Paul Y. Anderson
Encyclopedia
Paul Y. Anderson was an American
journalist
. He was a pioneering muckraker
and played a role in exposing the Teapot Dome scandal
of the 1920s. His coverage included the 1917 race riots in East St. Louis
and the Scopes Trial
. In 1929 he received a Pulitzer Prize
.
to William and Elizabeth Anderson on August 29, 1893. He was the only son among the three of six children that survived infancy. When he was three, his father, a stonecutter
, was killed when a faulty derrick
fell on him in a quarry
. To make ends meet, Anderson's mother returned to teaching school. Unlike most young men of the time, Anderson graduated from high school
with a major in history
. To help the family, Paul delivered telegrams and newspapers. In 1911, Anderson, then 18, took a job as a reporter for the Knoxville Journal.
His demonstrated ability resulted in his move to the St. Louis Times in 1912, the St. Louis Star in 1913. In 1914 Anderson married Beatrice Wright of East St. Louis and that year he came to work at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
. Although he enrolled in some correspondence courses during his career, Anderson never obtained a college degree. The Post Dispatch published his stories for the next 23 years.
When he arrived at the Post Dispatch, Anderson came under the supervision of managing editor, O.K. Bovard. It was a very fortuitous match of a young energetic reporter with an editor
with the drive to build the Post-Dispatch into a newspaper that became internationally recognized for its honest and adroit reporting.
Anderson first came to national attention in 1917 when a congressional committee investigated the East St. Louis Race Riots
. As a reporter covering East St. Louis for the Post Dispatch, Anderson was one of many newspaper reporters called to testify. In its report to the House of Representatives, the committee singled out Anderson for praise. Anderson, the committee said "reported what he saw without fear of consequences; defied the indignant officials whom he charged with criminal neglect of duty; ran the daily risk of assassination
, and rendered invaluable public service by his exposures." As his national reputation soared, Anderson's personal life deteriorated . He was divorce
d from his first wife in 1919.
Anderson also undertook a successful campaign to release those prisoners who were imprisoned for various alleged offenses in the course of World War I. “When the Post-Dispatch, in 1923, launched its crusade to get freedom for the political prisoners who had been run into jail by government Cossacks [federal and state prosecutors], it was Anderson who performed the field work. When he was through firing, the political prisoners were out of jail, and the first national crusade of the Post Dispatch had become a triumph.” In 1923, after two years as an editorial writer, Anderson was unable to persuade the Post-Dispatch to send him to Washington D.C. so he resigned and went to the capitol as a freelance reporter
. His early work on the Teapot Dome Scandal
disclosed that Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, had accepted a bribe of $230,000 to lease oil lands in Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California
to branches of Standard Oil
. His performance convinced Bovard to rehire him in 1924. In that same year he was sent to Chicago to cover the trial of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb
, both 19, who had abducted and murdered 14 year old Bobby Franks. Loeb and Leopold were both the sons of very wealthy families. In 1925, he was sent to Dayton, Tennessee
to cover the Scopes "Monkey Trial"
in which public school teacher, John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution
. As a result of these assignments, Anderson became friends with such prominent people as Clarence Darrow
, and H.L. Mencken.
In 1925 Anderson contributed to an investigation which led to the resignation of Federal Judge George W. English
and in 1926 he debunked an AP story that stated that the socialist government of Mexico
was attempting to "establish a "Bolshevik hegemony
" between the US and the Panama Canal
". Finding no evidence for the charge, Anderson wrote a story identifying the source of the story which was a State Department official. The official quickly retracted the charge.
Anderson remarried in 1928. His second wife was Anna Fritschie of St. Louis
. In 1928, Bovard also asked Anderson to look into what had happened to the other $2,770,000 in Liberty Bonds that had not been given to Secretary of the Interior Fall as a bribe. If, $230,000 in bonds had been used to bribe Fall had the rest of the $3,000,000 in bonds been used to bribe others? When the Coolidge Administration
refused to reopen the investigation, Anderson, prevailed upon his friend, Republican Senator George Norris to introduce a resolution in the Senate to reopen the investigation. The resolution passed unanimously.
As a result of the ensuing congressional investigation and government prosecutions, Robert W. Stewart, head of Standard Oil of Indiana was indicted for contempt of the Senate
and perjury
. Although acquitted in both cases, he was later removed from his job. Oil magnate Harry Sinclair
was jailed, as was Secretary Fall. Stewart and James O'Neil, another principal in the scandal later made restitution. The government eventually recovered $6,000,000. For his efforts in reopening the investigation, Anderson received the Pulitzer Prize in 1929.
