Richard O. Boyer (10 January 1903 – 7 August 1973) was an

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freelance journalist.

Background

Richard Owen Boyer was born on January 10, 1903, in Chicago.

Career

Boyer worked at various newspapers, including the '' St. Louis Post Dispatch'', ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'', ''

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'', and ''

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''. Boyer co-founded the Boston Newspaper Guild. He contributed to '' The New Yorker'' magazine during the 1930s and 1940s. In the late 1940s, he was foreign correspondent for '' PM'' newspaper in Germany, France, Italy, and Central America. He was also editor of ''U.S. Week.'' In 1948, he was an editor of the cultural monthly magazine ''

Masses & Mainstream ''Masses & Mainstream'', published from 1948 to 1963, was an American Marxist monthly publication. It resulted from a merger between ''New Masses'', which ceased publication in January 1948, and ''Mainstream'', a Communist cultural quarterly establ ...

''. Before appearing at a

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hearing, he had written for the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

''. He was implicated in Winston Burdett's June 1955 testimony before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee hearings as a Communist. The Senate subpoenaed Boyer in November 1955 and he testified the next January. At the hearing, Boyer refused to answer questions about his affiliations with the Communist Party, under the protection of the

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and Fifth Amendment. He was one of many witnesses in 1956 called by the Subcommittee in an "inquiry into New York press. To questions of whether he was a Communist or whether others were party members, the write invoked both his First and Fifth Amendments. Privately, however, Boyer identified himself as a Communist, saying that he had been a party member from the 1930s until 1956, when Nikita Khrushchev, the then Soviet leader, disclosed the secrets of the Stalin regime."

Death

Boyer died age 70 on August 7, 1973.

Works

* ''The Dark Ship'' (1947) * ''If This Be Treason'' (1948) * ''Labor's Untold Story: The Adventure Story of the Battles, Betrayals and Victories of American Working Men and Women'' (1955)

References

External links

''Time'' magazine article
January 16, 1956

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Richard O. 1903 births 1973 deaths American reporters and correspondents American tax resisters 20th-century American non-fiction writers