Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin (deceased) (1912-1987), was former president of A. Philip Randolph Institute. He was also a leading member of Social Democrats USA, the Committee on the Present Danger, was on the National Council of Prodemca, and is listed as a Supporters/Endorsers of the Committee for the Free World.

He is also linked to Albert Shanker who was a honorary chairperson of the Bayard Rustin Fund

He was Chairman of the Executive Committee of Freedom House. "Mr. Rustin observed elections in Zimbabwe, El Salvador, and Grenada. His last mission abroad, coordinated by Freedom House, was a delegation to Haiti to help create democratic reform in that country." 

"In 1983, Mr. Rustin and two colleagues made a fact-finding visit to South Africa. Their report, South Africa: Is Peaceful Change Possible? led to the formation of Project South Africa, a program that sought to broaden Americans' support of groups within South Africa working for democracy through peaceful means."

"At the time of his death, Bayard Rustin was Co-Chairman of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and President of the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund. He was Chairman of Social Democrats USA, a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, and a life member of Actors' Equity. He also served on numerous boards and committees, and was the recipient of more than a dozen honorary doctorates." 

Books and other resources about Rustin

His partner was Walter Naegle.

Background
Bayard Rustin was "the chief hands-on organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, was on union payroll in New York and using a union office when he did his organizing for the March. Reverend King himself worked out of the national UAW headquarters himself during planning of the march. Sometimes forgotten in history is the July 1963 Detroit march for civil rights in July proceeding the national march, where 200,000 people marched down the streets of Detroit with UAW head Walter Reuther leading the march with Martin Luther King. In fact, the march's official name was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Unions like the United Auto Workers bussed in large numbers to the crowd that day." 

"NED formed part of the Reagan administrationâ??s larger public diplomacy efforts designed to gain U.S. domestic and international support for the new directions in foreign and military policy. To establish the objectives of the public diplomacy program, the White House established a New Directions Advisory Committee. Norman Podhoretz directed this commission, whose other five members were Evron Kirkpatrick (a resident scholar at AEI and husband of Jeane Kirkpatrick); Gertrude Himmelfarb (wife of Irving Kristol and sister of Milton); Robert Nisbet (member of AEIâ??s Council of Academic Advisers); Edwin Feulner (director of Heritage Foundation); and 'Bayard Rustin (member of SD/USA and director of the NED-funded A. Philip Randolph Institute)." 

Related SourceWatch resources

 * American Political Foundation
 * National Emergency Coalition for Haitian Refugees
 * Charles Bloomstein