Richard Halworth Rovere (May 5, 1915 – November 23, 1979) was an American political journalist.

Biography

Rovere was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He graduated from

The Stony Brook School The Stony Brook School is a 7–12 private, Christian, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Stony Brook, New York, United States. It was established in 1922 by John Fleming Carson and fellow members of the Stony ...

in 1933 and

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

, then a branch of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, in 1937. During the Great Depression, he joined the

Communist movement The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core theoretical values of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least ...

and wrote for the ''

New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA. It succeeded both ''The Masses'' (1912–1917) and ''The Liberator''. ''New Masses'' was later merged into '' Masses & Mainstream'' (19 ...

''. In 1939, as a result of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...

, he broke with Stalinism and became an anticommunist liberal. In the early 1940s, he was an assistant editor at ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

''. He joined ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' in 1944 and wrote its "Letter from Washington" column from December 1948 until his death. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he periodically contributed to '' Esquire'', '' Harper's'', and ''

The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College at the First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his gro ...

''; now and then he reported on American matters for Britain's '' Spectator''. His reporting got him on the

master list of Nixon political opponents Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans * Grandmaster (chess), National Maste ...

. He died of emphysema in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

Blurbs

From the Rhinebeck Gazette (Rhinebeck, New York), June 18, 1959:

The Gazette received an advanced copy of Richard H. Rovere's book, "Senator Joe McCarthy," from Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. The book is both an analytical biography and a memoir, as well as a commentary on the American political scene. Mr Rovere, who was often an eyewitness observer of the events he describes, lives at 108 Montgomery Street in Rhinebeck.

Legacy

His papers from 1931 to 1968 are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.

Bibliography

*''Howe & Hummel: Their True and Scandalous History'' (1947) *''The General and the President'' (with

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a s ...

, 1951) *''Affairs of State: The Eisenhower Years'' (1956) *''Senator Joe McCarthy'' (1959) *''The American Establishment and Other Reports, Opinions, and Speculations'' (1962) *''The Goldwater Caper'' (1965) *''Waist Deep in the Big Muddy: Personal Reflections on 1968'' (1968) *''Arrivals and Departures: A Journalist's Memoirs'' (1976) *'' Final Reports: Personal Reflections on Politics and History in Our Time'' (1984, published posthumously, foreword by

)

References

External links