Pearson, Drew

Pearson, Drew, 1897–1969, American journalist and radio commentator, b. Evanston, Ill. He traveled around the world as a correspondent before joining the Baltimore Sun in 1926. Pearson gained national prominence with his syndicated column, "Washington Merry-Go-Round," which he began with Robert S. Allen in 1932 and later wrote with Jack Anderson. The column featured sensational exposés of government figures. Pearson's books include The Case against Congress (1968) and a novel, The Senator (1968).

Bibliography

See his diaries, ed. by T. Abell (1974); biography by O. Pilat (1973).

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Pearson, Drew

 orig. Andrew Russell

(born Dec. 3, 1897, Evanston, Ill., U.S.—died Sept. 1, 1969, Rockville, Md.) U.S. newspaper columnist. Pearson taught industrial geography at the University of Pennsylvania before turning to journalism. He was fired from the Baltimore Sun for writing Washington Merry-Go-Round (1931, with Robert S. Allen), a gossipy book about the scene in the U.S. capital. From 1932 he wrote an influential syndicated column of the same name (with Allen until 1942; from 1965 with Jack Anderson, who inherited it on Pearson's death), which specialized in muckraking. Among the many world leaders he interviewed was Nikita Khrushchev. See muckraker.

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Pearson, Drew (Andrew Russell) (1897–1969) journalist; born in Evanston, Ill. Fired as the Baltimore Sun 's Washington bureau chief after being unmasked as an anonymous coauthor of a political exposé, the Washington Merry-Go-Round (1931), he began a syndicated muckraking column of the same name, in partnership at first with the book's coauthor, Robert Allen; he also carried on a popular radio show. After Pearson's death the column was taken over by Jack Anderson, its associate writer since 1947.