Kenneth G. Crawford (1902–1983), was an American newspaper and magazine journalist for '' PM'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' and during a "distinguished career" was a confidant of US presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Richard M. Nixon.

Background

Kenneth G. Crawford was born on May 27, 1902, in Sparta, Wisconsin, and grew up in Jefferson, Wisconsin. He graduated from

Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and h ...

Career

In 1924, fresh out of college, Crawford joined the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

news wire service in Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Lansing, Indianapolis, and Washington, DC. He moved to the ''Buffalo Times'' and then in 1933 returned to Washington with the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

''. He also contributed to the '' Saturday Evening Post'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', and ''

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 hu ...

''. In 1939, Crawford joined '' PM'', a left-liberal newspaper. When Heywood Broun, founder of the

American Newspaper Guild The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practices ...

, died that year, he succeeded him as the guild's second president. In 1943, Crawford joined ''Newsweek'' and returned to Washington. On D-Day in 1944, he was the first journalist to land at Normandy on

Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...

with the US 4th Infantry Division. In 1949, he became national affairs editor for the magazine. In 1954, he became Washington bureau chief. In 1961, he became Washington columnist after Philip L. Graham bought ''Newsweek'' for the Washington Post-Newsweek group. He retired from ''Newsweek'' in 1970. He continued to contribute signed pieces as late as 1976.

Personal life and death

Crawford married Elisabeth Bartholomew; they had a daughter and son. Ken Crawford died age 80 on January 14, 1983, in New York City of lung cancer.

Awards

* US Navy commendation * French Liberation Medal

Legacy

According to his ''Washington Post'' obituary, Crawford was one of the few "pundits" trusted by US President

Lyndon Baines 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 ...

. The ''Post'' also reported that

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

said of him after his landing at Normandy, "He was beauty brave in action... Everybody loved him and they used to ask me, hard, to try to keep him from getting killed." ''Post'' editor Benjamin Bradlee said of him, "Through his dedication to lean, explicit prose, and to fairness and integrity, he set high standards for all of us."

Works

* ''The Pressure Boys'' (1939) * ''Report on North Africa'' (1944) * ''Presidents Who Have Known Me'' (1950) - ghostwritten for George Allen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Kenneth G. Newsweek people American magazine journalists American newspaper journalists 1902 births 1983 deaths