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Les Whitten

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Les Whitten
Born
Leslie Hunter Whitten Jr.

(1928-02-21) February 21, 1928 (age 96)[1]
Jacksonville, Florida
Alma materLehigh University
Occupation(s)journalist, poet, translator
Employer"Washington Merry-Go-Round"

Leslie Hunter "Les" Whitten, Jr. (born February 21, 1928[2][1]) is an American investigative reporter and novelist.

Biography

Background

Whitten started his education at Lehigh University, majoring in civil engineering. However, after three semesters he left school, did a stint in the U.S. Army and moved to Paris to become a poet. He returned to Lehigh, this time majoring in English and journalism, became the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and graduated magna cum laude in 1950.[3][4][5]

Journalism

Whitten then moved to Mexico and again to Paris, continuing to try to be a writer, before shifting back to journalism in order to support his new family.[3]

Whitten began his reporting career working for Radio Free Europe from 1951 to 1957. He was an investigative reporter at the Washington Post beginning in 1969, and shared the "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column with Jack Anderson there.

In 1972 he was arrested with Hank Adams for removing boxes of documents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs after the Trail of Broken Treaties protest led to the occupation of the BIA offices, but the case was quickly dismissed.[6] In 1975 Les Whitten and Jack Anderson started another project called, "The National Suggestion Box" headed by Marty Devolites. This office in Washington, D.C. conducted on the ground research on topics suggested by the general public. Reports were culled from the general research for short spots on the Good Morning America TV show and other media Jack Anderson was responsible for in print, radio and TV.

Writing

In 1978, he stepped away from journalism to concentrate on his other writing.[2][3][7][8] He wrote multiple novels, as well as other books including a children's book, a biography of lawyer F. Lee Bailey, and a translation of French poet Charles Baudelaire, in his spare time while working as a journalist and then full-time later.[2][3][7] His 1967 Gothic horror novel Moon of the Wolf became a made-for-television film, also called Moon of the Wolf, broadcast in 1972.[9]

Personal

On November 11, 1951, Whitten married Phyllis Webber (born August 6, 1928) in Paris. Webber, who hailed from Schefferstown, PA, had earned a degree in Education from Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA, and worked with preschool children at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City. When the couple moved to Washington, DC, in 1959, she continued to work in education. In 1973, she became director of the Suburban Nursery School of Bethesda, Maryland, until her retirement in 1993. In 1996, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Maryland Council of Parent Participant Nursery Schools. She died on Wednesday, January 11, 2017.[10]

The couple had three sons.[10]

The Whittens were active in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC. They also supported the arts, including ballet and opera.[10]

Works

Fiction

  • Progeny of the Adder (Crime Club by Doubleday, 1965). Set in Washington, D.C. in the mid 1960s. Our hero is a DC cop who gradually learns that he is up against something unusual.
  • Moon of the Wolf (Crime Club by Doubleday, 1967). Also known as Death of the Nurse, the book, set in the Mississippi delta in 1938, concerns a series of grisly murders.
  • Pinion, the Golden Eagle. (Van Nostrand, 1968) Alternates between the story of a golden eagle's attempts to evade hunters, and the progress of legislation in Washington outlawing eagle hunting.[11]
  • The Alchemist (Charterhouse, 1973). Two people caught up in the world of Washington politics find themselves drawn together by their interest in the occult. Translated into Spanish in 1980.
  • Conflict of Interest (Bantam Books, 1976). A veteran newspaper report exposes scandal at the highest levels of the U.S. Senate.
  • Sometimes a Hero (Doubleday, 1979). A crack Washington, D.C. lawyer takes on Big Oil.[2][7]
  • A Killing Pace (Atheneum, 1983). A thriller about a private detective who helps his lawyer friend escape the clutches of the mafia and the Red Brigades.[12]
  • A Day Without Sunshine (Atheneum, 1985). This book centers around an English crime kingpin who attempts to monopolize the wine industry.[13]
  • The Lost Disciple: the book of Demas (Atheneum, 1989). The life of Jesus as seen by a minor biblical character Demas.[2][7] Translated into Spanish in 1993.
  • The Fangs of Morning (Leisure Books, 1994).[2]
  • Moses, The Lost Book of the Bible (New Millennium Press, 1999). A fictionalization of the life of the prophet Moses, narrated by a Greek arms trader.[2][14]

Biography

Poetry

  • Washington Cycle (The Smith, 1979). A collection of some of Whitten's poems.[16]

Translations

  • Sad Madrigals (Preternatural Press, 1997). Poems by Baudelaire, translated by Whitten.[2]
  • The Rebel (Presa S Press, 2005). Poems by Baudelaire, translated by Whitten.

References

  1. ^ a b "Matches for Leslie Hunter "Les" Whitten, Jr". MyHeritage.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h The Gale Group (2005), "Whitten, Leslie Hunter, Jr.", Writers Directory 2005 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help).
  3. ^ a b c d Henscom, Leslie (June 19, 1983), "Ex-hotshot reporter likes writer's life", The Bulletin.
  4. ^ Shimer, Elizabeth (Winter 2005), "Les Whitten '50: A novel approach to life. Les Whitten '50 credits Lehigh with setting him on a path that led to a career in newspapers and 17 books", Lehigh Alumni Bulletin.
  5. ^ "Author Les Whitten To Show Work At Lehigh Fyi", Lehigh Valley Morning Call, April 20, 1988.
  6. ^ Adams, Jim (January 11, 2006), "Hank Adams: American Indian Visionary 2006", Indian Country Today {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help).
  7. ^ a b c d Streitfeld, David (December 24, 1989), "Lost, But Now Found", Washington Post {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help). A review of Whitten's book The Lost Disciple, this article also includes some biographical detail about Whitten.
  8. ^ Whitten, Les (December 27, 2005), "Eulogy for a Muckraker", Huffington Post. Whitten writes about Jack Anderson and his experiences working with him.
  9. ^ Golden, Christopher; Bissette, Stephen R.; Sniegoski, Thomas E. (2000), The Monster Book, Simon and Schuster, p. 262, ISBN 9780671042592.
  10. ^ a b c "Phyllis Webber Whitten". Washington Post. 5 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  11. ^ Kirkus Reviews, Pinion, the Golden Eagle, retrieved 2012-04-14.
  12. ^ Burton, Philip Ward (July 30, 1983), "Burton on Books: A Killing Pace", Madison Courier.
  13. ^ Burton, Philip Ward (November 27, 1985), "Burton on Books: A Day Without Sunshine", Madison Courier.
  14. ^ "In Brief: Moses: The Last Book of the Bible", Washington Post, July 9, 2000 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help).
  15. ^ Dygert, James H. (1976), The investigative journalist: folk heroes of a new era, Prentice-Hall, p. 105, ISBN 9780135023105.
  16. ^ Kessler, Jascha (July 22, 1979), "Whitten poetizing on the Potomac", Los Angeles Times.
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