Drew Pearson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Pearson (left) withLyndon Johnson in 1964 | |
| Born | Andrew Russell Pearson (1897-12-13)December 13, 1897 Evanston, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | September 1, 1969(1969-09-01) (aged 71) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Merry-Go-Round Farms Potomac, Maryland 39°03′11″N77°16′25″W / 39.05301°N 77.27363°W /39.05301; -77.27363 |
| Alma mater | Swarthmore College |
| Occupations | Journalist,columnist |
| Years active | 1919-1969 |
| Employer | The Washington Post |
| Notable credit(s) | Washington Merry-Go-Round, 1932 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingTyler Abell (stepson) |
| Father | Paul Martin Pearson |
Andrew Russell Pearson (December 13, 1897 – September 1, 1969) was an Americancolumnist, noted for his syndicated newspaper column "Washington Merry-Go-Round". He also had a program onNBC Radio titledDrew Pearson Comments. He was known for his approach towards high-level politicians, such assenators, cabinet members, generals and American presidents.
Pearson was born inEvanston, Illinois, toQuaker parentsPaul Martin Pearson, an English professor atNorthwestern University, and Edna Rachel Wolfe Pearson.[1] When Pearson was 6 years old, his father joined the faculty ofSwarthmore College as professor of public speaking, and the family moved toPennsylvania, joining theSociety of Friends, with which the college was then affiliated. After being educated atPhillips Exeter Academy, Pearson attended Swarthmore from 1915 until 1919, where he edited its student newspaper,The Phoenix.
From 1919 to 1921, Pearson served with theAmerican Friends Service Committee, directing postwar rebuilding operations inPeć, which at that time was part ofSerbia. From 1921 to 1922, he lectured in geography at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.
In 1923, Pearson traveled toJapan,China,New Zealand,Australia,India, and Serbia, and persuaded several newspapers to buy articles about his travels. He was also commissioned by the American "Around the World Syndicate" to produce a set of interviews entitled "Europe's Twelve Greatest Men".
In 1924, he taught industrial geography atColumbia University.[2]
From 1925 to 1928, Pearson continued reporting on international events, including strikes in China, theGeneva Naval Conference, thePan-American Conference inHavana, and the signing of theKellogg-Briand Pact inParis.
In 1929, he became theWashington correspondent forThe Baltimore Sun. However, in 1931 and 1932, withRobert S. Allen, he anonymously published a book calledWashington Merry-Go-Round and its sequel. When theSun discovered Pearson had co-authored these books, he was promptly fired. Late in 1932, Pearson and Allen secured a contract with the Scripps–Howard syndicate,United Features, to syndicate a column called "Washington Merry-Go-Round". It first appeared inEleanor "Cissy" Patterson'sWashington Herald on November 17, 1932. But asWorld War II escalated inEurope, Pearson's strong support ofFranklin D. Roosevelt, in opposition to Patterson and theHerald's isolationist position, led to an acrimonious termination of Pearson's and Allen's contract with theHerald. In 1941The Washington Post picked up the contract for the "Washington Merry-Go-Round".
From 1935 to 1936, Allen and Pearson broadcast a 15-minute program twice a week on theMutual Broadcasting System. They continued with a 30-minute music and news show,Listen America, in 1939–1940, ending this partnership in 1941. They also wrote acomic strip,Hap Hopper, Washington Correspondent, which was drawn from 1939 to 1943 byJack Sparling, and from 1943 onward byAl Plastino.
Pearson continued alone onNBC withDrew Pearson Comments from 1941 to 1953 for a variety of sponsors (Serutan, Nutrex, Lee Hats, Adam Hats). His commentary was broadcast through 1968 on the now-defunct Intermountain Network.
In addition to radio, Pearson appeared in a number ofHollywood movies, such asRKO's 1945 propaganda movieBetrayal from the East, and the 1951 science fiction filmThe Day the Earth Stood Still. In the former movie, Pearson referred to an exposé that accusedJapanese Americans of being part of a Japanese conspiracy to engage in acts of espionage and terrorism. The movie was based on the 1943 best-selling bookBetrayal from the East: The Inside Story of Japanese Spies in America byAlan Hynd. In the latter film, Pearson (playing himself) is the only journalist who urges calm and restraint (versus the fear and paranoia evoked by his colleagues) while Washington is panicked by the escape of the alien visitorKlaatu. Furthermore, Pearson appeared as himself inCity Across the River (1949).
