Harold Vincent "Hal" Boyle (July 24, 1911 – April 1, 1974) was a prolific,

Pulitzer-prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made hi ...

-winning journalist for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. During 30 years with the AP, Boyle wrote 7,680 columns.Obituary
Former Columnist Hal Boyle Dies
, ''Tri-City Herald'', July 2, 1974 at p. 19. He is best known for his work as a war correspondent during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was consistently closer to the front lines in the

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

theatres of operation than other correspondents. His column became a staple in over 700 newspapers. He is also the namesake of a prize given annually to reporters by the Oversees Press Club of America, for the best newspaper or wire service reporting from abroad.

Background

Boyle was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, on July 24, 1911, the son of butcher Peter E. Boyle and his wife Margarit, an Irish immigrant farm girl. He married Mary Francis Boyle in 1937. Boyle began his newspaperwork as a copy boy in Kansas City's AP Bureau in 1928. After attending the Junior College of Kansas City (Now Metropolitan Community College), he studied journalism at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

, graduating with distinction in 1932. After working in the AP's St. Louis bureau, he moved to New York in 1936. By the time the United States entered World War II, Boyle had become an assistant city editor with the AP.

Journalism

Boyle received the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

on May 7, 1945, for his " distinguished correspondence" from the war during 1944. In 1951, the

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or a ...

awarded him the Omar Bradley Award, given for the most distinguished contribution to national security, for his coverage of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Boyle portrayed himself in the 1945 film dramatization of Ernie Pyle's book, ''

The Story of G.I. Joe ''The Story of G.I. Joe'', also credited in prints as ''Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe'', is a 1945 American war film directed by William A. Wellman, starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, i ...

.'' In 1951, Boyle contributed a section to a ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'' special publication entitled ''

Preview of the War We Do Not Want ''Collier's Magazine'' devoted its entire 130-page October 27, 1951 issue to narrate the events in a hypothetical Third World War, in a feature article titled "Preview of the War We Do Not Want - an Imaginary Account of Russia's defeat and Occupat ...

''. Consistent with the book's purpose to depict the effects of a hypothetical future war with another nuclear power, Boyle's piece (entitled "Washington Under the Bomb") described, in the form of a news story, the aftermath of dropping one nuclear bomb on

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

In 1969 the Associated Press published ''Help, Help! Another Day!: The World of Hal Boyle.''

Death and legacy

Boyle died of a heart attack at his home in New York City on April 1, 1974. His death came four months after being diagnosed with "

Lou Gehrig's disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

" (amytrophic lateral sclerosis). He was buried in Kansas City. In 1980, a selected set of his columns and articles were republished in ''The Best of Boyle.'' The

Hal Boyle Award HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bangalore, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of figh ...

has been awarded by the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

for "Best newspaper or news service reporting from abroad" since 1977.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Hal 1911 births 1974 deaths American newspaper reporters and correspondents University of Missouri alumni Writers from Kansas City, Missouri Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence winners American war correspondents of World War II Associated Press reporters 20th-century American non-fiction writers