ALSOP, JOSEPH 1910-1989 AND ALSOP, STEWART 1914-1974

Columnists

Inside Information

Syndicated in up to two hundred newspapers by the New York Herald Tribune from 1946 to 1958, Joseph Alsop and his brother Stewart were two of the most influential newspaper columnists of the 1950s. Earning sixty thousand dollars for their column and espousing a hard line against the Soviet Union and communism, the Alsops used their contacts within official Washington, D.C., to report inside information on world affairs. The Alsops' column, "Matter of Fact," which appeared four times a week, provided, as Edgar Kemler in the Nation commented in 1954, the "only remaining pipelines into the National Security Council."

Impending Doom

Their column first appeared on 1 January 1946, the first in a long litany that predicted impending doom for the United States and the world. The Alsopian habit of making dire predictions garnered them many nicknames, including "the Brothers Cassandra," "disaster experts," "Old Testament prophets," and the "All-slops," the last given them by Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Background

The Alsops came from an upper-class background, their mother being a niece of Theodore Roosevelt, a first cousin of Eleanor Roosevelt, and a sixth cousin of Franklin Roosevelt. The Alsop brothers possessed markedly different personalities. Joseph described himself as "ornate," and his manner was criticized by other commentators as arrogant. He kept his vow, made early in life, to insult at least one person a day. Stewart, on the other hand, was more pleasant and easygoing.

Predictions

Yet they shared a profound pessimism about world prospects which led to their dark predictions. Although they did not pretend infallibility, the Alsops did have a respectable track record at interpreting trends in national and international politics. Their most notable predictions included the 1948 Communist coup in Czechoslovakia and their 1948 warning about an impending war in Korea. But some prognostications went awry. They predicted in 1948, along with many other commentators, that Thomas Dewey would defeat President Harry S Truman. They forecast that the United States would go to war with the Soviet Union in 1952.

Close to the White House

Despite the hit-and-miss nature of their column, the Alsops cultivated a close relationship with the White House, regardless of the occupant. Readers knew that by reading "Matter of Fact" they were reading the inside Washington scoop, filtered through the urbane, acerbic, and doom-struck writing of the Alsop brothers.

Sources:

Joseph Alsop and Adam Platt, I've Seen the Best of It: Memoirs (New York: Norton, 1992);

"Alsop's Fables," Time, 67 (18 June 1956); 66;

"Brothers in Arms," Newsweek, 50 (11 November 1957): 81-82;

Patrick Donovan, "Alsop's Fables for Our Terrible Time," New Republic, 139 (29 December 1958): 17-18;

Edgar Kemler, "Celestial Pipe Line," Nation, 178 (2 January 1954): 5-10;

Walter T. Ridder, "The Brothers Cassandra, Joseph and Stewart," Reporter, 11 (21 October 1954): 34-38.

Joseph Alsop , 1910–89, and Alsop, Stewart, 1914–74, American political journalists, b. Avon, Conn. Joseph joined (1932) the New York Herald Tribune as a staff reporter and moved (1936) to its Washington, D.C., bureau. His Washington political column, written (1937–40) with Robert E. Kintner under the title "The Capital Parade," was later renamed "Matter of Fact." After World War II, Joseph resumed the column, writing it with his brother Stewart from 1946 to 1958. Stewart went on to write for the Saturday Evening Post and Newsweek. When Joseph retired (1974), the column was believed to be the longest-running nationally syndicated opinion column, appearing thrice weekly in 300 newspapers. Although consistently anti-Soviet, the column expressed opposition to Senator Joe McCarthy's "Red scare" tactics. Stewart described himself and his brother as "very square, New Deal liberals." Joseph was a conservative on foreign issues and supported the war against Vietnam.

Bibliography: See S. Alsop, Stay of Execution (1973); J. Alsop, FDR (1982); and his posthumously published autobiography I've Seen the Best of It (1992), completed by A. Platt.