UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #1121
FRITZ, BRUCE

FRITZ, BRUCE (1947? - )
Undergraduate Student; Capital Times photographer, 1969-1977
At UW: 1965-1966, 1968-1969

Interviewed: 	2011 
Interviewer: 	Troy Reeves
Index by: 	Troy Reeves
Length: 	00:57:45

Abstract: In his March 2011 interview with Troy Reeves, Bruce Fritz detailed his thoughts and memories as an undergraduate student on the UW-Madison campus and as a photographer at the Capital Times. Fritz spoke of the time period between 1965 and 1977 and on the following topics: UW-Madison, Sterling Hall Bombing, Madison Newspaper Strike, 1977-1981, and the Vietnam Era on UW-Madison’s campus. Fritz also commented on the last month of protests in Madison, against current Wisconsin budget bill(s). This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program.

Key Words: Madison, WI; Sterling Hall Bombing; Vietnam Conflict; Capital Times; Madison Newspaper Strike, 1977-1981.

Interview Session (March 15, 2011): Digital File

Time	Keywords

00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction. 

00:00:28	Question: Why go to school at Madison? Answer: Bruce Fritz (BF) went to Madison to study to become a neurosurgeon. He explained why he wanted to be a neurosurgeon and why he changed his mind. In 1967 he bought two cameras and three lens from a neighbor and fell in love with photography. Fritz spent a year in the Navy on an aircraft carrier, so his UW—Madison stint had a year break. He got a job at the Capital Times in June 1969 and quit school. He worked at the Cap Times until he, along with others, went on strike against the paper in October 1977.

00:04:45	Question: Take part in protests while at UW? Answer: Fritz’s first apartment was at University and Park, the part of the block where Vilas Hall has stood for decades. While an undergrad, BF participated in a 1965 sit in. As an amateur photographer, he took pictures of the 1969 Black Strike and Father Groppi’s march on the Capitol. From Fritz’s memory of both events, the protest on 3/12/2011 was bigger than any protest of which he took pictures.

00:07:52	Question: How did Fritz get Capital Times gig? Answer: Fritz’s father worked the Cap Times as the composing foreman (Fritz’s uncle worked there too), and his father found out about the job. BF had no professional experience but had taken a lot of nature photos. Plus, he volunteered for a group, Measure for Measure, which took food and material to rural Mississippi; Fritz took pictures of people while there. So, he showed those photos to E. Maraniss & D. Zweifel. They offered him a photographer’s job, and, as mentioned earlier, Fritz quit school and started there in May 1969. Since he had served in the military, he had no worries about getting drafted. 

00:10:41	Question: Why quit school and become a photographer? Answer: As BF discussed earlier, he found photography while in college and fell in love with it. He talked about using his small apartment as a photo studio. So, to get a job at the Cap Times was a dream, so he took it. While at Cap Times, Fritz won awards and was a finalist for a Pulitzer. BF and the interviewer compared the conference room where this interview occurred to Fritz’s apartment, which doubled as his studio. In 1972 he wanted to go to a one-week workshop in Yosemite Valley, led by renowned photographer Ansel Adams. The photography editor, a man Fritz did not respect, blocked BF’s attempt to go. Fritz threatened to quit, and the man relented and let him go, only if it came out of the next year’s vacation time. Fritz won awards and felt respected by his peers, so he never really understood why the photo editor disliked him.  

	[A call with Bruce Fritz on 3/8/2012 clarified that the photography editor, at 00:15:15, had said “What does Ansel Adams know about news photography?”]  

00:16:33	Question: Did Fritz remember his first professional photo gig? Answer: Fritz did not recall his first shoot, but he did bring a binder of contact sheets with photos of his protest-related photos. So he talked to the interviewer about them. He offered his memories about the Veterans’ Day march in 1969, the GE demonstration in 1970, the TAA Strike and Cambodia/Kent State riots and fires in Spring 1970, and the Silent Majority Rally in April 1970. It was the Cambodia/Kent State riots where a protestor hit BF with a brick, which led the news editor to pull photographers from campus. 

