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| John A. Farrell | |
|---|---|
 John Farrell at the 2012 National Book Festival | |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
| Genre | Biography |
John Aloysius Farrell is an American author and historian. He has written biographies of U.S. President Richard Nixon, Senator Ted Kennedy, House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, and defense attorney Clarence Darrow. He is a former White House correspondent and Washington editor for The Boston Globe and a former Washington bureau chief and columnist for The Denver Post.
On January 2, 2017, The New York Times reported that Farrell had unearthed notes written by Nixon aide H. R. Haldeman, which confirmed that Nixon personally authorized "throwing a monkey wrench" into Lyndon Johnson's attempts to negotiate peace in Vietnam on the eve of the 1968 election. In his famous interviews with newsman David Frost, and elsewhere, Nixon had always denied any participation in what history has come to call the Chennault Affair - after Anna Chennault, the Nixon campaign's go-between with South Vietnam. Farrell's discovery earned praise from his peers.
On April 16, 2018 the Pulitzer Prize board announced that Richard Nixon: The Life was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.
On April 13, 2018, the New-York Historical Society awarded Farrell the title of "American Historian Laureate," and presented him with the $50,000 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History for Richard Nixon: The Life.
Life
Born in Huntington, New York, Farrell graduated from the University of Virginia in 1975 before working at newspapers in Montgomery County, Maryland, Annapolis and Baltimore. While at the Globe, he also worked as an investigative reporter on the vaunted "Spotlight" investigative unit. He has a PhD in history from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Excerpts of his work have been published in Jack Beatty's collection Pols: Great Writers on American Politicians from Bryan to Reagan, and in Leadership for the Public Service by Richard A. Loverd. Farrell was a contributor, as well, to The Boston Globe's 2004 biography of United States Senator from Massachusetts John Kerry.
Farrell is an on-camera commentator in the PBS American Experience documentaries "Jimmy Carter" and "The Perfect Crime," a study of the Leopold and Loeb thrill-killers case, and in the television series The Irish in America.
Journalistic awards and honors
- 1984 George Polk Award for investigative reporting of deaths caused by malfunctioning medical devices as part of a team at The Denver Post (List of George Polk Award winners)
- 1996 Gerald R. Ford Prize for coverage of the American Presidency for The Boston Globe
- 1996 Aldo Beckman Memorial Award for coverage of the American Presidency for The Boston Globe
- 2001 Raymond Clapper Memorial Award for reporting in The Boston Globe on flaws in the criminal justice system that lead to the conviction of innocent defendants
Works
References
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Peter Baker (2017-01-02). "Nixon Tried to Spoil Johnson's Vietnam Peace Talks in '68, Notes Show". The New York Times. p. A11. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
Ken Hughes, a researcher at the Miller Center of the University of Virginia, who in 2014 published 'Chasing Shadows,' a book about the episode, said Mr. Farrell had found a smoking gun. 'This appears to be the missing piece of the puzzle in the Chennault affair,' Mr. Hughes said. The notes 'show that Nixon committed a crime to win the presidential election.'
- "Past Reporting Prize Recipients". Gerald R. Ford Foundation. June 1, 2006. Retrieved Nov 18, 2023.
- Journalism Institute. "Raymond Clapper Memorial Award winners (1944 to 2011)". National Press Club. Retrieved Nov 15, 2023.
- "The D.B. Hardeman Prize". LBJ Presidential Library. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
- "2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize - Biography Winner and Nominees". Awards Archive. 2020-03-25. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
- "'Nixon: The Life' Humanizes — But Doesn't Rehabilitate". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
- Senior, Jennifer (2017-03-29). "'Richard Nixon,' Portrait of a Thin-Skinned, Media-Hating President". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
- "2018 Pulitzer Prize Winners". www.pulitzer.org.
- Schuessler, Jennifer (March 6, 2018). "Nixon Biographer Wins American History Book Prize". New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
- "The 2018 PEN America Literary Awards Winners". PEN America. February 20, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
