George Seldes

George Henry Seldes was a native of Alliance, New Jersey, and the older brother of writer Gilbert Seldes. He was probably one of the more controversial American journalists and authors of the first half of the 20th century. Drew Pearson would often pass on news stories to Seldes that Pearson deemed too hot to print in his own syndicated column. Between 1940 and 1950 Seldes and his wife Helen, published "In Fact", a weekly newspaper that covered stories that other papers either ignored or downplayed. At its height "In Fact" had a circulation of 750,000 readers. Among those readers who credited "In Fact" as an influence in their life, were consumer activist Ralph Nader and columnist Jack Anderson. Seldes began his career at age 18 as cub reporter for the Pittsburgh Leader after attending Harvard for one year. After the First World War broke out he decided become a war correspondent and soon began reporting from the European theater. At war's end, Seldes and several other reporters were court marshaled for entering Germany without military permission to interview Hindenburg. They got their interview but were later forbidden to print it. Seldes decided to stay in Europe working as foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. There his reporting on Bolshevik purges and murders would eventually get him expelled from Soviet Russia. Later, similar reporting in Mussolini's Italy would earn him persona non grata status there as well. Seldes would later write a rather unflattering book about Il Duce entitled "Sawdust Caesar" (1936). On 2 May, 1931, Seldes married 25 year old Countess Dursilla Ladine Young de Martino in Toulon, France. The Countess, who was born in Moody, Texas, was said to have been married to a Spanish Count, at one time held captive in a Moroccan harem, starred in Russian movies and a cast member in the Broadway play "Street Singer" (1929/30). Apparently the union did not last long for the following year he married Cincinnati, Ohio native, Helen Larkin Wiesman, whom he had met several years earlier in Paris when she was a graduate student studying chemistry at the Sorbonne. While in Madrid covering the Spanish Civil War for the New York Post, the hotel Seldes and his wife were staying at came under artillery fire. This was particularly irksome to Helen Seldes who was bathing at the time of the attack. Years later, whenever the couple visited Madrid, they would try to book the same hotel room their friend Ernest Hemingway lived in when he was reporting on the conflict. Seldes and his wife were close friends of several other 20th century literary greats, Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos, Dorothy Thompson], and Vincent Sheean, to name a few. Seldes was the author of numerous controversial books about the press, politics and religion. Starting with, "You Can't Print That!" (1929) and "Can These Things Be!" (1931) and later "The Vatican: Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow," (1934), "Iron, Blood and Profits," (1934), "Freedom of the Press" (1935), "Lords of the Press" (1938), "You Can't Do That! " (1938), "The Catholic Crisis" (1940), "Witch Hunt," (1940), "Facts and Fascism" (1943) and others. As a journalist, he exposed corrupt politicians and corporate lobbyist and was one of the first to report on the results of product testing by consumer unions. "In Fact" once printed a report linking tobacco and longevity that no other publication would touch at that time. In the early 1950s Seldes fell victim to McCarthyism and was blacklisted for a number of years. During this time he was able to publish at least one work, "Tell the Truth and Run" (1953). Seldes went on to author several more books before passing away at the remarkable age of 104, "The Great Quotations" (1961), "Never Tire of Protesting" (1968), "Even the Gods Can't Change History " (1976), "The Great Thoughts" (1985) and "Witness to a Century" (1987. His wife and assistant, Helen Seldes, passed away in 1979, at the age of 73.