page_title: Paul Newman
section_title: Political activism
hierarchical_section_title: Paul Newman / Political activism
caption_attribution_description: Paul Newman at a political rally for Eugene McCarthy in the parking lot of Semon's in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 1968.
context_page_description: Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, producer, race car driver, IndyCar owner, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
  Newman's major film roles include The Hustler, Hud, Harper, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and leading roles in The Sting, The Towering Inferno, Slap Shot, The Verdict, and voice role of Doc Hudson in the first installment of Disney-Pixar's Cars as his final acting performance, with voice recordings being used again in Cars 3. A ten-time Oscar nominee, Newman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Color of Money. He also received the Academy Honorary Award, and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
  Newman won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open-wheel IndyCar racing. He was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which he donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity. As of July 2019, these donations have totaled over US$550 million.
context_section_description: Newman was a lifelong Democrat. For his support of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 (and effective use of television commercials in California) and his opposition to the Vietnam War, Newman was placed nineteenth on Richard Nixon's enemies list, which Newman claimed was his greatest accomplishment. During the 1968 general election, Newman supported Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey and appeared in a pre-election night telethon for him.  He was also described as a “vocal supporter” of gay rights and same-sex marriage.
  Newman linked with the so-called Malibu Mafia to promote progressive issues in politics. This was a group of wealthy men in the Greater Los Angeles area who met to discuss politics. Backed by them, Newman and his wife went to Washington in 1976 to speak in favor of breaking up Big Oil into separate components. Newman supported their 1980s effort to establish a bilateral Nuclear Freeze to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the US and the Soviet Union. He said he would stand up for Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election as long as there was cold Budweiser and Nuclear Freeze involved.
  In January 1995, Newman was the chief investor of a group, including the writer E.L. Doctorow and the editor Victor Navasky, that bought the progressive-left wing periodical The Nation. Newman was an occasional writer for the publication.
  Consistent with his work for liberal causes, Newman publicly supported Ned Lamont's candidacy in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary against Senator Joe Lieberman, and was even rumored as a candidate himself, until Lamont emerged as a credible alternative. He donated to Chris Dodd's presidential campaign. Newman earlier donated money to Bill Richardson's campaign for president in 2008.
  Newman attended the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, and was also present at the first Earth Day event in Manhattan on April 22, 1970.
  Newman was concerned about global warming and supported nuclear energy development as a solution.
caption: Newman at a political rally for Eugene McCarthy in 1968
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