Anthony Lewis
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Joseph Anthony Lewis (March 27, 1927 – March 25, 2013) was an American
public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
and journalist. He was a two-time winner of the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
and was a columnist for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. He is credited with creating the field of legal journalism in the United States. Early in Lewis' career as a legal journalist, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter told an editor of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'': "I can't believe what this young man achieved. There are not two justices of this court who have such a grasp of these cases." At his death, Nicholas B. Lemann, the dean of Columbia University School of Journalism, said: "At a liberal moment in American history, he was one of the defining liberal voices."


Early life

Lewis was born Joseph Anthony Lewis in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
on March 27, 1927, to Kassel Lewis, who worked in textiles manufacturing, and Sylvia Surut, who became director of the nursery school at the 92nd Street Y. He and his family were
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
. He attended the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, where he was a classmate of Roy Cohn, and graduated from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
in 1948. While at Harvard, he was managing editor of '' The Harvard Crimson''.


Career in journalism

Following his college graduation, Lewis worked for ''The New York Times''. He left in 1952 to work for the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
on Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign. He returned to journalism at '' The Washington Daily News'', an afternoon tabloid. He wrote a series of articles on the case of Abraham Chasanow, a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy, who had been dismissed from his job on the basis of allegations by anonymous informers that he associated with anti-American subversives. The series won Lewis a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1955. Lewis returned to ''The New York Times'' that year as its Washington bureau chief. He was assigned to cover the Justice Department and the Supreme Court. In 1956–57 he was a Nieman Fellow at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
. He won a second Pulitzer Prize in 1963, again in the category National Reporting, for his coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court. The citation singled out his coverage of the court's reasoning in '' Baker v. Carr'', a Supreme Court decision which held that federal courts could exercise authority over legislative redistricting on the part of the states, and the decision's impact on specific states. In his 1969 history of ''The New York Times'', Gay Talese described Lewis in his Washington years as "cool, lean, well-scrubbed looking, intense and brilliant". Lewis became a member of Senator Robert F. Kennedy's social circle, too conspicuously so in the opinion of Max Frankel, another of the paper's editors. During a four-month newspaper strike (November 1962 to February 1963), Lewis wrote '' Gideon's Trumpet'', the story of Clarence Earl Gideon, the plaintiff in '' Gideon v. Wainwright'', the 1963 case in which the Supreme Court held that states were required to provide counsel for indigent defendants charged with serious crimes. At Lewis' death it had not been out of print since it was first published. It won the 1965
Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...
for Best Fact Crime and in 1980 was adapted as a movie for television and presented by
Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas Citybased greeting card company. It is the longest-ru ...
. Lewis played a small role in the film. Lewis published a second book in 1964, ''Portrait of a Decade: The Second American Revolution'', about the civil rights movement. In 1991, Mr. Lewis published ''Make No Law'', an account of '' The New York Times v. Sullivan'', the 1964 Supreme Court decision that revolutionized American libel law. In ''Sullivan'', the court held that public officials suing critics of their official conduct needed to prove that the contested statement(s) were made with "actual malice", that is, with knowledge that it was false or with "reckless disregard" of whether it was true or not. The ''Times'' moved Lewis to London in 1964, where he was bureau chief with responsibility for broad coverage of politics, culture and, in the words of one editor, "ballet, music, Glyndebourne, la-di-da London society, diplomacy, the British character, you name it". He moved to New York in 1969 and began writing a twice-weekly opinion column for the ''Times''. He continued to write these pieces, which appeared under the heading "At Home Abroad" or "Abroad at Home" depending on his byline, until retiring in 2001. Though wide-ranging in his interests, he often focused on legal questions, advocacy of compromise between Israel and the Palestinians, and criticism of the war in Vietnam and the apartheid regime in South Africa. On December 15, 2001, his final column warned that civil liberties were at risk in the U.S. reaction to the September 11 attacks. Reflecting on his years as a columnist, he said he had learned two lessons: When told
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
had once described him as "always wrong", Lewis replied: "Probably because I wrote in a very uncomplimentary way about him. I didn’t like him. He did things that were very damaging to human beings."


