Jack Anderson

Jack Anderson (Jackson Northman Anderson), 1922-2005, American newspaper columnist, b. Long Beach, Calif. After serving as a Mormon missionary (1941-44) and a term as a war correspondent during 1945, he was hired by Drew Pearson for the staff of his column, "Washington Merry-Go-Round." Anderson and Pearson later collaborated on The Case against Congress (1969). Anderson took over the column after Pearson's death in 1969 and retired from writing it in 2004. Controversial because of his unorthodox methods of obtaining news stories, Anderson nonetheless uncovered vital information, including facts about the Watergate affair . His reporting on the secret relations between the United States and Pakistan in its war with India won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize. He also revealed information on the Iran-contra affair during the Reagan administration. Anderson interviewed an enormous range of 20th-century figures; his later reporting is considered more moderate than his earlier work.

Bibliography: See his memoir, Confessions of a Muckraker (1979).