Carl Rowan | |
|---|---|
 Rowan in 1997 | |
| 5th Director of theUnited States Information Agency | |
| In office February 27, 1964 – July 10, 1965 | |
| President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Edward R. Murrow |
| Succeeded by | Leonard Harold Marks |
| United States Ambassador to Finland | |
| In office March 9, 1963 – February 8, 1964 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Bernard Gufler |
| Succeeded by | Tyler Thompson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1925-08-11)August 11, 1925 Ravenscroft, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | September 23, 2000(2000-09-23) (aged 75) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Spouse | Vivien |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Journalist, author, diplomat |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1944–1946 |
| Rank | Ensign |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Carl Thomas Rowan (August 11, 1925 – September 23, 2000) was a prominent Americanjournalist,author and government official who publishedcolumns syndicated across the U.S. and was at one point the highest ranking African American in the United States government.[1]
Carl Rowan was born inRavenscroft, Tennessee, the son of Johnnie, a cook and cleaner, and Thomas Rowan, who stacked lumber.[2] He was raised inMcMinnville, Tennessee, during the Great Depression. Rowan was determined to get a good education. He graduated fromBernard High School in 1942 as class president and valedictorian. After graduating from high school, Rowan worked cleaning porches at a tuberculosis hospital in order to attend Tennessee State College in Nashville.[1] He studied atTennessee State University (1942–43) andWashburn University (1943–44). He was one of the first African Americans to serve as acommissioned officer in theUnited States Navy.[3]
He graduated fromOberlin College (1947) and was awarded a master's degree injournalism from theUniversity of Minnesota (1948).[4] He began his career in journalism writing for the African-American newspapersMinneapolis Spokesman andSt. Paul Recorder (theMinnesota Spokesman-Recorder since 2000).[5] He went on to be a copywriter forThe Minneapolis Tribune (1948–50), and later became a staff writer (1950–61), reporting extensively on theCivil Rights Movement.[6]
In a 1964 interview withRobert Penn Warren for the bookWho Speaks for the Negro?, Rowan reflected on his reporting of the civil rights movement, as well as his opinions on the distinctions between the North and the South, prejudices and persecution, and African Americans' political power.[7]
From 1966 to 1998, Rowan wrote a syndicated column for theChicago Sun-Times and, from 1967 to 1996, was a panelist on a television programAgronsky & Company, later calledInside Washington; Rowan's demeanor presented the appearance of a fair opponent whose arguments were persuasive and well-balanced—he always came across as the voice of reason.[citation needed][according to whom?]
During the 1950s, Rowan covered the burgeoningcivil rights movement in the South, including the 1955Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, resulting fromRosa Parks's refusal to relinquish her bus seat to a white passenger. As the only black reporter covering the story for a national newspaper, Rowan struck a special friendship with the boycott's leaders, includingMartin Luther King Jr.[4] When news of an unlikely compromise settlement of the boycott came to Rowan's attention across theAssociated Press wire, he notified King, who made quick steps to discredit the story, about to appear in a Montgomery newspaper, thus ensuring the continuance of the boycott.[citation needed]
In 1954, Rowan was asked by the State Department to go on a speaking tour across India. He later gave other speaking tours through South and Southeast Asia.[8] These speaking tours were part of U.S. Cold War propaganda efforts which funded leading American figures lecturing abroad. Rowan was selected to speak in India because of their criticism of U.S. treatment of African Americans.
