We look forward to learning more from what others share in person or by writing in the blog at reubenmccornack.blogspot.com.
- Eagle Scout - Reuben credited scouting with helping shape many of his core attitudes, skills, and values--earned Eagle Scout status at the comparatively young age of 14 then went on to earn the final two highest ranks attainable.
- Leadership - President of his class at Abilene High School (Class of 1960) and University of Kansas Student Body President (Class of 1964). He arranged for Dave Brubeck to perform on campus and en route to Lawrence from the airport, Brubeck explained he had recently recorded a piece and was eager to now test in a public performance: Take Five, one of the great jazz classics of all time.
- Staff of the National Republican Committee. Reuben’s first job in Washington. His eventual opposition to the United States’ involvement in Vietnam led him to switch political parties. His own opposition turned from theory to action one evening in the spring of 1969 at the local Greek Church festival. As he approached the dance floor he saw on the sidelines two young vets about his age brought by Walter Reed volunteers. One solider with a badly injured leg and the other severe facial wounds. Reuben was so moved at this face-to-face exposure to the permanent effects of this war that he felt called to work full time to try and help in any way possible to bring the war to a conclusion and to then work for stronger policies of peaceful conflict resolution to prevent future such tragedies.
- Vietnam Moratorium Committee A political activist with the Vietnam Moratorium Committee that led to the October 15, 1969, moratorium to end the war in Vietnam, perhaps the largest nationwide such demonstration with an estimated two million demonstrators in Washington alone. As noted in a front page Washington Post article, Reuben had been a peace and civil rights activist who'd joined the National Guard and then “…ended up commanding troops overseeing the very demonstrations he'd helped organize. He first came to Columbia Heights in full battle gear, helping quell the riots. He returned soon after with plans to do a bit of social work.” He later felt compelled to testify (wearing his military uniform) on behalf of the defendants in several post-riot prosecutions with subsequent acquittals of persons unfairly charged.
- McGovern Presidential Campaign Staff - As the Democratic presidential candidate against Richard Nixon in the 1972 election, McGovern ran on a platform that advocated withdrawal from the Vietnam War and a reduction in military spending. Before the Watergate burglars stole the files from the Democratic National Committee (the beginning of a dramatic chapter in US political history), the burglars had stolen Reuben’s entire file cabinet of policy files at campaign headquarters (as the White House later confirmed to a Republican United States Senator, and as also reflected in Reuben’s apparently extensive FBI file from that era). Reuben also made Nixon's Enemies List: a group of liberals and “radicals” barred from gaining security clearance to enter the White House.
- The Council on National Priorities - In the mid-1970s he served as Executive Director of a coalition group advocating dramatic change in appropriations priorities by transfer of significant funds out of defense spending and into social and human needs service programs. The group lobbied the (new) congressional budget committees and appropriations committees. As part of that campaign, he created one of the widely distributed bumper stickers of that era: "If You Think the Economy is Working, Talk to Someone Who Isn't."
- The National Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign - In the early 80’s Reuben was the chief lobbyist for the Nuclear Freeze Campaign. The organization's goal was to have the U.S. and the Soviet Union simultaneously adopt a mutual freeze on the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons and of missiles, as well as new aircraft designed primarily to deliver nuclear weapons. The efforts of so many including Reuben secured passage of a House Resolution stating that a nuclear freeze should be the priority over any reduction in nuclear weapons (a policy that attracted Republican Senatorial support but predictably unpopular with the Reagan Administration).
- Hope Housing and McCornack.org - In the late 80s Reuben changed career and founded Hope Housing, a non-profit dedicated to the development of affordable housing. His office was located at the Community of Hope on Belmont Street and many of his projects were in the Columbia Heights neighborhood as described elsewhere in this Blog. In the late 90s he started McCornack.org to work as a private consultant with many small non-profits in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. See the McCornack.org page
Mythical level tales from his trips around the world:
- Drinking with Headhunters in Borneo, that earned him a tribal title and unexpected boat trip.
- Sailing the South China Sea, the North Sea, and many others of the most dangerous of navigable waters.
- Smoking cigars with Fidel Castro in Havana.
- Meeting with Yassar Arafat in Beirut.
- Wrestling an orangutan that eventually turned playful and protective of Reuben.
- Herding sheep in the Tetons.
- Hiking the Scottish Highlands.
- Hunting sea turtles with the Aboriginals in Australia.
