![]() Whitman's communist beliefs often got in the way of his journalism career. Through my membership and because of it, I have, I hope, been able to make some contribution to the fulfillment of the promises of the Declaration of Independence." Upon saving enough to resume college the following year, Whitman wrote his senior thesis on "Strategies and tactics of the Communist Party in the United States." "It was a fully considered step," Whitman stated in 1984, "and one I've never regretted. There, under the sway of union orators, he joined the Communist Party. In February 1933, he eloped, "an act," he later interpreted, "of adolescent revolt." His parents withdrew financial support and helped him get a job with a local manufacturer. Whitman began his Harvard studies in 1930 as a member of the Socialist Club and Party, then edged leftward to the communist-led National Student League. Īctivism, another lifelong theme, became evident in college. "It was like somebody opening up the heavens," Whitman recalled. He showed early interest in journalism, contributing to the local Bridgeport Post-Telegram at 15. From age two, he lived in his mother's native Connecticut, where both parents taught high school. Whitman was born in 1913 on his father's farm in New Albany, Nova Scotia. The ensuing eight-year legal battle over contempt of Congress ended with all charges dismissed.Įarly life, career, and political activism Under questioning by the United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security in 1956, he acknowledged his affiliation with the Communist Party USA but refused to name other party members. Whitman was also the target of a McCarthy-era investigation into communists in the press. In that role, he pioneered a more vivid, biographical approach to obituaries, some based on interviews with his subjects in advance of their deaths. ![]() Alden Rogers Whitman (Octo– September 4, 1990) was an American journalist who served as chief obituary writer for The New York Times from 1964 to 1976.
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