Malcolm Johnson (September 24, 1904 – June 18, 1976) was an American

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

of the 1940s and 1950s. His 24-part series in the New York ''Sun'', ''Crime on the Waterfront,'' won the

Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting is awarded to an example of "local reporting that illuminates significant issues or concerns." This Pulitzer Prize was first awarded in 1948. Like most Pulitzers the winner receives a $15,000 award. History ...

in 1949.

Career and education

The ''Sun'' articles formed the basis for the 1954 Elia Kazan movie '' On the Waterfront,'' which starred Marlon Brando. Unlike the articles, which described corruption and organized crime infiltration on the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

waterfront, the movie was set across the river in

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Johnson graduated from

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 s ...

in 1926. He was the father of ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' reporter Haynes Johnson, who also won a Pulitzer Prize, making the two the first ever father and son duo to take the award. Johnson's New York ''Sun'' articles were compiled as a book in 2005.

References

1904 births 1976 deaths American investigative journalists Mercer University alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers {{US-journalist-stub