Gilbert Avery Harrison (May 18, 1915 – January 3, 2008) was the owner and editor of the influential American magazine ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'' between 1953 and 1974. Harrison received a

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...

in 1964 for his work in revitalizing ''The New Republic.'' During his tenure as the magazine's editor, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported, "the magazine was a strong voice on behalf of the civil rights movement. After initially supporting the war in Vietnam, it became a forceful opponent of it, repeatedly criticizing Presidents

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

and

Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

." "In 1968, the magazine refused to endorse Hubert H. Humphrey, the eventual Democratic Party nominee, and proposed the creation of a new political party to be headed by Eugene J. McCarthy, the liberal senator from Minnesota who had unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination," the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' further reported."

Biography

He was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

on May 18, 1915, one of three children of Samuel Harrison and Mabel Wolfe. In 1937 he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where he had also been an editor of the university's newspaper, the ''

Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus each school day. It also publis ...

''. He then worked at the University Religious Conference, which promoted inter-religious cooperation. In that position he met

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

, who recruited him as chairman of the youth division of the Office of Civilian Defense in Washington, D.C. During World War II, he was in the Army Air Forces and served in the Philippines. In 1948, Harrison became national chairman of the

American Veterans Committee Launched in April 2013, the American Veterans Committee (AVC) is a non-profit veterans organization that promotes networking opportunities for US veterans globally. The organization was launched to make it easier for US veterans to connect with v ...

. Harrison married Anne Blaine, the granddaughter of Anita McCormick Blaine, in 1951. They had three sons, James, David and Joel, and one daughter, Eleanor. He was the author of two books, “A Timeless Affair: The Life of Anita McCormick Blaine” (University of Chicago Press, 1979), a biography of his grandmother-in-law; and “The Enthusiast: A Life of Thornton Wilder” (Ticknor & Fields, 1983). He lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. He died on January 3, 2008, in Phoenix, Arizona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Gilbert A. 1915 births 2008 deaths The New Republic people American magazine editors American magazine publishers (people) Businesspeople from Detroit University of California, Los Angeles alumni George Polk Award recipients 20th-century American businesspeople