In 1947, Drew used his newspaper column and radio to announce his plan for theAmerican Friendship train, a nation-wide humanitarian aid effort ran by the people of America for the people of Europe.[3] In 1952 and 1953, Pearson hostedThe Drew Pearson Show on the ABC andDuMont Television networks.
On a January 8, 1950, broadcast ofCBS Radio'sThe Jack Benny Program, Pearson was at the center of a notorious joke. AnnouncerDon Wilson was to say he heard Jack had bought a new suit on Drew Pearson's program, but misspoke Pearson's name: "Drear Pooson". Later in the show, comedic actorFrank Nelson was asked by Benny if he was the doorman. Nelson replied with a line surreptitiously given him by the show's writers, "Who do you think I am? Drear Pooson?"[4]
The "Merry-Go-Round" column started as a result of Pearson's anonymous publication in 1931 of the book,Washington Merry-Go-Round, co-written withRobert Allen, the Washington bureau chief forThe Christian Science Monitor. The book was a collection of muckraking news items concerning key figures in public life that challenged the journalistic code of the day. In 1932 it was followed by a second book,More Merry-Go-Round. Although they were exposed as the publishers and forced to resign their positions, their books were successful enough so that Pearson and Allen could become co-authors of thesyndicated column, the "Merry-Go-Round", that same year. Also in 1932, the original book was made intoa film of the same name byColumbia Pictures, directed byJames Cruze, and starringLee Tracy andConstance Cummings.[5]
According to his one-time partner,Jack Anderson, Pearson saw journalism as a means to challenge those he thought to be working against the public interest.[6] He himself had the reputation of a person who put principles over profit. Refusing to carry libel insurance or gain the support of his syndicate to finance libel judgments against him, Pearson's journalism resulted in more than 120 libel actions against him. However, he only had to pay a settlement in one legal case.[7]
During World War II, Pearson's column not only revealed embarrassing news items, but expanded to criticize the Roosevelt administration's conduct of the war, in particular U.S. foreign policy regardingJoseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. As a supporter of the Soviet Union's struggle against Nazi Germany, Pearson demanded that the Allied Command create a second front in Europe in 1943 to assist the Soviets.[8] When Pearson's demands were not met, he began to openly criticize Secretary of StateCordell Hull,James Dunn, and other State Department officials, whom Pearson accused of hating Soviet Russia.[9] After one of Pearson's more virulent columns accused Secretary of State Hull and his deputies of a conscious policy to "bleed Russia white", President Roosevelt convened a press conference in which he angrily accused Pearson of printing statements that were a lie "from beginning to end", jeopardizing United Nations unity, and committing an act of bad faith towards his own nation. The president concluded his statement by calling Pearson "a chronic liar".[10]
Pearson was the first to report the 1943 incident of GeneralGeorge S. Patton's slapping soldierCharles Kuhl. It was the first of twoslapping-incidents, when General Patton, who denied the existence ofcombat stress reaction, struck and badly abused soldiers whom he had encountered during their evaluation at military field hospitals. Allied Headquarters denied that Patton had received either an official reprimand or removal from field command, but confirmed that Patton had slapped a soldier with his gloves.[11] Demands for Patton to be recalled and sent home soon arose in Congress as well as in newspaper articles and editorials across the country.[12] However, public opinion was largely favorable to Patton.[13][14] While Patton was later reassigned and his career advancement slowed, he was not relieved, but continued to serve in the European theater, where he would later command the U.S. Third Army.[15] Pearson's broadcast and subsequent article on Patton's alleged behavior sufficiently raised the suspicions of Secretary of WarHenry L. Stimson that he requested Army GeneralJoseph T. McNarney to "put an inspector on the War Department to see who has been leaking out information. Pearson's articles are about three-quarters false but there's just a germ of truth in them that someone must have given him."[16]
After Pearson reported that GeneralDouglas MacArthur was actively campaigning for his own promotion, MacArthur sued Pearson fordefamation, but dropped the suit after Pearson threatened to publish love letters from MacArthur to his Eurasian paramour,Isabel Rosario Cooper.[17]
In February 1946, Pearson revealed the existence of a Canadian ring of Soviet spies who had given away secret information about the atomic bomb, and he hinted that the espionage scandal might extend to the U.S. as well. The U.S. government had kept the news secret for several months until Pearson broke the story in a series of radio broadcasts. It is possible that he was tipped off by a government official who wanted to turn U.S. public opinion against the Soviet Union, possibly even FBI directorJ. Edgar Hoover, according to historian Amy Knight.[18]
Pearson also played a role in the downfall of New Jersey CongressmanJohn Parnell Thomas, Chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, in 1948. After revelations in Pearson's column, Thomas was investigated and later convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government for hiring friends who never worked for him, then depositing their paychecks into his personal accounts. Pearson was a staunch opponent of the actions of SenatorJoseph McCarthy and other attempts by Congress to investigate Soviet and communist influence in government and the media, and he eagerly denounced the allegations by Senator McCarthy and the House Committee.
