstrators, Berkeley faculty voted overwhelmingly to support the FSM.

When did Berkeley support the FSM?

Berkeley eventually supported the FSM. On Dec. 2, 1964, the 5,000 people gathered outside the administration building listened to Savio invoke the “conscience of the community” for a campus-wide strike to bring down the university “machine.”.

Did the FSM have liberal supporters?

But by then the FSM had gained enough liberal-minded supporters on campus that it was able to temporarily prevent severe administrative retaliation. The Board of Regents, however, failed to recognize the FSM’s seriousness and clamped down hard with punitive sanctions.

Overview

Early life

Activism

Physics, teaching career, and death

Legacy

Further reading

External links