In 1929, Anderson began writing for the Nation Magazine. He reported on the efforts of power companies to stop government development of power in Muscle Shoals, Alabama
. He referred to Herbert Hoover
as "The Great White Feather" and expressed admiration for the populism of Louisiana
governor Huey Long
. When the Great Depression
hit he embraced the National Recovery Act stating "there is a very serious question about whether we can end this depression before revolution breaks out. When ten million men men have been without work for three years and are asking themselves whether they will ever work again, when they have seen their women fade and their babies wither and die, when they have seen their boys turn to thievery and their girls to prostitution
, it strikes me as a poor time to play dilettante over the classical ideas of Jeffersonian democracy
."
When the demands of his occupation pressed heavily upon him, Anderson began to drink heavily. His attempts and those of the Post Dispatch to help him curb his drinking were ultimately unsuccessful. He was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins
in 1933 and 1934. He received a get well letter from then President Franklin Roosevelt on October 9, 1933. A March 7, 1934 column in the Nation entitled "Amenities from a hospital pallet" was written for Anderson. In 1936, he divorced his second wife.
In 1937 Anderson seemed to regain his old touch when he won the Headliners' Club award for exposing and authenticating the suppressed Paramount
newsreel
which showed the killing of ten workers by police patrolling the struck Republic Steel
Plant near Chicago. On August 30, 1937, Anderson married actress and radio personality Katherine Lane but they soon separated. In January , 1938, Anderson was dismissed by the Post-Dispatch for prolonged absences and inattention to his job. He was quickly hired by the St. Louis Star-Times for its Washington Bureau. In October he took a foray into radio and denounced the conduct of Martin Dies
, Chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee
.
Anderson became increasingly despondent. One of his last columns was about the Munich Agreement
in October 1938. On December 6, 1938 he took an overdose of sleeping pills, leaving behind a note saying his "usefulness was at an end." At his funeral the eulogy
was delivered by United Mine Workers
president John L. Lewis
. One of his pallbearer
s was an old friend now Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Hugo Black
.
Anderson has been praised as a brilliant reporter and writer while others have criticized his drinking, "prosecutorial complex", and the bitterness of some of his writing. The most moving tribute to Anderson came from Heywood Broun
who took exception to an article in Time
calling attention to Anderson's drinking. Anderson, Broun wrote, had worked "constantly under punishing tension" and had worn "a hair shirt of complete dedication to the things in which he believed," adding: "But just about the last person in the world with any any right to mention the matter is some little snip sitting with scissors and paste pot in the office of Time piecing out the curious sign language in which that magazine is written for the delectation of commuters and clubwomen. Paul Y. Anderson, drunk or sober, was by so much the finest journalist of his day that it is not fitting for any moist-eared chit even to touch the hem of his weakness. It is not necessary for anybody to make apologies for Paul Y. Anderson. Taken in his entirety, he stands up as a man deserving love and homage from every working newspaperman and woman in the United States. We will carry on."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He was a pioneering muckraker
Muckraker
The term muckraker is closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines, continued a tradition of investigative journalism reporting, and emerged in the United States after 1900 and continued to be influential until World War I, when through a combination...
and played a role in exposing the Teapot Dome scandal
Teapot Dome scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States in 1922–23, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome and two other locations to private oil companies at low...
of the 1920s. His coverage included the 1917 race riots in East St. Louis
East St. Louis Riot
The East St. Louis Riot was an outbreak of labor- and race-related violence that caused between 40 and 200 deaths and extensive property damage. East St. Louis, Illinois, is an industrial city on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri...
and the Scopes Trial
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
. In 1929 he received a Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
.
Early life and career
Anderson was born in Knoxville, TennesseeKnoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
to William and Elizabeth Anderson on August 29, 1893. He was the only son among the three of six children that survived infancy. When he was three, his father, a stonecutter
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
, was killed when a faulty derrick
Derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed of one tower, or guyed mast such as a pole which is hinged freely at the bottom. It is controlled by lines powered by some means such as man-hauling or motors, so that the pole can move in all four directions. A line runs up it and over its top with a hook on...
fell on him in a quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
. To make ends meet, Anderson's mother returned to teaching school. Unlike most young men of the time, Anderson graduated from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
with a major in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
. To help the family, Paul delivered telegrams and newspapers. In 1911, Anderson, then 18, took a job as a reporter for the Knoxville Journal.
