Clark R. Mollenhoff (April 16, 1921 – March 2, 1991) was a

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 ...

winning American journalist, an attorney who served as Presidential Special Counsel, and a columnist for '' The Des Moines Register''.

Life and career

Born in Burnside, Iowa on April 16, 1921, to Margaret and Raymond E. Mollenhoff, Clark R. Mollenhoff graduated from

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in Webster City, Iowa. He began working for ''The Des Moines Register'' in 1942 while attending

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

law school, from which he graduated in 1944. Mollenhoff then served two years in the U.S. Navy before returning to the ''Register''.Mollenhoff biography
at '' The Des Moines Register'' Accessed June 6, 2015 In 1955 he was given the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award for his Washington reporting. In 1958 Mollenhoff won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, for a series exposing racketeering and fraud in the Teamsters Union. His work led to a successful crack-down on corruption within the Teamsters. In 1959 he received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College. Eisenhower Fellowships selected Mollenhoff as a USA Eisenhower Fellow in 1960. In 1965, Mollenhoff published ''Despoilers of Democracy'', which provided details of corruption associated with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (before he became president), in particular the Billie Sol Estes swindles and the TFX scandal of 1963, investigation into which was suspended after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 1969 he served for a year as Special Counsel to President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, after which he became the ''Register''s Washington bureau chief. In 1976 Mollenhoff became a professor at Washington and Lee University in

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an Independent city (United States)#Virginia, independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, Virg ...

while continuing to write a column for the ''Register''. In 1988 he wrote a biography of John Vincent Atanasoff, the Iowa State College professor who invented the first electronic digital

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

in 1939. Mollenhoff's book gives the Atanasoff perspective of the 1973 federal court decision of '' Honeywell v. Sperry Rand'' that ruled the

ENIAC ENIAC (; Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first Computer programming, programmable, Electronics, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. Other computers had some of these features, but ENIAC was ...

computer patent invalid, and drew attention to Atanasoff's work. Mollenhoff wrote twelve books and won many additional awards. While living in

, Clark R. Mollenhoff died of cancer on March 2, 1991 at the age of 69. The Clark Mollenhoff Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting is awarded annually by the Institute on Political Journalism for the best investigative journalism article in a newspaper or magazine.Clark Mollenhoff Award
Accessed June 6, 2015

Books

*''Washington Cover-Up: How Bureaucratic Secrecy Promotes Corruption and Waste in the Federal Government'' (1962), Doubleday. (2007 edition) *''Tentacles of Power: The Story of Jimmy Hoffa'' (1965), World Publishing *''Despoilers of Democracy: The real story of what Washington propagandists, arrogant bureaucrats, mismanagers, influence peddlers, and outright corrupters are doing to our Federal Government'' (1965), Doubleday *''The Pentagon: Politics, Profits and Plunder'' (1967), G.P. Putnam's Sons *''George Romney: Mormon in Politics'' (1968), Meredith Press *''Strike Force: Organized Crime and the Government'' (1972), Prentice Hall, *''The Man Who Pardoned Nixon'' (1976), The K.S. Giniger Company, Inc., *''Game Plan for Disaster'' (1976), W.W. Norton & Co., *''The President Who Failed: Carter out of Control'' (1980), Free Press, *''Investigative Reporting: From Courthouse to White House'' (1981), Macmillan, * *''Ballad to an Iowa Farmer: and Other Reflections'' (1991), Iowa State University Press

References

External links

American Journalism Review
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mollenhof, Clark 1921 births 1991 deaths People from Webster County, Iowa American male journalists 20th-century American journalists Writers from Des Moines, Iowa Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award recipients People from Webster City, Iowa Military personnel from Iowa 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American male writers American male biographers Drake University Law School alumni