Mae Brussell

Mae Magnin Brussell (May 29, 1922 – October 3, 1988) was an American radio personality and conspiracy theorist. She was the host of Dialogue: Conspiracy (later renamed World Watchers International).

Mae Magnin Brussell
Born	Mae Magnin (1922-05-29)May 29, 1922 Beverly Hills, California, US
Died	October 3, 1988(1988-10-03) (aged 66) Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, US
Education	Stanford University University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Radio host
Children	5
Parent(s)	Edgar Magnin Evelyn Magnin
Relatives	Isaac Magnin (paternal great-grandfather) Mary Ann Magnin (paternal great-grandmother)

Early life

Mae Magnin was born on May 29, 1922 in Beverly Hills, California.[1] Her father, Edgar Magnin, was a Reform rabbi at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.[2] Her paternal great-grandparents, Isaac Magnin and Mary Ann Magnin, were the founders of I. Magnin, an upscale women's clothing store in San Francisco, California.

She attended Stanford University in Palo Alto and received an Associate degree from the University of California, Berkeley.[2][3]

Career

She was a radio host.[1] Most of her work on the radio focused on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.[1] She also covered the history of fascism.[1]

Distraught by the murder of President Kennedy, she purchased all 26 printed volumes issued by the Warren Commission report, and attempted to make sense of them by cross-indexing the entire work. Mae was disturbed by the contradictory information and unreported realities she discovered. As a result, she subscribed to many major newspapers and magazines, whose stories she filed and organized, uncovering connections and patterns behind government and corporate malfeasance that she found disturbing.[4]

Her career in radio started in May 1971, when as a guest on the independently owned radio station KLRB, she questioned the 26-volume Warren Commission Hearings.[1] She suggested Lee Harvey Oswald might not have been the only person involved in the assassination of the president.[1] She became a weekly guest.[1] Shortly after, she became the host of Dialogue: Conspiracy (later renamed World Watchers International).[1] From 1983 to 1988, she hosted the same show on KAZU, a radio station based in Pacific Grove.[1]

Additionally, she wrote articles that were published in The Realist, a magazine published by Paul Krassner.[1] An impressed John Lennon donated money so Krassner could afford to print Mae Brussel's work.[4]

Brussell was profiled on episode six of Slate's Slow Burn podcast.[5]

Personal life

She was married, and had five children:[1] David Goodwin, John Goodwin, Barbara Brussell, Kyenne Brussell, and Bonnie Brussell (who predeceased her in 1970).[6]

Death

She died of cancer on October 3, 1988[1] in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

Bibliography

Articles

• “What’s Your Opinion?”. Monterey Peninsula Herald, September 12, 1966.
• “Oswald Not a Communist?”. Monterey Peninsula Herald, January 17, 1967.
• “Who Killed Congressman Larry McDonald?”. Hustler, February 1984.

Books by other authors

• Constantine, Alex (ed.). The Essential Mae Brussell: Investigations of Fascism in America. Port Townsend, Washington: Feral House, 2014. ISBN 978-1936239986. 362 pages.

References

1. Peter Knight, Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2003, pp. 140-141
2. 'Rabbi To Deliver Sunday Sermon', The Stanford Daily, Volume 99a, Issue 8, 17 July 1941
3. Register - University of California, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1943, Volume 2, p. 3
4. The Essential Mae Burssel
5. Neyfakh, Leon. "Watergate conspiracy theories in episode six of Slow Burn". Slate. Retrieved 10 Jan 2018.
6. "Conspiracy Theorist Mae Brussell Dies of Cancer". The Monterey Herald. October 4, 1988.

External links

• The Mae Brussell Website, articles and audio
• Interview with Keyenne Brussell, Mae's daughter