00:21:54	[No question] Fritz then talked about how his life had changed in the 15 months between getting the Cap Times job and the Sterling Hall bombing. He moved into a small apartment on Rutledge Street and bought a car—before that he drove motorcycles. Then, Fritz turned to his memories of Sterling Hall. He received a call from the paper’s news editor, Dave Zweifel, soon after the bomb blast, early Monday morning; Zweifel told him that “they bombed Sterling Hall.” BF drove from Rutledge Street to Sterling Hall and around University & Park saw a huge chunk of concrete in the road, which served as his first clue that it indeed had happened. At this point in the interview, BF returned to his previous experience on campus, telling the interviewer that when he worked for the Computer Center on campus, he worked on the 3rd and 5th floor of Sterling Hall.

00:23:42	[No question.] Fritz continued with his thoughts on Sterling Hall. As far as he knew, he arrived first (photographer) on the scene. Because he had worked in the building, he found it hard to work. As he flipped through his contact sheets of photos from that morning, he talked about taking photos, including the photo of the police and firemen wheeling Robert Fassnacht—covered in a sheet—into the ambulance. After taking the initial set of photos, BF went back to the Cap Times to develop them and work to get some of them into the next edition of the paper. He then returned to take more photos and to create the photo of Fassnacht—taking a picture of his picture—which became the photo used everywhere. 

00:26:28	[No question.] The interviewer and Fritz confirmed the logistics of how and when he took the photos during the morning and day of August 24, 1970. Fritz took no photos of the funeral. Fritz talked about 3 books that focus on or feature Sterling Hall and how each of the authors contacted him to request permission to use his photos. He mentioned in his dealings with the author Michael Morris that Morris thought that Fritz had taken a photo of Armstrong, pre-Sterling Hall. The interviewer looked at the contact print of the picture to see if he could see Armstrong in it, and Fritz and the interviewer talked about it. 

	[A call with Bruce Fritz on 3/8/2012 clarified that a contact sheet being viewed at 00:31:10 is really the east entrance of Sterling Hall—not the west entrance.]  

00:32:36	[No question.] This photo led Fritz to discuss how he had shot wedding in the last few years. At one wedding Karl Armstrong was the bride’s uncle. Fritz eventually talked to Armstrong about Sterling Hall; he talked here about his memories of that discussion.
 
00:34:48	Question: How did the bombing affect his stance on the war? Answer: Fritz did not condone the violence and damage, but he hoped it helped to end the war earlier. BF followed the Armstrong trial, but he took no photos of it. He did take and show some photos he snapped of a “Free Karl” rally on Memorial Mall in May 1972. 

00:37:50	Question: How was he treated as member of media during the student protest movement? Fritz noted that both the cops and the students harassed him. He recalled getting tear gas thrown specifically at him and getting hit with a brick by a protestor. It was after that incident that Cap Times Editor Zweifel stated that no more photographers would go to East Campus to take pictures. Fritz had just attended the March 12, 2011, protest in Madison, so he compared that protest to ones of the 1960s/1970s, including the far more peaceful feeling at the 2011 one.

00:43:23	Question: Final comments about student protest movement? Answer: BF recalled looking out his apartment window at Park/University and seeing the National Guard marching (during the Black Strike). And he asked a rhetorical question: Would the war have ended without the protests? 

00:45:58	Question: Compare 1960s/1970 protests to today’s? The national AFSCME wanted to hire Fritz to shoot pictures in February, but he had postponed cataract surgery twice and wanted to get it done. He felt a bit of regret about that, but he did get to shoot the 3/12/2011 protest, which stood as the largest one. With his temper and politics, he might not have fared well in the February protests, because even though the protests did not include much tension, Fritz felt he might have lost his cool if brought face to face with a Tea Party member. 

00:50:26	Question: 1977 newspaper strike? Answer: BF focused his thoughts about this event by talking about the physical and emotional toll a strike put on him. He noted how his father went on strike, and when his union settled, Fritz’s dad ended up working for the state, helping them with computerized typesetting. Fritz also called the Madison Newspaper building, which they moved into during the early days of the strike, as “strike-proof,” and explained why he said that about it. He concluded by saying that almost always, a strike will benefit management in the end. 

00:56:55	Question: Final comments? Fritz finished by telling a story about shoveling a large peace sign in frozen Lake Monona one winter (near his apartment on Rutledge), so passengers who flew on planes in/out of Madison could see it.

00:57:45	End of Interview

End of Oral History #1121