In May 1948, Pearson was among the journalists who reported on the business problems ofPreston Tucker and his Tucker Corporation. A former policeman during the Prohibition era, Tucker was a self-made car-designer and businessman. Struggling to finance his high-flying plans in the design and safety of his cars, he had attempted "to raise money through unconventional means, including selling dealership rights for a car that didn't exist yet."[19] When theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) andJustice Department started to investigate the case in 1947, his first annual report, which he initially had refused to produce, resulted in a deficit of $ 5,651,208. Tucker took the news of the latest investigation to the newspapers, publishing full-page ads that read: "My associates and myself and the Tucker Corp. have been investigated time & again . . . Now once more we are being investigated."[20] Although he was acquitted of fraud charges, Tucker's firm went bankrupt in 1950.
Journalists, such as Drew Pearson andWalter Winchell, were criticized for their continuing critical reports about the treatment ofUS Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal.[21] Forrestal, whom PresidentHarry S. Truman had forced to resign, had committed suicide during his stay at thepsychiatric clinic of the U. S. Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland. The suicide was followed by an investigation, that was intended to clarify controversial aspects of his medical care.[22] Forrestal, who had told his doctors about an earlier episode when he had tried to take his life, had been treated withSodium amythal. After several weeks of this treatment, aninsulin shock therapy followed. Both therapies resulted in strong overreactions: "From that time on he was carried with ten units of insulin before breakfast and another ten units before lunch with extra feedings in the afternoon and evening".[23] His sleeplessness was treated withsedatives. In the course of the investigation, Forrestal's doctors had to explain why the chief of psychiatrists, who had been in charge of Forrestal, had been out of house at the time of his suicide, and why most of the patient's restrictions had been relieved. Other questions dealt with the fact that a patient with a high risk of suicide had been placed in a room on the sixteenth floor of the tower of the hospital. The chief of psychiatrists came up with a colleague's concern "that the widespread publicity might in some way reflect upon the excellence of Navy psychiatry unless there is full understanding by everyone of necessary risks and hazards which must be faced courageously in the management of such a medical problem."[24] His diagnosis was that Forrestal had been outworked due to his difficult professional obligations, and that he had suffered from his loss of office. Asking for a second opportunity to elaborate further about what might have happened the night of the suicide, he only then hinted to a possible negative effect of some media reports on the mood of his patient. The investigation finally cleared the US Naval Hospital and its staff from suspicions and stated that its doctors and wards weren't responsible for Forrestal's death.
Pearson's protégé, Jack Anderson, later asserted that Pearson "hectored Forrestal with innuendos and false accusations". Pearson disliked Forrestal for his staunch anti-communist attitude, ties toWall Street, and opposition to the U.S. recognition ofIsrael.[25][26]
In 1950, Pearson began the first of a series of columns attacking SenatorJoseph McCarthy after McCarthy declared that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department who were members of the American Communist Party. Ironically, Pearson, through his associate Jack Anderson, had been using McCarthy as a confidential source for information on other politicians.[27][28] Pearson used McCarthy's revelations in his columns with one exception – material on suspected Communists working in the U.S. government that McCarthy and his staff had uncovered.[27] Over the next two months McCarthy made seven Senate speeches on Drew Pearson, calling for a "patriotic boycott" of his radio show which cost Pearson the sponsor of his program. Twelve newspapers also cancelled their contracts with Pearson.
