He moved from radio to television, but he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era because his beliefs in workers' rights, rent control and Social Security were labeled 'socialist.' So that's what first fascinated me about him.'Įarly in his career, Terkel was an actor, and he actually played gangsters on radio shows before he became a disc jockey.

'But he was a lefty, and that's an unsual combination. 'He sounded like he was packing heat,' Keillor said. But like 'Scarface' Al Capone, he moved to Chicago and he picked up a tough-guy nickname - which he borrowed from the lead character in James Farrell's 1930s Studs Lonigan trilogy.Īuthor and radio personality Garrison Keillor said Terkel's nickname and his raspy voice were a good fit. So he wrote books such as Working, Hard Times and his Pulitzer Prize winner, The Good War - oral histories of labor, the Great Depression and World War II, respectively - to help jog the nation's memory.īorn on May 16, 1912, in New York, Terkel's given name was Louis. Terkel often said that America suffers from what he described as a sort of national Alzheimer's disease. His conversations with the prominent and the uncelebrated became books that chronicled much of the history of the 20th century. 31.įor nearly half a century, Terkel crisscrossed the country interviewing people from all walks of life about war, their jobs and a variety of other subjects. 30, and he died 'quickly and peacefully' just before 3 p.m. Terkel's health had been declining for some time and he was very frail his son, Dan Terkel, said his condition worsened on Oct. Legendary oral historian, author and radio personality Studs Terkel has died at his home in Chicago.

Working by Studs Terkel