His demonstrated ability resulted in his move to the St. Louis Times in 1912, the St. Louis Star in 1913. In 1914 Anderson married Beatrice Wright of East St. Louis and that year he came to work at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
. Although he enrolled in some correspondence courses during his career, Anderson never obtained a college degree. The Post Dispatch published his stories for the next 23 years.
When he arrived at the Post Dispatch, Anderson came under the supervision of managing editor, O.K. Bovard. It was a very fortuitous match of a young energetic reporter with an editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
with the drive to build the Post-Dispatch into a newspaper that became internationally recognized for its honest and adroit reporting.
Anderson first came to national attention in 1917 when a congressional committee investigated the East St. Louis Race Riots
East St. Louis Riot
The East St. Louis Riot was an outbreak of labor- and race-related violence that caused between 40 and 200 deaths and extensive property damage. East St. Louis, Illinois, is an industrial city on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri...
. As a reporter covering East St. Louis for the Post Dispatch, Anderson was one of many newspaper reporters called to testify. In its report to the House of Representatives, the committee singled out Anderson for praise. Anderson, the committee said "reported what he saw without fear of consequences; defied the indignant officials whom he charged with criminal neglect of duty; ran the daily risk of assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, and rendered invaluable public service by his exposures." As his national reputation soared, Anderson's personal life deteriorated . He was divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d from his first wife in 1919.
Anderson also undertook a successful campaign to release those prisoners who were imprisoned for various alleged offenses in the course of World War I. “When the Post-Dispatch, in 1923, launched its crusade to get freedom for the political prisoners who had been run into jail by government Cossacks [federal and state prosecutors], it was Anderson who performed the field work. When he was through firing, the political prisoners were out of jail, and the first national crusade of the Post Dispatch had become a triumph.” In 1923, after two years as an editorial writer, Anderson was unable to persuade the Post-Dispatch to send him to Washington D.C. so he resigned and went to the capitol as a freelance reporter
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
. His early work on the Teapot Dome Scandal
Teapot Dome scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States in 1922–23, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome and two other locations to private oil companies at low...
disclosed that Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, had accepted a bribe of $230,000 to lease oil lands in Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California
Elk Hills Oil Field
The Elk Hills Oil Field is a large oil field in northwestern Kern County, in the Elk Hills of the San Joaquin Valley, California in the United States, about twenty miles west of Bakersfield...
to branches of Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
. His performance convinced Bovard to rehire him in 1924. In that same year he was sent to Chicago to cover the trial of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb
Leopold and Loeb
Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. and Richard Albert Loeb , more commonly known as "Leopold and Loeb", were two wealthy University of Michigan alumni and University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.The duo were...
, both 19, who had abducted and murdered 14 year old Bobby Franks. Loeb and Leopold were both the sons of very wealthy families. In 1925, he was sent to Dayton, Tennessee
Dayton, Tennessee
Dayton is a city in Rhea County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,180 at the 2000 census. The Dayton, TN, Urban Cluster, which includes developed areas adjacent to the city and extends south to Graysville, Tennessee, had 9,050 people in 2000...
to cover the Scopes "Monkey Trial"
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
in which public school teacher, John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. As a result of these assignments, Anderson became friends with such prominent people as Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
, and H.L. Mencken.
In 1925 Anderson contributed to an investigation which led to the resignation of Federal Judge George W. English
George W. English
George Washington English, Sr. was a United States federal judge.Born near Vienna, Illinois, English received an LL.B. from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1891. He was chief deputy sheriff of Johnson County, Illinois from 1891 to 1892. He engaged in the private practice of law in Vienna, Illinois...
and in 1926 he debunked an AP story that stated that the socialist government of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
was attempting to "establish a "Bolshevik hegemony
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
" between the US and the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
". Finding no evidence for the charge, Anderson wrote a story identifying the source of the story which was a State Department official. The official quickly retracted the charge.
Anderson remarried in 1928. His second wife was Anna Fritschie of St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. In 1928, Bovard also asked Anderson to look into what had happened to the other $2,770,000 in Liberty Bonds that had not been given to Secretary of the Interior Fall as a bribe. If, $230,000 in bonds had been used to bribe Fall had the rest of the $3,000,000 in bonds been used to bribe others? When the Coolidge Administration
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
refused to reopen the investigation, Anderson, prevailed upon his friend, Republican Senator George Norris to introduce a resolution in the Senate to reopen the investigation. The resolution passed unanimously.
