Gerald W. Johnson (writer)

Gerald White Johnson (1890 – March 22, 1980) was a journalist, editor, essayist, historian, biographer, and novelist. Over his nearly 75-year career he was known for being "one of the most eloquent spokespersons for America's adversary culture".[1] He wrote mystery novels under the pen name of Charles North.[2]

Life and career

Johnson was born in Riverton, North Carolina, the son of an editor of a Baptist magazine.[2] He graduated from Wake Forest College in 1910.[2]

During World War I he was a member of the American Expeditionary Force. He was the first professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina. While there he published the first of many books, The Story of Man's Work, a defense of liberal capitalism.[2] He opposed the anti-evolution movement during the "Monkey Trial" era.

Johnson worked for The Evening Sun of Baltimore from 1926 to 1943, when he retired to write for magazines and to concentrate on writing books.[2]

In 1949 he served as the honorary chairman of a committee that advocated against loyalty oaths and in 1950 published an article in Harper's called "Why Communists are Valuable."[2]

He wrote many works on topics in American history, beginning with Andrew Jackson: An Epic in Homespun (1927).[2]

He was a friend and colleague of H. L. Mencken.

He married Kathryn Hayward and they had two daughters. He died in Baltimore on March 22, 1980.[2]

Works
  • Randolph of Roanoke: A Political Fantastic (New York: Minton, Balch & Co., 1929)
  • America's Silver Age: The Statecraft of Clay–Webster–Calhoun (New York, London, Harper & Bros., 1939)
  • Imperial Republic: Speculations on the Future, If Any, of the Third U.S.A.
  • Incredible Tale: The Odyssey of the Average American in the Last Half Century (Harper & Bros., 1950)
  • Roosevelt: Dictator or Democrat? (New York, London: Harper & Bros., 1941)
  • The Congress (Morrow, 1963)
  • The Cabinet (Morrow, 1966)
  • This American People (1951)
  • The First Captain: The Story of John Paul Jones. (NY: Coward-McCann, 1947)
  • Pattern for Liberty: The Story of Old Philadelphia (1952)
  • America is Born: A History for Peter (1959)
  • America Moves Forward: A History for Peter (Morrow, 1960)
  • America Grows Up: A History for Peter (Morrow, 1960)
  • Hod-carrier: Notes of a Laborer on an Unfinished Cathedral (1964)
  • Woodrow Wilson: The Unforgettable Figure who has Returned to Haunt Us(1944)
  • Communism an American View (Morrow, 1964)
  • The Supreme Court (1968)
  • A Little Night Music (1945)
  • Andrew Jackson An Epic in Homespun (1927)
  • American Heroes and Hero-Worship (NY: Harper, 1943)
  • The Lines are Drawn: American Life since the First World War as Reflected in the Pulitzer Prize Cartoons (Lippincott, 1958)
  • The British Empire: An American View of its History from 1776 to 1945 (Morrow, 1969)
  • America-watching: Perspectives in the course of an incredible century (1976)

Accolades

In 1952 Johnson received the Alfred I. duPont Award.[3]

gollark: gollark Today at 12:53Logic puzzle:You are trapped in a labyrinth. There are some doors. One of them leads out. One of them leads into a lethal cryoapiary.There are two gollarks in front of the doors. One gollark speaks the truth, one gollark always lies. You suddenly notice other gollarks appearing. The other gollark tells the truth or lies at random. The other² gollark is truthful iff your question does not refer to itself or other gollarks. The other³ gollark calls in orbital laser strikes against those it perceives as asking tricky questions. The other⁴ gollark is truthful iff it predicts (with 99.6% historical accuracy) that you will consider it (one of) the falsehood-telling gollark(s). A subset of the gollarks will say "bee" and "apioform" instead of "true" or "false", but you do not know which or which words "bee" and "apioform" correspond to. The other⁴ gollark just tells you the first bit of the SHA256 hash of your question in UTF-8. Another gollark appears to be randomly materializing doors. The other⁵ gollark will cooperate with you iff you cooperate with CooperateBot/angel. Yet another gollark will tell the truth iff you know what iff means. The final gollark appears to be fiddling with the orbital mind control laser making you know this.What do you do?
gollark: I will copypaste the text maybe.
gollark: <@319753218592866315> What do?
gollark: And minoteaur for good measure.
gollark: Only if you make gravel.

References
  1. Vincent Fitzpatrick, "Gerald W. Johnson: From Southern Liberal to National Conscience"
  2. New York Times: John L. Hess, "Gerald W. Johnson, Reporter-Historian," March 24, 1980, accessed December 20, 2010
  3. All duPont–Columbia Award Winners Archived August 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Columbia Journalism School. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
Citations
  • Vincent Fitzpatrick, "Disturbing the Peace: Gerald W. Johnson In An Age of Conformity," Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer 2002, 427-38, available online, accessed December 12, 2010
  • Vincent Fitzpatrick, Gerald W. Johnson: From Southern Liberal to National Conscience (Louisiana State University Press, 2002)
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