Samuel Gardner Welles (1913–1981) was an American journalist for ''

TIME Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine, author of ''Profile of Europe'', and connected

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet u ...

to Raymond E. Murphy, whose investigation helped lead to

Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official who was accused of espionage in 1948 for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The statute of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjur ...

's departure from the State Department.

Background

Samuel Gardner Welles was born in 1913. According to Chambers, "Samuel Gardner Welles... was the son of a reverend Episcopal clergyman (died 1940) and brother of bishop." His parents were Samuel Gardner Welles and Mabel De Geer of Cincinnati, Ohio; his brother was Edward Randolph Welles (1907–1991). In 1935, he graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

Career

By the late 1930s, Welles was part of a group of young writers, many of them ''Herald Tribune'' employees and led by

Isabel Paterson Isabel Paterson (January 22, 1886 – January 10, 1961) was a Canadian-American libertarian writer and literary critic. Historian Jim Powell has called Paterson one of the three founding mothers of American libertarianism, along with Ros ...

. During

World War II 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 ...

, Welles left ''TIME'' and joined the

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

. In 1942, Welles put special investigator Raymond E. Murphy in touch with his ''TIME'' colleague Whittaker Chambers. (Murphy's investigations led to a report against

, who subsequently left State.) By 1944, Welles was serving as special assistant to H.E.

John Gilbert Winant John Gilbert Winant (February 23, 1889 – November 3, 1947) was an American diplomat and politician with the Republican party after a brief career as a teacher in Concord, New Hampshire. John Winant held positions in New Hampshire, national, a ...

, US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Welles was a career journalist at ''TIME'' and ''LIFE''. In 1947, Welles interviewed Polish Prince Prince Christopher Radziwill (

Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł Prince Krzysztof Mikołaj Artur Radziwiłł (; 29 July 1898 – 24 March 1986) was a Polish translator and politician, descendant of the well-known aristocratic Radziwiłł family. He was a supporter of the Communist regime in Poland, which gain ...

) while he was an associate editor and foreign news writer, based in Europe. In 1949, Welles visited Burma, which he described as "most distressful country that ever I have seen." In 1954, he was Chicago bureau chief for ''TIME'', during which period he interviewed the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Geoffrey Fisher Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, (5 May 1887 – 15 September 1972) was an English Anglican priest, and 99th Archbishop of Canterbury, serving from 1945 to 1961. From a long line of parish priests, Fisher was educated at Marl ...

. In 1959, he was a senior editor at ''LIFE''.

Personal life and death

Welles married Margery Miller; they had a daughter and two sons. Samuel Gardner Welles aged 67 or 68 died in 1981.

Works

While stationed in Europe for ''TIME'', Welles wrote ''Profile of Europe'', noted by

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

for its "informed viewpoints." More than half the book is on the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. * ''Profile of Europe'' (1948) * "Commencement addresses, Conduct of life," ''LIFE'' (1952)

References

1913 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American journalists American male journalists Time (magazine) people Life (magazine) people {{US-journalist-1910s-stub