Nicholas von hoffman biography of mahatma

Nicholas von Hoffman

Journalist

Nicholas von Hoffman (October 16, – February 1, ) was an American journalist and author. He first worked as a community organizer for Saul Alinsky in Chicago for ten years from to [1] Later, Von Hoffman wrote for The Washington Post, and most notably, was a commentator on the CBSPoint-Counterpoint segment for 60 Minutes,[2] from which Don Hewitt fired him in von Hoffman was also a columnist for The Huffington Post.

Life and career

A native New Yorker of German and Russian descent, von Hoffman was born to Anna L. Bruenn, a dentist, and Carl von Hoffman, an explorer and adventurer.[3][4] Von Hoffman never attended college.

Von Maur Inc. Times Everywhere. In her memoirs, Katharine Graham , then the newspaper's publisher , wrote of him: "My life would have been a lot simpler had Nicholas von Hoffman not appeared in the paper. Our unwitting author who is better at cracking one-liners than writing funny prose shows us his tattered side more clearly than his noble one.

In the s, he worked on the research staff of the Industrial Relations Center of the University of Chicago, and then for Saul Alinsky as a field representative of the Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago, where his best known role was as lead organizer for The Woodlawn Organization.[5]

Ben Bradlee, former editor of The Washington Post, hired von Hoffman from the Chicago Daily News.

While at the Post, he wrote a column for the paper's Style section. In her memoirs, Katharine Graham, then the newspaper's publisher, wrote of him: "My life would have been a lot simpler had Nicholas von Hoffman not appeared in the paper." She added that "I firmly believed that he belonged at the Post".[6]

Beginning in and continuing through the s, von Hoffman recorded over two-hundred radio commentaries, audio op-eds in the sardonic style he used on 60 Minutes. These commentaries were broadcast on the nationally syndicated daily radio program, Byline, which was sponsored by the Cato Institute.

Subjects of von Hoffman's audio op-eds included the Democratic primary candidates, the Reagan administration's foreign policy in Central America and the Middle East, and the cynical, self-serving misuse of language by politicians.

Von Hoffman wrote more than a dozen books, notably: Capitalist Fools: Tales of American Business, from Carnegie to Forbes to the Milken Gang (), Citizen Cohn (), a biography of Roy Cohn, which was made into an HBO movie, and Hoax: Why Americans Are Suckered by White House Lies ().

Nicholas von hoffman biography of mahatma Entitled Citizen Cohn , the text is an unflinching look at a controversial figure. But it was only a way station for the resilient Cohn, who would go on to give new and glorious dimensions to the meaning of the word notorious. He first worked as a community organizer for Saul Alinsky in Chicago for ten years from to Time , December 3, , William A.

Von Hoffman also wrote a libretto for Deborah Drattell's Nicholas and Alexandra for the Los Angeles Opera which was performed in the – season under the direction of Plácido Domingo. Between April and February ,[7] starting with an article about soaking the rich to pay for George W. Bush's Iraq War,[8] he was a columnist for the New York Observer.[9]

Von Hoffman was fired by Don Hewitt for referring to President Richard Nixon, at the height of the Watergate scandal, as "the dead mouse on the kitchen floor of America, and the only question now is who's going to pick him up by his tail and throw him in the garbage." His collaborations, both literary and otherwise, with Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau are worth noting, in particular the book Tales From the Margaret Mead Taproom.

In this book, he recounted his adventures in American Samoa with Trudeau and actress Elizabeth Ashley, as they and several others experienced life in the American territory, which Trudeau had lampooned in a series of Doonesbury strips involving Uncle Duke's adventures as the territory's appointed governor. He also wrote for the Architectural Digest.

Von Hoffman died on February 1, , and was survived by three sons: Alexander von Hoffman, a noted historian; Aristodemos, who works in intelligence; and Constantine, also a journalist.

Works

(partial list)

  • The Multiversity: A Personal Report on What Happens to Today's Students at American Universities
  • We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against
  • Mississippi Notebook
  • Two, Three, Many More
  • Organized Crimes
  • Citizen Cohn (Doubleday, )
  • Capitalist Fools: Tales of American Business, from Carnegie to Forbes to the Milken Gang
  • Hoax: Why Americans Are Suckered by White House Lies
  • Geneva (play)[10]
  • Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky (Nation Books, July )

In popular culture

In , fictional presidential candidate Jack Tanner named von Hoffman as his pick for Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in Robert Altman's HBO series Tanner '88.

References

  1. ^Nicholas von Hoffman, Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky (Nation Books, ), pp.

  2. Clear
  3. Nicholas von Hoffman - Wikipedia
  4. The Press: Middle-Aged Rebel - TIME
  5. Citizen Cohn : The Life and Times of Roy Cohn - Google Books

    6. 1,

  6. ^"Biography in Context – Document: "Nicholas von Hoffman"". . Retrieved February 3,
  7. ^McFadden, Robert D. (February 1, ). "Nicholas von Hoffman, Provocative Journalist and author, Dies at 88".

  10. The New York Times. Retrieved February 3,

  11. ^"Anna L. Bruenn, dentist, Mother Of Columnist". The Washington Post. May 5, Retrieved February 3,
  12. ^S.I. Hayakawa, ed., Our Language and Our World: Selections from ETC: A Review of General Semantics (NY: Harper & Brothers, ), 65
  13. ^Sherman, Scott.

    Nicholas von hoffman biography of mahatma gandhi Retrieved February 3, Too many grateful acknowledgments are made to people whose help made this life possible. He tells us how much he loved his second wife, Anita, and for those who saw them together his sentences on this subject are believable, but his feelings toward this remarkably loyal woman who was his helpmate during the period of public hijinks remain muffled. These commentaries were broadcast on the nationally syndicated daily radio program, Byline , which was sponsored by the Cato Institute.

    "Washington Donald Graham's Washington Post". Columbia Journalism Review. No.&#;5: September/October Archived from the original on November 24, Retrieved November 24,

  14. ^"Lending Lunacy Can't Be Repeated". Observer. February 12, Retrieved August 6,
  15. ^"Soak the Rich to Pay for Bush's War".

    Biography of mahatma gandhi Menken's observation that this would be a dull world if it were not for the sinners. But Zion spends inordinate time apologizing for befriending, liking and, now, missing his old buddy Roy. In this book, he recounted his adventures in American Samoa with Trudeau and actress Elizabeth Ashley , as they and several others experienced life in the American territory, which Trudeau had lampooned in a series of Doonesbury strips involving Uncle Duke 's adventures as the territory's appointed governor. During the course of his career, Cohn was a political manipulator, wheeler-dealer, and confidant of the rich and famous.

    Observer. April 24, Retrieved August 6,

  16. ^"Nicholas von Hoffman". Observer. Retrieved August 6,
  17. ^"Biography in Context – Document: "Turning a black businesswoman into a token in a debut effort"".

    Citizen Cohn: The Life and Times of Roy Cohn - Goodreads: Retrieved February 3, While at the Post , he wrote a column for the paper's Style section. Critics were impressed with von Hoffman's ability to re-create an era and populate it with colorful characters. Von Neumann, Johann or John.

    . Retrieved February 3,

Further reading

  • Roberts, Chalmers M. (). The Washington Post: The First Years. Boston, MA: Houghton.

External links