In 1961, Rowan was appointed DeputyAssistant Secretary of State by PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.[4] The following year, he served as a delegate to theUnited Nations during theCuban Missile Crisis. Rowan became theU.S. Ambassador to Finland in 1963.[8] In 1964, Rowan was appointed director of theUnited States Information Agency (USIA) by PresidentLyndon B. Johnson.[9] In serving as director of the USIA, Rowan became the first African American to hold a seat on theNational Security Council and the highest level African American in the United States government.[4]
His name appeared on themaster list of Nixon political opponents.[citation needed]
In 1960, Rowan was denied membership to a club on the grounds that it was racially segregated; this subsequently inspiredJoe Glazer to write the song "I Belong to a Private Club".[10]
Carl Rowan was a well-known and highly decorated journalist. His columns were published in more than one hundred newspapers across the United States. In 1968 he received theElijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honoraryDoctor of Laws degree fromColby College.[citation needed] In 1997, he was awarded theSpingarn Medal from theNAACP.[11] Rowan was a 1995Pulitzer Prize finalist for his commentaries.[citation needed] He is the only journalist in history to win theSigma Delta Chi medallion for journalistic excellence in three successive years.[4]
Thurgood Marshall's only interview while serving on theSupreme Court of the United States was for Carl Rowan's 1988 documentary.[citation needed] TheNational Press Club gave Rowan its 1999 Fourth Estate Award for lifetime achievement.[12] On January 9, 2001,United States Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright dedicated the press briefing room at the State Department as the Carl T. Rowan Briefing room.[13]
Rowan died in Washington on September 23, 2000, of heart and kidney ailments in the intensive care unit at Washington Hospital Center.[14] Rowan was 75 and had diabetes prior to his death.
Rowan was survived by his wife, Vivien; the three children they shared: two sons and one daughter; and four grandchildren. Rowan’s two sons are Carl Jr., a lawyer; and Jeffrey, a clinical psychologist. His daughter, Barbara Rowan Jones, is a formal journalist like her father.[1]
Founded in 1987 by Rowan, Project Excellence was a college scholarship program for black high-school seniors who displayed outstanding writing and speaking skills. Rowan founded Project Excellence to combat negative peer pressure felt by black students and to reward students who rose above stereotypes and negative peer influence and excelled academically. Chaired by Rowan, a committee of journalists, community leaders, and school officials oversaw the program. Participants were African-American students in their senior year of high school from public, private, and parochial schools in the metropolitan Washington area, including theVirginia andMaryland suburbs. By 2000 the program had given out $26 million in scholarship money to over 1150 students.[citation needed]
Rowan gained public notoriety on June 14, 1988, when he shot an unarmed teenage trespasser, Ben Smith. "The interloper was a near-naked teenager who had been skinny-dipping with friends in Rowan's pool, and the columnist's weapon was an unregistered, and thus illegal, .22 caliber pistol."[15]
FromPeople magazine: "When Rowan heard the police arrive, he stepped outside to let them in. It was then, he says, that he was confronted by "a tall man who was smoking something that I absolutely was sure was marijuana." Rowan says he repeatedly warned the intruder that he was armed and would shoot. "My first words were: 'Freeze! Stay where you are!' " says Rowan. "Then I said, 'I have a gun.' " Rowan says the man kept coming and that he finally felt forced to shoot in self-defense. He says he aimed at the intruder's feet but hit him in the wrist when the man lunged forward.
The intruder, teenager Benjamin Smith, 18, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, tells a different story. "I was in my underwear," he told a radio interviewer. "I just climbed out of the pool. It was pretty innocent. I never spoke with him. He just shot me and closed the door and went back hiding in his house. I mean, I guess I was trespassing. But that's no reason to shoot a person, is it? For swimming in their pool?"[16]
Rowan was charged for firing a gun that he did not legally own. Rowan was arrested and tried. During the trial, he argued that he had the right to use whatever means necessary to protect himself and his family. He also said the pistol he used was exempt from the District's handgun prohibition law because it belonged to his older son, a former FBI agent. He was accused of hypocrisy, since Rowan was a strictgun control advocate. In a 1981 column, he advocated "a law that says anyone found in possession of a handgun except a legitimate officer of the law goes to jail—period." In 1985, he called for "A complete and universal federal ban on the sale, manufacture, importation and possession of handguns (except for authorized police and military personnel).[17]
Rowan was tried but the jury was deadlocked; the judge declared a mistrial and he was never retried. In his autobiography, Rowan said he still favors gun control, but admits being vulnerable to a charge of hypocrisy.[18]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Rowan onBreaking Barriers February 3, 1991,C-SPAN |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), January 9, 2001.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Finland 1963–1964 | Succeeded by |
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | ||