In response, Senator McCarthy referred to Pearson's one-time assistant David Karr, born Katz, as "Pearson's 'KGB controller' and charged that 'Pearson's all-important job, which he did for the Party without fail, under the direction of David Karr, was to lead the character assassination of an man who was a threat to international communism."[29] Karr had been exposed by theHouse Un-American Activities Committee in 1943 as having worked for two years on the staff of theCommunist newspaperThe Daily Worker. In response, Pearson claimed that Karr had only joined theDaily Worker because he had wanted to get intobaseball games for free. Karr ostensibly covered homeYankee games for theDaily Worker, a paper not known for its sports readership, but his other activities remained unknown at the time. Years later, however, the release of the FBI'sVenona decrypt of June 1944 revealed that Karr was an informational source for theNKVD. Another member of Pearson's staff, Andrew Older, along with his wife, was identified in 1951 as aCommunist Party member in testimony before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. Older's sister,Julia Older, was also suspected of having spied for theSoviet Union.[citation needed]
In December 1950, McCarthy and Pearson were involved in a physical altercation at theSulgrave Club in Washington, D.C. Pearson later sued McCarthy for injuries he allegedly suffered in the altercation, which Pearson stated resulted from being "grabbed by the neck and kicked in the groin."[30][31] The following month, McCarthy delivered a speech in the Senate in which he referred to Pearson as a "communist tool".[30][32]
In October 1953, Senator McCarthy began investigating communist infiltration into the military. McCarthy's attempts to discredit Robert Stevens, the Secretary of the Army, infuriated PresidentDwight Eisenhower, who instructed the Department of the Army to release information detrimental to McCarthy to journalists who were known to be opposed to him. On December 15, 1952, Pearson, working with Eisenhower's staff, published a column using the information on McCarthy, dealing him a significant blow.
Drew Pearson's engagement fordemocracy andpeace started at an early age and lasted throughout his entire life.[33] The best-known of his manyfold activities were:
Following World War II, Drew Pearson with the support of his wife Luvie Pearson initiated theFriendship Train which on its way through the USA collected over 250 cars of foodstuffs, over $40 million in aid for "America's friends" in war-torn Europe: "Luvie was the steam that powered the train across the northern United States, and Drew fired up the southern route. Both stopped at every village for contributions. They collected enough food to fill 'two long freight trains.' And then they took it to Europe, with keys to the towns presented at every stop."[34] The train was an incredible example of the power of people, and the willingness to help those in need and put differences aside. The entire process was without cost and without government involvement.[35] On December 19, 1947, one day after the arrival of the much-needed food, medicine and supplies inFrance, Pearson was awarded the FrenchLegion of Honor, rank of Chevalier, in recognition of his charitable engagement and work.[36]
Some of his other international engagements for democracy and peace were:
On August 3, 1969, Pearson was hospitalized in Washington for a viral infection that led to heart complications. He was released to his home inPotomac, Maryland, on August 29, but suffered a heart attack on September 1, and died at the emergency room ofGeorge Washington University Hospital at the age of 71.[38]
At the time of his death, the column was syndicated to more than 650 newspapers, more than twice as many as any other, with an estimated 60 million readers, and was famous for its investigative style of journalism. AHarris Poll commissioned byTime magazine at that time showed that Pearson was America's best-known newspaper columnist at the time of his death.[39] The column was continued byJack Anderson and then by Douglas Cohn andEleanor Clift, who combine commentary with historical perspectives. It is the longest-running syndicated column in America.
American University Library received the typescript copies of the columns distributed to newspapers around the country in 1992. Shortly thereafter, the Library embarked on a project to digitize the collection.[40]
Drew Pearson had one daughter, Ellen Cameron Pearson (1926–2010), in a short marriage (1925–28) to Felicia Gizycka, daughter of the newspaper heiressCissy Patterson and Count Joseph Gizycky of Poland. Thereafter, Pearson maintained a strained relationship with his former mother-in-law, and they frequently exchanged barbed comments in print.[citation needed] His second wife was Luvie Moore Abell (a cousin ofEdith Kermit Carow), whom he married in 1936; through that union he had a step son,Tyler Abell, to whom he was close throughout his life.[41] Abell later becamechief of protocol under PresidentLyndon B. Johnson.
Pearson was awardedNorway's Medal of St. Olav, the FrenchLegion of Honour, theOrder of the Star of Italian Solidarity, and two honorary degrees. He also was given a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame for "The Drew Pearson Show", an early program of current events.
Character actorRobert F. Simon played Pearson in the 1977 NBC television movieTail Gunner Joe, a biopic of U.S. SenatorJoseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| External videos | |
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 Interview with Donald Ritchie onThe Columnist, February 12, 2021,C-SPAN | |
| Q&A interview with Ritchie onThe Columnist, July 11, 2021,C-SPAN |
