Victor Lasky (7 January 1918 – 22 February 1990) was a conservative

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

who wrote several best-selling books. He was syndicated by the

North American Newspaper Alliance The North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) was a large newspaper syndicate in operation between 1922 and 1980. NANA employed writers such as Grantland Rice, Joseph Alsop, Michael Stern, Lothrop Stoddard, Dorothy Thompson, George Schuyler, P ...

Background

On January 7, 1918, Victor Lasky was born in

Liberty, New York Liberty is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, Sullivan County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 10,159 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report QuickFacts, ...

. He graduated from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

in 1940.

Career

In 1942, Lasky joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

and served 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 ...

; during that time, he did correspondence work for the army's newspaper '' Stars and Stripes''. After World War Two, Lasky joined the staff of the ''New York World-Telegram''; while there, he assisted Frederick Woltman in writing a series of articles on Communist Party infiltration within the US, for which Woltman won a '' Pulitzer Prize for Reporting'' in 1947. Lasky first came to prominence with his 1950 book ''Seeds of Treason'', co-authored with

Ralph de Toledano Ralph de Toledano (August 17, 1916 – February 3, 2007) was an American writer in the Conservatism in the United States, conservative movement in the United States throughout the second half of the 20th century. A friend of Richard Nixon, he was ...

, in which the authors argued against

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 ...

and in favor of

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 ...

, with regard to Chambers' accusations both he and Hiss had been spies for the

Soviet Union 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 ...

. He was one of the first journalists to write a critical view of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. He expanded on this in his 1963 book ''JFK: The Man And The Myth'', questioning Kennedy's wartime heroics on PT-''109'' and claimed he had a lackluster record as a

congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

and

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

. Lasky also wrote a similar negative book about

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

. Lasky's most controversial book was ''It Didn't Start With Watergate'' published in 1977. The author argued that the scandal that drove

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 ...

from office was little more than a media event. He believed that the press disliked Nixon and subjected him to unfair scrutiny no other president had ever experienced. Lasky also claimed that

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, John F. Kennedy and

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

had used wiretaps on political opponents. Lasky professed the greatest political "crime of the century" was not the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...

, but what he describes as the "theft" of the 1960 Presidential election. In 1979, Lasky wrote another controversial work called ''Jimmy Carter: The Man And The Myth'', asserting that

Carter Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter ...

was one of the most inept presidents of all time. Lasky's last work was ''Never Complain, Never Explain'' (1981), a biography of

Henry Ford II Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 – September 29, 1987), commonly known as Hank the Deuce, was an American businessman in the automotive industry. He was the oldest son of Edsel Ford I and oldest grandson of Henry Ford. He served as president ...

Works

Books include: * 1950 - ''Seeds of Treason; The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy'' (with

) * 1960 - ''John F. Kennedy; What's Behind the Image?'' * 1963 - ''J. F. K.: the Man and the Myth'' * 1965 - ''The Ugly Russian'' * 1968 - ''Robert F. Kennedy; the Myth and the Man'' * 1970 - ''Arthur J. Goldberg, the Old and the New'' * 1970 - ''"Say ... Didn’t You Used to Be George Murphy?"'' (with

George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to ...

) * 1977 - ''It Didn’t Start With Watergate'' * 1979 - ''Jimmy Carter, the Man & the Myth'' * 1981 - ''Never Complain, Never Explain : the Story of Henry Ford II'' Articles include: * "How to Understand Communism," ''American Legion Magazine'' (August 1953)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasky, Victor 1918 births 1990 deaths American columnists American male journalists American political writers Brooklyn College alumni 20th-century American writers 20th-century American journalists United States Army personnel of World War II