Oral history interview with Karl Bissinger, 2000

Biographical Note

Karl Bissinger was born in 1914 in Cincinnati and studied at the Cincinnati Art Museum while still in high school. He moved to Manhattan and studied painting at the Art Students League of New York. Bissinger became a successful photo essayist and celebrity photographer, working for publications like Fleur Cowles' Flair, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and Town & Country. His mid-century subjects included Truman Capote, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Katharine Hepburn, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and John Wayne. During World War II, Bissinger was a conscientious objector but was not drafted because he was gay. He became an anti-war activist with the Greenwich Village Peace Center and the War Resisters League (WRL). He was trained as a draft counselor and helped arrange transportation across the Canadian border or abroad for those evading the draft. Bissinger was active in campaigning for nuclear disarmament with the WRL until his death in 2008

Scope and Contents

Karl Bissinger starts the interview discussing his family, particularly his father's alcoholism and his admiration for his strong-willed grandmother. He talks about his short involvement with the Communist Party and subsequent years of apoliticism. Bissinger credits the trials of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as the catalyst for his political activity. He explains his activism in the anti-war movement and his own experience with the draft. Bissinger discusses the Greenwich Village Peace Center, his roles and experiences as a draft counselor, the American public's perception of war, how people reacted to returning soldiers, and drug addiction in the army. Bissinger also shares his perceptions of Bayard Rustin within a wider discussion of sexuality, and Dorothy Day, within a wider discussion of religion. Bissinger returns to discussions of family. He explains why he married, his relationships with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. Also discussed is the death of his longtime partner. Bissinger also returns to memories of early life, analyzing challenges with his grandmother, his troubled father, and his family's experience with anti-Irish discrimination. Bissinger talks at length about class distinctions and how his perception of them contributed to his radicalization. Other topics discussed include the anti-war activist group Women Against Daddy Warbucks, life in New York during the war, his experience working at Lord and Taylor, and traveling to Europe for Vanity Fair in 1947. This interview is audio-only; it was not transcribed due to issues with audio quality

Subjects

• Bissinger, Karl--Interviews.
• Draft--United States.
• Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• Oral histories.
• Pacifism.
• Peace movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Photographers--Interviews.