Heywood Broun

Heywood Broun (born December 7, 1888, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died December 18, 1939, Stamford, Connecticut) was an American journalist noted for liberal social and political opinions.

Broun attended Harvard University from 1906 to 1910 but did not graduate. He began his professional career writing baseball stories in the sports section of the New York Morning Telegraph, moving to the Tribune in 1912 as a sportswriter. Eventually, he became the paper’s drama critic. While at the Tribune he started his famous column “It Seems to Me,” taking the column with him when he moved to the World in 1921, where he stayed until 1928. He left the World in 1928, following a conflict with his publisher over his defense of two alleged murderers, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. He returned to the paper briefly the following year but was again fired, over an article he wrote for The Nation in which the World was called “pseudo-liberal.” When the World merged with The Telegram in 1931, he became a writer for the new paper until 1939, when he again changed employers because of political differences with his publisher. He joined the staff of the Post that year, staying until his death. He wrote a column in The New Republic, “Shoot the Works,” from 1935 until his death.

Interested and active in labour and political problems, Broun ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1930 on the Socialist ticket. He established the American Newspaper Guild, which he served as president until his death.