John F. Osborne (March 15, 1907 – May 3, 1981) was an American magazine editor and journalist.

Background

He was born in

Corinth, Mississippi Corinth is a city in and the county seat of Alcorn County, Mississippi, Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,622 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP codes are 38834 and 38835. It lies on the state line with Tennessee. His ...

Career

Osborne wrote for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Associated Press before joining the

National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governmen ...

, and then the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

, as a U.S. government public relations officer during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. He became an editor at

Time–Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and direct marketeer seller ...

. In 1940,

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...

lists him among "contributing editors" at ''Time'' in the play, ''Love's Old Sweet Song''. Eventually, he became ''Times London editor and then Far East editor (based in Hong Kong) in the 1950s. After returning to the United States, he lived in Georgetown and in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York. He later became senior editor at '' New Republic''.

Awards

Osborne won the Polk Award for magazine journalism in 1973. His work landed him on the first Nixon's Enemies List, a limited master list of famous people that President Nixon considered his direct political opponents.

Personal and death

He married twice. His widow, Gertrude (Trudi) McCullough Osborne, the daughter of an Indiana senator, was also a writer. She died in Washington, D.C. in 1994. She was the mother of his only child, John F. Osborne III (d. 2006) who was married to author Peggy Ann Osborne.

Works

He wrote "The Nixon Watch" column, which was noted for its preoccupation with the relationship between

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 ...

and

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 ...

, followed by "The White House Watch" column. In addition to his political books, he co-authored two Time-Life series books, one about Britain, the other about the

Old South Geographically, the U.S. states known as the Old South are those in the Southern United States that were among the original Thirteen Colonies. The region term is differentiated from the Deep South and Upper South. From a cultural and social s ...

. Known for his courtly manners, he had a slow drawl and a quiet demeanor, which belied his sharp political sense. While in Washington, D.C., he was a very respected member-some said the most respected by the other members—of The White House Press Corps.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, John F. 1907 births 1981 deaths American male journalists 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers People from Corinth, Mississippi 20th-century American male writers