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Fair Enough: The Life of Westbrook Pegler
Book by Farr, Finis
236 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
April 12, 2023
One of the few books I've found on one of the most famous 1930s/40s newspaper columnists. He was carried by the Hearst Press and others nationwide.
Its well written, but skimpy. 159 pages take us up to December 7th, 1941. The rest of Pegler's newspaper career (retired 1962) gets 60 pages. One gets a flavor of what made him special, but none of feuds are covered in detail nor are any of his writings.
The absence of much detail regarding his reporting on Elearnor Roosevelt is especially disappointing. This was Pegler's most famous feud. He called her "La Boca Grande", asked who Lucy Mercer was and why she with FDR when she died, and commented on ER's rather dubious finances. ER fired back calling him a "sad man" upset that FDR had not given him a job! But this is all covered in just 4-6 pages.
Not in the book, because it was unknown in 1975, is that ER had personally visited J. Edgar Hoover and had the FBI investigate Pegler during WW II. ER charged Pegler was associating with "Nazi traitors". The FBI reviewed the facts, and found nothing - of course. But ER wouldn't believe it, and made Hoover re-investigate. A third request for investigation was turned down by Hoover. One can only imagine the scandal if this had been leaked to the USA Press in 1943!
Summary: I can't complain about what's here, its just not enough.
Its well written, but skimpy. 159 pages take us up to December 7th, 1941. The rest of Pegler's newspaper career (retired 1962) gets 60 pages. One gets a flavor of what made him special, but none of feuds are covered in detail nor are any of his writings.
The absence of much detail regarding his reporting on Elearnor Roosevelt is especially disappointing. This was Pegler's most famous feud. He called her "La Boca Grande", asked who Lucy Mercer was and why she with FDR when she died, and commented on ER's rather dubious finances. ER fired back calling him a "sad man" upset that FDR had not given him a job! But this is all covered in just 4-6 pages.
Not in the book, because it was unknown in 1975, is that ER had personally visited J. Edgar Hoover and had the FBI investigate Pegler during WW II. ER charged Pegler was associating with "Nazi traitors". The FBI reviewed the facts, and found nothing - of course. But ER wouldn't believe it, and made Hoover re-investigate. A third request for investigation was turned down by Hoover. One can only imagine the scandal if this had been leaked to the USA Press in 1943!
Summary: I can't complain about what's here, its just not enough.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review