Augustus Cass Canfield (April 26, 1897 – March 27, 1986) was an American publishing executive who was the longtime president and chairman of
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
, later
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
.
Early life
Canfield was the son of Augustus Cass Canfield (1854–1904), a wealthy engineer and yachtsman, and his wife, the former Josephine Houghteling. His stepfather was
Frank Gray Griswold, a relative of American bishop
Frank Griswold. He also was a great-grandson of Presidential candidate
Lewis Cass
Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 17, 1866) was an American military officer, politician, and statesman. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He wa ...
. He had two sisters, playwright Mary Cass Canfield and Laura Cass Canfield (Mrs William Lawrence Wood).
He attended the
Groton School
Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliat ...
and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, graduating from Harvard in 1919 after serving as a lieutenant in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. Canfield also studied at
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...
and trekked through Asia, retracing the route of
Marco Polo.
Career
After returning to New York, he worked as a reporter and advertising salesman for the
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
. In 1924, he invested in
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
and became manager of its London office. He held various executive positions with Harper's in London and New York between then and 1931; among the writers whom he signed to Harper's contracts were
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected i ...
,
E. B. White,
J. B. Priestley,
Harold Laski
Harold Joseph Laski (30 June 1893 – 24 March 1950) was an English political theorist and economist. He was active in politics and served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and was a professor at the London School of ...
,
John Gunther
John Gunther (August 30, 1901 – May 29, 1970) was an American journalist and writer.
His success came primarily by a series of popular sociopolitical works, known as the "Inside" books (1936–1972), including the best-selling '' Ins ...
, and
Julian Huxley
Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthes ...
.
EM Delafield dedicated ''The Provincial Lady Goes Further'' to him. It was thanks to Canfield that in 1958
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...
's first book was published with Harper and Brothers.
Canfield was president of Harper & Brothers from 1931–45, board chairman from 1945–55, and chairman of the executive committee from 1955-67. From 1967 until his death in 1986, he was House Senior Editor at Harper's. He also wrote seven nonfiction books.
Government and political activities
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Canfield took a leave of absence from Harper's to serve as a member of the
Board of Economic Warfare
The Office of Administrator of Export Control (also referred to as the Export Control Administration) was established in the United States by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July ...
, the
Foreign Economic Administration In the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) was formed to relieve friction between US agencies operating abroad on September 25, 1943.
As described by the biographer of the FEA's chief, Leo Crowley ...
, and the
United States Office of War Information
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...
. He was a founder of the journal ''
Foreign Affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...
''.
Canfield campaigned for
Adlai Stevenson Adlai Stevenson may refer to:
* Adlai Stevenson I (1835–1914), U.S. Vice President (1893–1897) and Congressman (1879–1881)
* Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965), Governor of Illinois (1949–1953), U.S. presidential candida ...
in 1956. He was a strong supporter of
birth control, served as chair of the executive committee of
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
, and traveled extensively giving speeches and raising money to support the organization.
Personal life
Canfield married three times. In 1922, he married his first wife, Katherine Temple Emmet, a descendant of
New York State Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government ...
Thomas Addis Emmet
Thomas Addis Emmet (24 April 176414 November 1827) was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. He was a senior member of the revolutionary Irish republican group United Irishmen in the 1790s. He served as Attorney General of New York from ...
. Before their divorce in June 1937, they were the parents of two sons:
* Cass Canfield Jr. (1923–2013),
a senior executive at Harper & Row who married Lili Finletter, daughter of
Thomas K. Finletter, in 1947.
*
Michael Temple Canfield (1926–1969), who was adopted by Canfield. He was a London representative of Harper & Row who became the first husband of
Lee Radziwill
Caroline Lee Bouvier ( ), later Canfield, Radziwiłł (), and Ross (March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), usually known as Princess Lee Radziwill, was an American socialite, public-relations executive, and interior decorator. She was the y ...
.
He remarried to the former
Frances Charteris (who had been divorced from the
2nd Viscount Long and the
3rd Earl of Dudley). After his death, his widow married the
10th Duke of Marlborough (the eldest son of
Consuelo Vanderbilt
Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan (formerly Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; born Consuelo Vanderbilt; March 2, 1877 – December 6, 1964) was a socialite and a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. Her first marriag ...
).
After their divorce, she married, in October 1937, John D. W. Churchill.
According to the memoirs of
Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, King
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...
believed that Michael Canfield was actually the biological son of his brother
Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent, (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942) was a member of the British royal family, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and Geo ...
and socialite
Kiki Preston, however; it has emerged that Michael's mother was Violet I C Evans - the daughter of a Canadian Coal merchant.
In 1938, Canfield married his second wife, Jane Sage White, an author and sculptor.
She was the former wife of
Charles Fairchild Fuller and a relative of
Ernest Ingersoll. By this marriage Canfield had three stepchildren: Jane Sage Fuller, Blair Fairchild Fuller, and Isabelle Whitney "Jill" Fuller. They remained married until Jane's death in 1984.
In 1984, Canfield married Joan H. King. They remained married until his death in 1986.
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Bibliography
*''The Publishing Experience'' (1969)
*''Up and Down and Around'' (1971)
*''The Incredible Pierpont Morgan'' (1974)
*''Samuel Adams' Revolution'' (1976)
*''The Iron Will of Jefferson Davis'' (1978)
*''Outrageous Fortunes: The Story of the Medici, the Rothschilds and J. Pierpont Morgan'' (1981)
*''The Six'' (1983)
References
External links
Cass Canfield, Dictionary of American Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canfield, Cass
1897 births
1986 deaths
American book publishers (people)
20th-century American historians
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American memoirists
United States Army personnel of World War I
Harvard University alumni
Businesspeople from New York City
People of the United States Office of War Information
United States Army officers
20th-century American businesspeople
American male non-fiction writers