Peter H. Wyden
Peter H. Wyden | |
|---|---|
| Born | Peter Weidenreich October 2, 1923 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | June 27, 1998 (aged 74) Danbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | City College of New York |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Spouse | 3 |
| Children | 2, including Ron Wyden |
| Parent(s) | Erich Weidenreich Helen Silberstein |
| Relatives | Franz Weidenreich (paternal uncle) |
Peter H. Wyden (October 2, 1923 – June 27, 1998) was an American journalist and historian.
Early life
[edit]Wyden was born Peter Weidenreich, in Berlin to a Jewish family.[1] His mother, Helen (née Silberstein), was a concert singer, and his father, Erich Weidenreich, was a businessman. Franz Weidenreich, German anatomist and physical anthropologist, was one of his uncles.
Wyden attended the Goldschmidt School until he left Nazi Germany for the United States in 1937.[2][3] After studying at City College of New York,[1] he served with the U.S. Army's Psychological Warfare Division in Europe during World War II.[4] His training at Camp Ritchie places him among the ranks of the Ritchie Boys, a group of Military Intelligence Officers who used their language skills to obtain intel in Europe. In 2021, Peter's son Ron Wyden, a U.S. Senator, was instrumental in creating a senate resolution recognizing the Ritchie Boys for their efforts.
Career
[edit]After the war, Wyden began a career in journalism, during which he worked as a reporter for The Wichita Eagle, a feature writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington correspondent for Newsweek magazine, a contributing editor for The Saturday Evening Post in Chicago and San Francisco, articles editor for McCall's, and executive editor for Ladies' Home Journal.[1][4]
Wyden authored or coauthored nine books, and numerous articles that appeared in major magazines.[4] In 1969, he co-authored with his wife a book on homosexuality entitled Growing Up Straight; the book summed up research on the topic, which suggested homosexuality could be prevented with a close paternal relationship in childhood.[5] His last book, published in 1998, was about schizophrenia; it was based on his personal experience as his son Jeff suffered from the mental disorder.[1]
In 1970, Wyden became a book publisher in New York City and Ridgefield, Connecticut.[4]
Personal life and death
[edit]Wyden was married three times.[1] He had two sons, including Ron Wyden, who became a United States senator.[6] He died on June 27, 1998, in Danbury, Connecticut.[1]
Books
[edit]- Suburbia's Coddled Kids. 1962. New Jersey: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
- The Overweight Society. 1965. New York: Pocket Books.
- Wyden, Peter; Wyden, Barbara (1969). Growing Up Straight: What Every Thoughtful Parent Should Know about Homosexuality. New York: Stein and Day. OCLC 976970206.
- Bay of Pigs – The Untold Story. 1979. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-24006-4 ISBN 0224017543 ISBN 978-0-671-24006-6
- The Passionate War: The Narrative History of the Spanish Civil War. 1983. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1983 ISBN 0-671-25330-1
- Day One: Before Hiroshima and After. 1985. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1984 ISBN 0-671-46142-7
- Stella: One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler's Germany. Anchor Books, 1993. ISBN 978-0385471794
- Wall: The Inside Story of Divided Berlin. 1989. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-55510-3
- Wyden, Peter H. (1998). Conquering Schizophrenia: A Father, His Son and a Medical Breakthrough. New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780679446712. OCLC 37560191.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Sengupta, Somini (June 29, 1998). "Peter Wyden, 74, Journalist And Father of Oregon Senator". The New York Times. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
- ^ Abrahamson, Irving (January 3, 1993). "She Saved Herself in the Holocaust By Betraying Others". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
- ^ Entry on Rootsweb.com, created by Robert Battle (battle@u.washington.edu)
- ^ a b c d "About the Author" bio on the dustjacket of Bay of Pigs, The Untold Story, Simon and Schuster, 1979.
- ^ Snoddy, Aileen (February 9, 1969). "Parents Can Prevent Homosexuality". The Leaf-Chronicle. Clarksville, Tennessee. p. 20. Retrieved December 11, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Simon, Mark (December 11, 1999). "Palo Alto to Honor Local Boy". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
- 20th-century American historians
- 20th-century American journalists
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American male writers
- Cold War historians
- Historians of Europe
- Jewish American historians
- Jewish American journalists
- Jewish American non-fiction writers
- American male journalists
- American male non-fiction writers
- Newsweek people
- The Saturday Evening Post people
- United States Army personnel of World War II
- Ritchie Boys
- City College of New York alumni
- 20th-century American Jews
- American people of German-Jewish descent
- Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
- 1923 births
- 1998 deaths