Other activities

Beginning in the mid-1970s, Lewis taught a course in First Amendment and the Supreme Court at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
's Graduate School of Journalism for 23 years. He held the school's James Madison chair in First Amendment Issues from 1982. He lectured at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
from 1974 to 1989 and was a visiting lecturer at several other colleges and universities, including the universities of
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, and
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
. In 1983, Lewis received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College. On January 8, 2001, he received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
. On October 21, 2008, the National Coalition Against Censorship honored him for his work in the area of First Amendment rights and free expression. He served for decades as a member of the ''Harvard Crimsons graduate board and as one of its trustees. He was a key player in the fundraising and reconstruction of the paper's Plympton Street building. Lewis was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
in 2005. He served on the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and its policy committee. CPJ awarded him its Burton Benjamin Award for lifetime achievement in 2009. He was chosen Class Day speaker at Harvard in 1997. He was a member of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute's International Council.


Views on the press

Lewis read the First Amendment as a restriction on the ability of the federal government to regulate speech, but opposed attempts to broaden its meaning to create special protection for journalists. He approved when a federal court in 2005 jailed Judith Miller, a ''New York Times'' reporter, for refusing to name her confidential sources as a special prosecutor demanded she do. Max Frankel, another ''Times'' editor said: "In his later years he turned a little bit against the press, which he loved. But he disagreed with those of us who felt that we couldn't just trust the courts to defend our freedom". Lewis also opposed journalists' advocacy of a federal "shield law" to allow journalists to refuse to reveal their sources. He cited the case of Wen Ho Lee, whose privacy was, in Lewis' view, violated by newspapers who published leaked information and then refused to identify the sources of those leaks, preferring to agree to a financial settlement. He noted that the newspapers said they were acting to "protect our journalists from further sanctions", thus privileging their own needs over the damage caused the victim of the false information they printed.


Personal life

On July 8, 1951, Lewis married Linda J. Rannells, "a tall, blithe student of modern dance" according to Gay Talese. They had three children and divorced in 1982. Lewis relocated from New York to Cambridge while he was a ''New York Times'' columnist. There, in 1984, he married Margaret H. Marshall, an attorney in private practice who later became General Counsel at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Lewis and his wife were longtime residents of
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
. Lewis died on March 25, 2013, from renal and heart failure, two days shy of his 86th birthday. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a few years earlier.


Awards

* 1955: Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting * 1963: Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting * 1983: Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award * 1983: Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College * 2001: Presidential Citizens Medal by
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
* 2003: American Civil Liberties Union's Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty * 2008: National Coalition Against Censorship honor for work on First Amendment rights and free expression


Selected writings

;Author * '' Gideon's Trumpet'' ( Random House, 1964) (Reprint ) * ''Portrait of a Decade: The Second American Revolution'' (Random House, 1964) () * ''Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment'' (Random House, 1991) () *''The Supreme Court and How It Works: The Story of the Gideon Case'' (Random House Children's Books, 1966) () *'' Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment'' ( Basic Books, 2010) () ;Co-author *Pierce O'Donnell and Anthony Lewis, ''In Time of War: Hitler's Terrorist Attack on America'' (New Press, 2005) () * Frank Snepp and Anthony Lewis, ''Irreparable Harm: A Firsthand Account of How One Agent Took on the CIA in an Epic Battle Over Free Speech'' ( University Press of Kansas, 2001) () ;Editor *''Written into History: Pulitzer Prize Reporting of the Twentieth Century from The New York Times'' (Holt, 2001) () ;Preface/introduction *''Glory and Terror: The Growing Nuclear Danger'' by Steven Weinberg; preface by Anthony Lewis (New York Review Books, 2004) () *''The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent'' edited by Tom Segev and Roane Carey, with an introduction by Anthony Lewis (New Press, 2004) () *'' The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib'' edited by Karen J. Greenberg and Joshua L. Dratel, with an introduction by Anthony Lewis (Cambridge University Press, 2005) () *''The Myth of the Imperial Judiciary: Why the Right Is Wrong About the Courts'' by Mark Kozlowski, foreword by Anthony Lewis ( New York University Press, 2003) () ;Miscellaneous articles
One Liberty at a Time
(''Mother Jones'', May/June 2004)
the Framers, the 1st Amendment and watchdog reporting"Heroic" News media?


References




External links

* ;Bibliographies
New York Review of Books, index of articles by Lewis

Anthony Lewis: bibliography
;Profiles
Fairness.com profile

Columbia faculty profile

Nieman Watchdog profile


;Interviews
Lewis discusses how ''New York Times v. Sullivan'' enhanced national press coverage of the civil rights movementAnthony Lewis discusses press issues with Ron Collins at Harvard Universitytranscript
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Anthony 1927 births 2013 deaths American legal writers Jewish American journalists Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners Edgar Award winners Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award recipients Columbia University faculty The Harvard Crimson people University of Arizona faculty Horace Mann School alumni The New York Times columnists Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Harvard College alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society 21st-century American Jews