As a result of the ensuing congressional investigation and government prosecutions, Robert W. Stewart, head of Standard Oil of Indiana was indicted for contempt of the Senate
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
and perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
. Although acquitted in both cases, he was later removed from his job. Oil magnate Harry Sinclair
Harry Sinclair
Harry Sinclair is a film director, writer, and actor. In his early career he was an actor and member of The Front Lawn, a musical theater duo. He went on to write and direct several short films, a TV series and three feature films.-Background:...
was jailed, as was Secretary Fall. Stewart and James O'Neil, another principal in the scandal later made restitution. The government eventually recovered $6,000,000. For his efforts in reopening the investigation, Anderson received the Pulitzer Prize in 1929.
In 1929, Anderson began writing for the Nation Magazine. He reported on the efforts of power companies to stop government development of power in Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated the population of the city to be 12,846. The city is included in The Shoals MSA. It is famous for its contributions to American popular music.-Geography:Muscle Shoals is located...
. He referred to Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
as "The Great White Feather" and expressed admiration for the populism of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
governor Huey Long
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
. When the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit he embraced the National Recovery Act stating "there is a very serious question about whether we can end this depression before revolution breaks out. When ten million men men have been without work for three years and are asking themselves whether they will ever work again, when they have seen their women fade and their babies wither and die, when they have seen their boys turn to thievery and their girls to prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, it strikes me as a poor time to play dilettante over the classical ideas of Jeffersonian democracy
Jeffersonian democracy
Jeffersonian Democracy, so named after its leading advocate Thomas Jefferson, is a term used to describe one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party which Jefferson...
."
When the demands of his occupation pressed heavily upon him, Anderson began to drink heavily. His attempts and those of the Post Dispatch to help him curb his drinking were ultimately unsuccessful. He was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland . It was founded using money from a bequest by philanthropist Johns Hopkins...
in 1933 and 1934. He received a get well letter from then President Franklin Roosevelt on October 9, 1933. A March 7, 1934 column in the Nation entitled "Amenities from a hospital pallet" was written for Anderson. In 1936, he divorced his second wife.
In 1937 Anderson seemed to regain his old touch when he won the Headliners' Club award for exposing and authenticating the suppressed Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
which showed the killing of ten workers by police patrolling the struck Republic Steel
Republic Steel
Republic Steel was once the third largest steel producer in the United States.The Republic Iron and Steel Company was founded in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899....
Plant near Chicago. On August 30, 1937, Anderson married actress and radio personality Katherine Lane but they soon separated. In January , 1938, Anderson was dismissed by the Post-Dispatch for prolonged absences and inattention to his job. He was quickly hired by the St. Louis Star-Times for its Washington Bureau. In October he took a foray into radio and denounced the conduct of Martin Dies
Martin Dies, Jr.
Martin Dies, Jr. was a Texas politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. His father, Martin Dies, was also a member of the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:...
, Chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
.
Anderson became increasingly despondent. One of his last columns was about the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
in October 1938. On December 6, 1938 he took an overdose of sleeping pills, leaving behind a note saying his "usefulness was at an end." At his funeral the eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
was delivered by United Mine Workers
United Mine Workers
The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
president John L. Lewis
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
. One of his pallbearer
Pallbearer
A pall-bearer is one of several funeral participants who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery or mausoleum, or to and from the hearse which carries the coffin....
s was an old friend now Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Hugo Black
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to the Supreme...
.
Anderson has been praised as a brilliant reporter and writer while others have criticized his drinking, "prosecutorial complex", and the bitterness of some of his writing. The most moving tribute to Anderson came from Heywood Broun
Heywood Broun
Heywood Campbell Broun, Jr. was an American journalist. He worked as a sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and editor in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, now known as The Newspaper Guild. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he is best remembered for his writing on social issues and...
who took exception to an article in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
calling attention to Anderson's drinking. Anderson, Broun wrote, had worked "constantly under punishing tension" and had worn "a hair shirt of complete dedication to the things in which he believed," adding: "But just about the last person in the world with any any right to mention the matter is some little snip sitting with scissors and paste pot in the office of Time piecing out the curious sign language in which that magazine is written for the delectation of commuters and clubwomen. Paul Y. Anderson, drunk or sober, was by so much the finest journalist of his day that it is not fitting for any moist-eared chit even to touch the hem of his weakness. It is not necessary for anybody to make apologies for Paul Y. Anderson. Taken in his entirety, he stands up as a man deserving love and homage from every working newspaperman and woman in the United States. We will carry on."