Walter Lippmann, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, was one of the twentieth century’s most important and recognized political writers. His works had a crucial role in spawning unparalleled influence on American public thought, and he was hailed as one of the best journalists of his time. Billions of Americans relied on this journalist to compile a variety of information and news updates on current political and social topics. As an adviser to several American presidents for more than six decades, he was at the height of American politics. ‘The New Republic’ was his vehicle for publicly opposing the ‘Versailles Treaty.’ He was the most well-known personality in American journalism and the first moderate liberal to support President Woodrow Wilson’s ‘limited preparation’ strategy. ‘Public Opinion,’ ‘The Phantom Public,’ ‘A Preface To Morals,’ and ‘The Good Society’ are just a few of the seminal publications written by this Harvard philosopher that is still relevant today. He received two Pulitzer Prizes for his work on the widely syndicated column ‘Today and Tomorrow,’ for which he edited and supplied political stories for thirty years. Continue reading this biography to gain more intriguing facts about his personal life and journalistic accomplishments.
Childhood and Adolescence
Walter Lippmann, who was born into a German-Jewish family in New York, had an affluent upbringing and took regular holidays to Europe. He joined the Sachs School for Boys in 1896 and quickly established himself as a gifted and academically smart young man.
He graduated from Harvard University at the age of 20 after studying philosophy and languages such as German and French. He was also a member of the honor society Phi Beta Kappa.
Career of Walter Lippmann
After dropping out of Harvard University’s Masters’s program, he began his journalism career as a ‘cub’ reporter with ‘The Boston Common’ in May 1910.
In 1913, he co-founded ‘The New Republic,’ a liberal American magazine that published writings on politics and the arts, and in the same year, he released ‘A Preface To Politics,’ a well-received book.
He was selected as President Woodrow Wilson’s adviser in 1914, and during his tenure, he assisted the President in drafting the ‘Fourteen Points’ address.
As a journalist and media critic, he investigated the coverage of local newspapers in depth. As a result, according to his study, ‘A Test of the News,’ the New York Times’ coverage of the Bolshevik Revolution was prejudiced and erroneous.
‘Liberty and the News,’ published in 1920, was a classic description of the link between the press and democracy.
He left ‘The New Republic’ in 1920 and joined ‘New York World,’ where he published two of his controversial works, ‘Public Opinion’ and ‘The Phantom Public,’ in the following years.
He wrote ‘A Preface to Morals,’ a work that endorsed the concept of liberal democracy, in 1929.
In 1929, he worked as an editor at the ‘New York World,’ but after it closed in 1931, he went to work for the ‘New York Herald Tribune.’
He began writing columns for the ‘New York Herald Tribune’ in 1931 and continued until 1967.
His series of papers titled ‘The Cold War,’ published in 1947, spoke out against President Truman’s policy of containment and popularized the term ‘Cold War.’
During his time as a journalist, he endorsed six Republican candidates and seven Democratic candidates.
Major Projects of Walter Lippmann
His book ‘Public Opinion,’ published in 1922, was one of his most influential works, and it is still used at a number of media institutes today. It created the groundwork for media theory, which is now taught in a variety of universities.
His ‘Today and Tomorrow’ column for the ‘New York Tribune’ was syndicated worldwide, won two Pulitzer Prizes, and established him as one of the world’s most respected political columnists.
Achievements & Awards
In 1958 and 1962, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his international newspaper column, “Today and Tomorrow.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him the prestigious ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ on September 14, 1964.
Personal History and Legacy
In the city of New York, he married Faye Albertson on May 24, 1917. In 1937, the couple divorced. He married Helen Byrne Armstrong in 1938 and remained with her till she died. Walter Lippmann died in New York at the age of 85.
The Walter Lippmann House at Harvard University is named after him in recognition of his contributions to journalism.
The title of Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman’s 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media, was inspired by one of his words, ‘Manufacture of Consent.’
Walter Lippmann’s Net Worth
Walter is one of the wealthiest journalists and one of the most well-known. Walter Lippmann’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.