John Aloysius Farrell is an American author and historian. He has written biographies of U.S. President

Richard 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 ...

, Senator Ted Kennedy, House Speaker

Thomas "Tip" O'Neill Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as ...

, and defense attorney Clarence Darrow. He is a former White House correspondent and Washington editor for ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' and a former Washington bureau chief and columnist for '' The Denver Post''. On January 2, 2017, ''

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 that Farrell had unearthed notes written by Nixon aide

H.R. Haldeman Harry Robbins Haldeman (October 27, 1926 – November 12, 1993) was an American political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and his consequent involvement in the Watergate s ...

, which confirmed that Nixon personally authorized ''"throwing a monkey wrench"'' into

Lyndon 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 ...

's attempts to negotiate peace in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

on the eve of the 1968 election. In his famous interviews with newsman David Frost, and elsewhere, Nixon had always denied any participation in what history has come to call the Chennault Affair - after Anna Chennault, the Nixon campaign's go-between with South Vietnam. Farrell's discovery earned praise from his peers. On April 16, 2018 the Pulitzer Prize board announced that ''Richard Nixon: The Life'' was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. On April 13, 2018, the New-York Historical Society awarded Farrell the title of "American Historian Laureate," and presented him with the $50,000 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History for ''Richard Nixon: The Life.''

Life

Born in

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

, Farrell graduated from the University of Virginia in 1975 before working at newspapers in

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. While at the ''Globe,'' he also worked as an investigative reporter on the vaunted "Spotlight" investigative unit. He has a PhD in history from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Excerpts of his work have been published in Jack Beatty's collection ''Pols: Great Writers on American Politicians from Bryan to Reagan'', and in ''Leadership for the Public Service'' by Richard A. Loverd. Farrell was a contributor, as well, to ''The Boston Globe's'' 2004 biography of

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

. Farrell is an on-camera commentator in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

'' American Experience'' documentaries "Jimmy Carter" and "The Perfect Crime," a study of the Leopold and Loeb thrill-killers case, and in the television series ''The Irish in America.''

Journalistic awards and honors

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 ...

, 1984, for investigative reporting of deaths caused by malfunctioning medical devices, (

List of George Polk Award winners The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York. Awards References

{{reflist American journalism awards Awards established in 1949 Lists of award winne ...

) as part of a team at ''The Denver Post'' * Gerald R. Ford Prize, 1996, for coverage of the American Presidency https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/past-reporting-prize-recipients/ for ''The Boston Globe'' *

Aldo Beckman Memorial Award The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

, 1996, for coverage of the American Presidency for ''The Boston Globe'' * Raymond Clapper Award, 2001, for reporting in ''The Boston Globe'' on flaws in the criminal justice system that lead to the conviction of innocent defendants

Works

Footnotes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, John A. The Denver Post people Living people Year of birth missing (living people)