BROUN, HEYWOOD 1888-1939

Columnist

Apprenticeship

In an era of brilliant newspapermen, some of whom acquired national reputations and legendary status, Heywood Broun was probably the columnist most respected by his readers and colleagues. Broun was born into a well-off Brooklyn family and attended Harvard as a member of the class of 1910. The extracurricular pleasures of the poker table and the Red Sox and an inability to pass French prevented him from graduating. He went to work as a reporter—at that time the normal move for someone with literary ambition. In 1912 he began covering sports for the New York Tribune, and his articles were admired for their detail and vivid description. After going to France as a correspondent during World War I—where he criticized the American leadership—he returned to the Tribune as drama critic and literary editor.

"It Seems to Me."

Broun's national fame and influence commenced in 1921 with his daily column, "It Seems to Me," on the op-ed page of The New York World. As its title indicated, Broun's column had no controlling subject; he often wrote what were identified as "whimsy" pieces, such as "The Fifty-First Dragon," which has been widely reprinted. A large man who was described as looking "like an unmade bed," Broun was a member of the Algonquin Hotel Round Table group of wits and a greatly admired figure in the New York literary-journalistic world. Although Broun cultivated a reputation for carelessness and even laziness, he published twelve books.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Broun became increasingly interested in social matters and questions of injustice. He was committed to the defense of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, anarchists who were sentenced to death for murder. His 1927 column on the committee—which included the presidents of Harvard and MIT—appointed to review the trial ended with a denunciation: "Tve said these men have slept, but from now on it is our business to make them toss and turn a little, for a cry should go up from many million voices before the day set for Sacco and Vanzetti to die. We have the right to beat against tight minds with our fists and shout into the ears of the old men. We want to know, we will know—'why?' "A subsequent column asked: "From now on, I want to know, will the institution of learning in Cambridge which once we called Harvard be known as Hangman's House?" Although the World was regarded as a liberal paper, two of Broun's columns were withheld. Broun maintained his position that a signed column—particularly one headed "It Seems to Me"—was the writer's responsibility and could not be required to conform to the newspaper's policies. After he criticized the World and its publisher in print, Broun was fired. In 1928 he moved his column to The New York Telegram—later The New York World-Telegram—where he enjoyed more editorial freedom. His column was syndicated by the Scripps-Howard chain and had an estimated readership of one million. He has been credited with establishing the syndicated opinion column as a feature independent of the policies of the newspapers that printed it.

Politics,

Broun became increasingly involved in politics and causes during the Depression. He joined the Socialist Party and ran unsuccessfully for Congress. In 1933 he was one of the founders of the American Newspaper Guild, which fought for improved working conditions for journalists. He was the first Guild president and was reelected to that position for the rest of his life. Heywood Broun died of pneumonia at fifty-one after writing his first column for The New York Post.

Sources:

Dale Kramer, Heywood Broun (New York: Current Books, 1949);

Richard O'Connor, Heywood Broun (New York: Putnam, 1975).

Heywood Campbell Broun , 1888–1939, American newspaper columnist and critic, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He worked on the New York Tribune (1912–21) and the New York World (1921–28), where his syndicated column, "It Seems to Me," began. In 1928 he transferred it to the Scripps-Howard newspapers, including the New York World-Telegram, where it appeared until he moved it to the New York Post just before his death. In his column Broun constantly championed the underdog, criticized social injustice, and backed emerging labor unions. A founder of the American Newspaper Guild, he was its first president from 1933 until his death. In 1930, Broun ran unsuccessfully for congress as a Socialist. His books include The A. E. F. (1918); The Boy Grew Older (1922) and Gandle Follows His Nose (1926), novels; and a biography of Anthony Comstock (with Margaret Leech, 1927). It Seems to Me (1935) and Collected Edition (ed. by H. H. Broun, 1941) give the best of his column.

Broun, Heywood [Campbell] (1888–1939), critic. Born in Brooklyn and educated at Harvard, he worked as a reporter for several newspapers before becoming drama critic for the New York World (1921–28). He was also drama editor for Vanity Fair as well as a popular lecturer on theatre. Broun appeared in Round the Town (1924) and produced and appeared in Shoot the Works (1931), a revue designed to give some employment to out‐of‐work performers and writers. His criticism was marked by a refreshing directness and wit. Reviewing Barrymore's Hamlet he began, “John Barrymore is far and away the finest Hamlet we have ever seen. He excels all others we have known in grace, fire, wit, and clarity. This final quality should be stressed. Back in high school we remember being asked whether Hamlet was really mad. If we had seen Barrymore it would have been possible for us to tell the teacher, ‘Don't be silly.’”

Broun, Heywood [Campbell] (1888–1939), New York columnist and critic, was a consistent opponent of social injustice through his articles in the New York Tribune and World, The Nation, and The New Republic. His books include The A.E.F. (1918), describing his experiences as a correspondent with the American forces in France; Pieces of Hate, and Other Enthusiasms (1922) and Sitting on the World (1924), selected from his newspaper columns; and Anthony Comstock (1927), a biography written with Margaret Leech. A Collected Edition of the best of Broun's work was issued in 1941.