Richard Rovere

thumb|alt=Rovere (center) in 1977|Rovere (center) in 1977 '''Richard Halworth Rovere''' (May 5, 1915 – November 23, 1979) was an American political journalist.<ref>{{Cite news|title=R. H. Rovere, magazine columnist, author, dies. Political Affairs Columnist Was 64 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/621357312.html?dids=621357312:621357312&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+24,+1979&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=R.+H.+Rovere,+magazine+columnist,+author,+dies&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103204711/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/621357312.html?dids=621357312:621357312&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+24,+1979&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=R.+H.+Rovere,+magazine+columnist,+author,+dies&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |quote=Richard H. Rovere, 64, who wrote commentaries on American politics as a columnist for The New Yorker magazine, died Friday of emphysema in Vassar Brothers ... |work=Chicago Tribune |date=November 23, 1979 |access-date=2010-09-13 }}</ref>

==Biography== Rovere was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He graduated from the Stony Brook School in 1933 and Bard College, then a branch of Columbia University, in 1937. During the Great Depression, he was attracted to Communism, may or may not have joined the Party, and wrote for the ''New Masses''.<ref>Mark Weisenmiller, “He Was the Predominant Magazine Political Journalist of the 20th Century,” ''History News Network'' [website] , March 15, 2015</ref> In 1939, as a result of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, he broke with Stalinism and became an anticommunist liberal.

In the early 1940s, he was an assistant editor at ''The Nation''. He joined ''The New Yorker'' in 1944 and wrote its "Letter from Washington" column from December 1948 until his death. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he periodically contributed to ''Esquire'', ''Harper's'', and ''The American Scholar''; now and then he reported on American matters for Britain's ''Spectator''. His reporting got him on the master list of Nixon political opponents.

Rovere wrote an introduction to Edward Jay Epstein's book ''Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth'' (1966), which was critical of the Warren Commission.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Roberts |first1=Sam |title=Edward Jay Epstein, Author and Stubborn Skeptic, Dies at 88 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/obituaries/edward-jay-epstein-dead.html |work=The New York Times |date=11 January 2024}}</ref>

He died of emphysema in Poughkeepsie, New York.

==Blurbs== From the ''Rhinebeck Gazette'' (Rhinebeck, New York), June 18, 1959:

<blockquote>The Gazette received an advanced copy of Richard H. Rovere's book, "Senator Joe McCarthy," from Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. The book is both an analytical biography and a memoir, as well as a commentary on the American political scene. Mr Rovere, who was often an eyewitness observer of the events he describes, lives at 108 Montgomery Street in Rhinebeck.</blockquote>

==Legacy== His papers from 1931 to 1968 are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.

== Bibliography == {{Incomplete list |date=February 2009}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}

=== Books === *''Howe & Hummel: Their True and Scandalous History'' (1947). Paperback reprint: ''The Weeper and the Blackmailer'' (1950) *''The General and the President'' (with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., 1951) *''Affairs of State: The Eisenhower Years'' (1956) *''Senator Joe McCarthy'' (1959) *''The American Establishment and Other Reports, Opinions, and Speculations'' (1962) *''The Goldwater Caper'' (1965) *''Waist Deep in the Big Muddy: Personal Reflections on 1968'' (1968) *''Arrivals and Departures: A Journalist's Memoirs'' (1976) *'' Final Reports: Personal Reflections on Politics and History in Our Time'' (1984, published posthumously, foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.)

===Essays and reporting=== * {{cite journal |ref=none |author1=Rovere, Richard H. |date=February 4, 1950 |title=Wallace |journal=The New Yorker |volume=25 |issue=50 |pages=27–32}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Reminiscences of school days.</ref> * [https://archive.org/details/inquestwarrencom0000edwa_o4x8/page/n9/mode/2up Introduction] to {{cite book |title=Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth |date=1966 |publisher=Viking Press |location=New York |oclc=391774 |last=Epstein |first=Edward Jay |author-link=Edward Jay Epstein}}

——————— ;Notes {{reflist|30em|group=lower-alpha}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *Allen, Frederick Lewis (April 1944). Personal & Otherwise: Honorable Mixed Fry. ''Harper's'', pgs. 488–490. *Logan, Andy. (December 10, 1979). Obituary: Richard Rovere. ''The New Yorker'', pgs. 218–219.

==External links== * [https://archive.org/details/americanestablis001909mbp The American Establishment and Other Reports, Opinions, and Speculations] from Archive.org * [https://archive.org/details/goldwatercaper006453mbp The Goldwater Caper] from Archive.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rovere, Richard}} Category:1915 births Category:1979 deaths Category:The New Yorker people Category:The Stony Brook School alumni Category:Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey Category:20th-century American writers Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American male journalists