Edgar Ansel Mowrer
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Edgar Ansel Mowrer (March 8, 1892 – March 2, 1977) was an American journalist and writer who won 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 ...
in 1933


Life and career

Born on March 8, 1892, in
Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...
to Rufus and Nellie (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Scott), Mowrer graduated from the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
in 1913. From his elder brother, Paul Scott Mowrer, the editor of '' Chicago Daily News'', Mowrer received a job and in 1914 went to France as a foreign correspondent. From there he reported on events throughout the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, including the Italians' defeat at the
Battle of Caporetto The Battle of Kobarid (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Caporetto or the Battle of Karfreit) took place on the Italian front of World War I. The battle was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central P ...
. In 1916, he married Lilian Thomson; the two had a daughter, Diana, and would remain together until Mowrer's death 61 years later. In May 1915, he was assigned to the Rome office of the Chicago Daily News, and there he interviewed
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
, then a Socialist, who was urging Italy to enter the war on the side of the Allies. After his marriage in London in February 1916, Mowrer returned with his wife to Italy, where he covered the battlefronts and witnessed the Italian defeat at Caporetto in 1917. Mowrer remained a correspondent in Europe throughout the 1920s and 1930s, living in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
for eight years until 1923, before moving to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. In 1933, Mowrer won the Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence for his reporting on the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and was named president of the Berlin Foreign Press Association. In his dispatches from Germany, he had managed to cut below the patina of normalcy to capture events that challenged the belief that Germany's transformation was democratic and natural; he was therefore a target of Nazi ire. In addition to reporting for the ''Chicago Daily News'', Mowrer wrote a best-selling book, ''Germany Puts the Clock Back,'' published in 1933, which had angered Nazi officials to the point where Mowrer's friends believed he faced mortal danger. The German government openly pressured him to leave the country, with Germany's ambassador to the United States notifying the State Department that because of the "people's righteous indignation" the government could no longer hope to keep Mowrer free from harm. When the ''Chicago Daily News'' learned about the threats,
Frank Knox William Franklin Knox (January 1, 1874 – April 28, 1944) was an American politician, soldier, newspaper editor, and publisher. He was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936 and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt d ...
, the owner of the newspaper, offered Mowrer a position in the paper's bureau in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. Mowrer, who did not want to leave Germany, agreed to leave before covering the annual Nazi Party spectacle in Nuremberg set to begin on 1 September 1933. After American diplomatic missions to Germany refused to guarantee his and his family's safety, and after a futile personal appeal to the newly appointed US ambassador to Germany William Dodd, Mowrer agreed to depart immediately, in return for the release of Paul Goldmann, an elderly Jewish correspondent for the Austrian newspaper '' Neue Freie Presse'', who was being held by the Gestapo for high treason. A Nazi official, assigned to make sure Mowrer actually left Berlin, approached him as he was boarding the train and asked when he was coming back to Germany; Mowrer answered: "Why when I can come back with about two million of my countrymen." Although he'd initially been given a post in Tokyo, upon leaving Berlin he went to Paris and took over as the
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
bureau chief for the ''Chicago Daily News'', continuing to report on European affairs until France's defeat by German forces in 1940. Upon his return to the United States, Mowrer lectured for a time to American audiences, warning them of the burgeoning power of Fascism. Although he had expected to be sent to Tokyo, Mowrer was assigned in January 1934 to replace his brother as chief of the Paris bureau of the Chicago Daily News. From this vantage point, he covered the events that led to the outbreak of World War II, and he acquired a growing distrust of plebiscites and treaties. In 1936, he covered the beginning of the civil war in Spain and visited the Soviet Union to report on the adoption of the new Soviet constitution. Upon his return to France, he witnessed the fall of the Popular Front government headed by his friend Leon Blum. He visited China for a few months in 1938 to gather material for his book The Dragon Wakes. A Report from China (Morrow, 1939) and then returned to Paris, where he remained until the fall of France in June 1940. Assigned in August 1940 to Washington, D.C. as a correspondent for the '' Chicago Daily News'', Mowrer collaborated with William J. Donovan on a series of articles on fifth-column activities in Europe. Several trips to the Far East in the next two years resulted in the book Global War: An Atlas of World Strategy (McClelland, 1942), which he wrote in cooperation with Marthe Rajchman. From 1941 to 1943, he served as deputy director of the Office of Facts and Figures in the Office of War Information and broadcast news analyses from his post in Washington. In his postwar book The Nightmare of American Foreign Policy (Knopf, 1948) Mowrer criticized the foreign policy of the United States since 1918. He expressed pessimism about the American love of the status quo and warned that the United States must choose between "world leadership and rapid decline." He advocated a voluntary federation, strong enough to keep world order through the enforcement of world law. He maintained that the United Nations, which he described as "an unfinished bridge leading nowhere", was inadequate to undertake this task. W. Fox, writing in ''
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 ...
'' (October 31, 1948), called the book "incomparably the best study of American foreign policy for this period that has yet been written." Pursuing his ideas on international organization further in Challenge and Decision: A Program for the Times of Crisis Ahead (McGraw, 1950), Mowrer urged the United States to take the lead in forming a "peace coalition" and the ultimate federation of non-Communist countries, to weaken the "expansionist bloc." M. S. Watson noted in the Saturday Review of Literature (December 9, 1950) that Mowrer's program resembled that of the United World Federalists. In ''A Good Time to be Alive'' (Duell, 1959), a collection of articles he wrote for the Saturday Review, Zionist Quarterly, Western World, and the New Leader, Mowrer surveyed the impact of world affairs upon the United States. He suggested that Soviet successes were compelling Western peoples to "pull themselves together in a real effort to survive as free men", and concluded that America's pioneer spirit was "still warm beneath the ashes of self-indulgence." Mowrer's most recent book, An End to Make-Believe (Duell, 1961), analyzes the history of the Cold War and its meaning to Americans. In it, he contrasts what he calls the "fanatical ambition of international Communism with the unshakeable complacency of most Americans", and maintains that in "the sinister game of international poker forced on us by Moscow and Peiping" the West still "holds the aces" but needs "bolder, better players." Returning to the United States, Mowrer served as the Deputy Director, first of the Office of Facts and Figures, then, after the OFF's consolidation, of the
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 ...
, from 1942 until 1943. Upon his departure, he started his column "Edgar Mowrer on World Affairs", which he later supplemented with a column entitled "What's Your Question on World Affairs?" After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Mowrer wrote a number of books and helped organize the
Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting p ...
. In 1956, he took over as editor of ''
Western World The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...
'' magazine, a position he held for four years. In 1969, he moved to Wonalancet, New Hampshire and wrote a column for '' The Union Leader'' until 1976.


Works

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References


Further reading

* Grant Duff, Shiela, ''The Parting of Ways: A Personal Account of the Thirties''. Memoir by a British reporter who mentored under Mowrer * Kolnai, Aurel, '' The War Against the West''
Chapter 5 - Faith And Thought
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mowrer, Edgar Ansel 1892 births 1977 deaths American male journalists American expatriates in Germany American expatriates in France 20th-century American journalists Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence winners University of Michigan alumni Chicago Daily News people Viennese interwar correspondents People of the United States Office of War Information American expatriates in Italy