Francis James Westbrook Pegler (August 2, 1894 – June 24, 1969) was an American journalist and writer. Known as a fierce opponent of both fascism and communism, he later was a spokesman for the John Birch Society. Pegler, a Roman Catholic, was married to Julia Harpman Pegler, a onetime New York Daily News crime reporter who came from a Jewish family in Tennessee. Later in life, he married his secretary Maude Wettje.
Pegler was born in Minneapolis...
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Francis James Westbrook Pegler (August 2, 1894 – June 24, 1969) was an American journalist and writer. Known as a fierce opponent of both fascism and communism, he later was a spokesman for the John Birch Society. Pegler, a Roman Catholic, was married to Julia Harpman Pegler, a onetime New York Daily News crime reporter who came from a Jewish family in Tennessee. Later in life, he married his secretary Maude Wettje.
Pegler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 2, 1894. His father, Arthur James Pegler, was an editor for a local newspaper. While working for United Press, Pegler was the youngest American war correspondent during World War I.
After the war, Pegler started off as a sports columnist, but later wrote general interest articles. In 1925 he moved to the Chicago Tribune. In 1933 he moved to the Scripps Howard syndicate, where he worked closely with his friend Roy Howard. He built up a large readership, causing Time magazine to comment in its 10th Oct. 1938 issue:
"At the...
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