Richard Lawson Wilson (September 3, 1905 – January 18, 1981) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist. Wilson was born in Galesburg, Illinois, and raised in Newton, Iowa. He was the son of Frank and Emily (McCord) Wilson, and was the youngest of nine children. He attended the University of Iowa, at Iowa City, Iowa. There he met and later married fellow journalist Katherine Y. Macy, a graduate of the University of Iowa and the Columbia University School of Journalism. After receiving his B.A. in 1926, he began his reporting career at The Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa. After a year at the

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

in 1928, he returned to Des Moines as City Editor and then to Washington, D.C., in 1933 to set up the Washington bureau of the Register, at that time owned by the Cowles family, who owned newspapers in the midwest and published the now-defunct Look magazine. He became chief of the Washington bureau for all Cowles publications in 1950, and occupied that post until his retirement in 1970. Wilson was elected President of the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

for the year 1940. He was also very active in the Gridiron Club. During World War II, Wilson travelled extensively abroad as a war correspondent. In 1954, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, " r his exclusive publication of the FBI Report to the White House in the Harry Dexter White case before it was laid before the Senate by J. Edgar Hoover." Wilson retired from active newspaper reporting in 1970, and wrote a nationally syndicated column until 1976. He died on January 18, 1981, in Washington, D.C., of complications from mycosis fungoides, a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He received Sigma Delta Chi's annual award for Washington reporting and was a member of the University of Iowa's Journalism-Mass Communications Hall of Fame. Wilson and his wife had two children. Katherine M. Wilson died of pneumonia in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, on January 20, 1989; she had been suffering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. She was buried next to her husband. Wilson's professional papers are at

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and burial place of Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States (1929–1933), located on the grounds of the Herbert Hoover National Historic Si ...

in West Branch, Iowa. He is among many people whose conversation was captured on President Nixon's " secret tapes." Nixon Presidential Tapes 459 and 467
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Richard L. American male journalists Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma People from Galesburg, Illinois Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners 1905 births 1981 deaths Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery People from Newton, Iowa 20th-century American non-fiction writers Journalists from Illinois 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American journalists