Alliance for Democracy founder Ronnie Dugger

Ronnie Dugger is a legendary progressive journalist, editor and author, as well as the founder of the Alliance for Democracy. He is the author of The Politician: The Life and Times of Lyndon Johnson, On Reagan, and hundreds of articles and essays for the New Yorker, The Nation, Harper's, the Atlantic, and other publications. In 2011, he was the recipient of the George Polk Award in recognition of his long career as a progressive journalist, editor, and publisher.

In 1954, he became founding editor of the Texas Observer, the home (as its masthead proclaimed) of "sharp reporting and commentary from the strangest state in the Union." Under his direction, the paper's focus on issues and stories ignored by mainstream press resulted in many powerful investigative pieces and dozens of awards from press and legal associations. The Observer was a home for Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, and numerous other progressive journalists, critics and commentators and continues as the flagship progressive journal in the state and an inspiration for alternative regional journalism.

IIn August 1995, The Nation published Ronnie's essay "A Call to Citizens: Will Real Populists Please Stand Up." The essay exhorted progressives to join together in a new grassroots organization that would recover populism from a handful of arch-conservative politicians who had co-opted the term to cover their own pro-corporate, nationalist, and racist programs. More than 6000 people responded to the article, 2500 joined, and more than 55 local Alliances were formed nationwide. In late 1996 delegates from 30 states convened in the Texas hill country and the Alliance for Democracy was founded.

After more than a decade of living in Massachusetts, Ronnie has now returned to Austin, where he continues to write and publish, with a focus on peace and disarmament issues. We link to many of his articles through our blog, Facebook and Twitter feed. 

Read articles by and about Ronnie Dugger on our blog, here.