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The Columnist: Leaks, Lies, and Libel in Drew Pearson's Washington

Online ISBN:
9780190067618
Print ISBN:
9780190067588
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Columnist: Leaks, Lies, and Libel in Drew Pearson's Washington

Donald A. Ritchie
Donald A. Ritchie

Historian Emeritus

Historian Emeritus, U.S. Senate
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Published online:
20 May 2021
Published in print:
1 July 2021
Online ISBN:
9780190067618
Print ISBN:
9780190067588
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

In the “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” a nationally syndicated newspaper column that appeared in hundreds of papers from 1932 to 1969, as well as on weekly radio and television programs, the investigative journalist Drew Pearson revealed news that public officials tried to suppress. He disclosed policy disputes and political spats, exposed corruption, attacked bigotry, and promoted social justice. He pumped up some political careers and destroyed others. Presidents, prime ministers, and members of Congress repeatedly called him a liar, and he was sued for libel more often than any other journalist, but he won most of his cases by proving the accuracy of his charges. Pearson dismissed most official news as propaganda and devoted his column to reporting what officials were doing behind closed doors. He broke secrets—even in wartime—and revealed classified information. Fellow journalists credited him with knowing more dirt about more people in Washington than even the FBI and compared his efforts to Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers or Edward Snowden with WikiLeaks, except that he did it daily. The Columnist examines how Pearson managed to uncover secrets so successfully and why government efforts to find his sources proved so unsuccessful. Drawing on a half century of archival evidence, it assesses his contributions as a muckraker by verifying or refuting both his accusations and his accusers.

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