Robert Bendiner (December 15, 1909 – February 7, 2009) was an American journalist, editor, and author who served as managing editor of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'' and as a member of the editorial board 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 ...

''. He also contributed to ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', and ''

Harper's ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

''.

Career

Bendiner wrote for the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

'' in the 1930s. He served as managing editor of ''

'' magazine from 1937 to 1944. In 1942, he published a book expected to criticize the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

. In 1943, he joined 250 liberals in supporting the continuation of the

American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...

against a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

faction within. He returned to ''The Nation'' as an associate editor from 1946 to 1950. He wrote freelance from 1951 to 1968 and again from 1978 until his death. He was "associated" with the New York Times from 1969 to 1977. He chaired the Wellesley Summer Institute Social Progress from 1946 to 1953. He was faculty at the Salzburg Seminary in American Studies in 1956 and visiting lecturer in journalism at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in 1983. He died in February 2009.

Awards

* Guggenheim fellow (1962–1963)

Writings

Books

* ''The Riddle of the State Department'' (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1942) * ''White House Fever'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1960) * ''Obstacle Course on Capitol Hill'' (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964) * ''Just Around The Corner – A Highly Selective History Of The Thirties'' (New York: Dutton, 1967) * ''The Strenuous Decade: A Social and Intellectual Record of the 1930s'' with Daniel Aaron (1970) * ''The Politics of Schools – A Crisis in Self-Government'' (Joanna Cotler Books, 1970) * ''The Fall of the Wild, the Rise of the Zoo'' (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1981)

Articles

Nation: * "Wallace: The Incomplete Angler," (December 20, 1947) * "Rout of the Bourbons" (July 24, 1948) * "Politics and People: The Trial of Alger Hiss" (6/11/1949) * "A Most Unusual Case": The Trial of Alger Hiss – III" (July 16, 1949 * "The Ordeal of Alger Hiss" (1950) * "The Ordeal of Alger Hiss: II. Psychiatry, Law, and Politics" (2/11/1950) New York Times: * "Point Four – Still the Great Basic Hope" (Apr 1, 1951) * "The Undramatic Man of Drama" (Mar 11, 1951) * "To Stop Wasting Our Ex-Presidents" (Apr 27, 1952) * "Portrait of the Perfect Candidate" (May 18, 1952) * "Ghosts Behind The Speechmakers" (Aug 17, 1952) * "Battle of Filibuster" (Sep 14, 1952) * "How Much Has TV Changed Campaigning?" (Nov 2, 1952) * "If TV Moved Into the Classroom" (Mar 8, 1953) * "Current Quotations On Stockbrokers" (May 10, 1953) Harper's: * The man who reads corpses (February 1955) * White House fever: Why candidates campaign (March 1960) Saturday Review: * "When Culture Came to Main Street" (April 1, 1967) Reporter: * “Who Owns Outer Space?" (June 12, 1958) American Heritage: * "Two Cheers For Optimism" (December 1982) * "The Law And Potter Stewart: An Interview With Justice Potter Stewart" (December 1983) * "Explaining What You Are After Is The Secret Of Diplomacy" (August/September 1983) * "What I Learned From The Pirates" (September/October 1989)

References

American male journalists American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists 1909 births 2009 deaths City College of New York alumni The Nation (U.S. magazine) people The New York Times editors Jewish American journalists Jewish American non-fiction writers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews {{US-journalist-1900s-stub