Kalman Seigel (1917–1998) was an American journalist, best known as editor of "Letters to the Editor" as part of his 41 years at 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 ...
''.
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Background
Kalman Seigel was born on October 17, 1917. In 1939, he graduated from
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
.
[
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Career
During his 41 years at the ''New York Times'', Seigel worked assistant metropolitan editor, suburban editor, and reporter. During 1950–1, he covered the trial of government economist William Remington
William Walter Remington (1917–1954) was an economist employed in various federal government positions until his career was interrupted by accusations of espionage made by the Soviet spy and defector Elizabeth Bentley. He was convicted of ...
, accused by Elizabeth Bentley
Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American spy and member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union from 1938 to 1945 until she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligenc ...
of working in her Soviet spy ring.McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
on academic freedom, to the last of which New York University philosophy professor Sidney Hook
Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of pragmatism known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his youth ...
(among others) wrote a reply. In 1967, he began selecting letters for ''New York Times'' editorials–annually, some 50,000 letters rejected to 3,000 published – "a period that embraced the end of the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, the rise and fall of 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 ...
, and Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
."[
Upon retiring from the ''Times'' on December 31, 1980, he wrote: ]As steward of the section that is the public's most direct route to the columns of this paper, I have tried to enhance openness, welcoming a great diversity of opinion. As I leave, I am grateful to all letters writers for their faith in the liberty that Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
tells us comes only when "freeborn men speak free."
He taught journalism at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
, Long Island University
Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...
, and his alma mater City College.[
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Personal life and death
Seigel married Lillian Seigel; they had two daughters.[
Seigel had a brother, Max Seigel, who also wrote for the ''Times''.][
In 1971, Seigel served as president of the ]Society of Silurians
A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...
.[
]
Kalman Seigel died age 80 on May 13, 1998, of pancreatic cancer at the New York University Medical Center.[<][
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Awards
* 1952: 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 ...
for series on dangers of McCarthyism to academic freedom[
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Works
Seigel wrote two books with Lawrence Feigenbaum:[
* ''This Is a Newspaper'' (1965)
* ''Israel: Crossroads of Conflict'' (1968)
Seigel also edited:
* ''Talking Back to the New York Times'' (1972)][
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References
1917 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
The New York Times writers
Brooklyn College faculty
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