{{Short description|American journalist and politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = George Backer | image = George Backer Converse Studios Portrait Edit.jpg | caption = Portrait by Converse Studios {{circa}} 1930s | office1 = Member of the New York City Council<br />from Manhattan At-Large | term_start1 = December 6, 1938 | term_end1 = December 31, 1939 | predecessor1 = Baruch Charney Vladeck | successor1 = ''Multi-member district'' | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1902|01|18}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1974|05|01|1902|01|18}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | party = Democratic<br />American Labor | other_party = | other_names = | education = University of Pennsylvania | spouse = {{marriage|Dorothy Schiff|1932|1943|end=div}}<br />{{marriage|Evelyn Weil|1946|1971|end=died}} | children = Sarah-Ann, Pat | occupation = Journalist, politician }} '''George Backer Jr.'''<ref name=lady>{{cite book |last1=Nissenson |first1=Marilyn |title=The Lady Upstairs |date=2007 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |pages=35–36 |isbn=978-0-312-31310-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/ladyupstairsdoro00niss/page/35/mode/1up |access-date=13 March 2025}}</ref> (January 18, 1902 – May 1, 1974) was a Jewish-American playwright, novelist, journalist and politician who published the ''New York Post'' from 1939 to 1942 and served on the New York City Council from 1938 to 1939, representing Manhattan. From 1932 to 1943 he was married to Dorothy Schiff, with whom he co-owned the ''Post''.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news |title=GEORGE BACKER, PUBLISHED POST |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/02/archives/george-backer-published-post-author-was-long-active-in-democratic.html |access-date=13 March 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=2 May 1974 |location=New York}}</ref>
==Biography== [[File:Ulrich Haupt & Geo. Backer LCCN2014717710.jpg|thumb|left|Backer (left) with actor Ullrich Haupt in 1924. The two worked together on ''The Great Music Company''.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Plays and Players |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/95436865/?match=1&terms=%22george%20backer%22%20%22ullrich%20haupt%22 |access-date=13 March 2025 |work=Oakland Tribune |date=12 October 1924 |location=Oakland}}</ref>]]
The son of a Russian emigrant who became a wealthy builder in Manhattan, Backer tried his hand at several careers before becoming a playwright and producing several Broadway plays.<ref name=lady/> Although he spent most of his life as a Democrat, he joined the American Labor Party shortly after its founding and was its candidate for New York's 17th congressional district in 1937 and 1938. After the death of City Councilman Baruch Charney Vladeck, Backer was chosen by the ALP to succeed him.<ref>{{cite news |title=Name George Backer For Seat in Council |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/421991098/?terms=%22george%20backer%22&match=1 |access-date=13 March 2025 |work=Daily News |date=30 November 1938 |location=New York}}</ref> He was sworn in on December 6, 1938,<ref>{{cite news |title=Armstrong Chosen Coalition Leader |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/52624047/?terms=%22george%20backer%22&match=1 |access-date=13 March 2025 |work=The Brooklyn Eagle |date=6 December 1938 |location=Brooklyn}}</ref> and served until the end of 1939. He did not run for re-election.
In the 1930s, Backer supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in his election campaigns, and traveled to Europe on several occasions to help Jews flee Nazi Germany. During World War II, he served as propaganda policy director for the Office of War Information.<ref name=nyt/> In addition to his work with the ''Post'', he served as president of the American ORT Federation from 1938 to 1950 (also succeeding Vladeck) and as president of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from 1935 to 1950.<ref>{{cite news |title=George Backer Dead at Age 71 |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/george-backer-dead-at-age-71 |access-date=13 March 2025 |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=3 May 1974 |location=New York}}</ref>
Backer died on May 1, 1974, in Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan.<ref name=nyt/>
==Works== * ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002231069&seq=7 The Deadly Parallel.]'' New York: Random House, 1950. * ''[https://books.google.com/books/about/Appearance_of_a_Man.html?id=SllAAAAAIAAJ Appearance of a Man.]'' New York: Random House, 1966.
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{commons-inline}} * [https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=86963 Our Campaigns - Backer, George]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Backer, George}} Category:1902 births Category:1974 deaths Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Journalists from New York City Category:American journalists Category:American newspaper publishers (people) Category:American Labor Party politicians Category:New York City Council members