In Fact...

Presents tributes to author George Plimpton, who died on September 25, 2003, and to lawyer Arthur Kinoy, a contributor to "The Nation" who died on September 19, 2003. George Plimpton wore lightly his New York upper-class WASP heritage, but it was the real thing. Scorning entitlements of birth, he followed the young writers' trail to Paris in the 1950s and co-founded "The Paris Review". Thanks to Plimpton's dedication and perseverance, it survived and continues to set the gold standard for literary magazines. Meanwhile, Plimpton was becoming a celebrity by acting out sports fantasies and writing up his experiences in bestselling books. Though basically nonpolitical, he was a friend of "The Nation"; volunteering to emcee fundraising events. Arthur Kinoy never really believed that lawyers bring about social change. The lesson he took from years in Southern courtrooms fighting segregation and defending civil fights activists was that "legal battles to enforce freedom and equality had potential only when they were intertwined with the daily struggles of black people and their supporters to transform these constitutional promises into reality." It was in the defense of civil rights groups and local desegregation campaigns--SCLC, Freedom Summer, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party -- that Kinoy helped shape a revolution. In 1966 he helped found the Center for Constitutional Rights, which carries on his fight.