Packard, Vance

Packard, Vance (Oakley)

(1914–  ) journalist, writer; born in Granville Summit, Pa. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University (1936) and worked as a reporter and columnist for newspapers and the Associated Press before he became an editor and writer at American magazine (1942–56). He wrote a number of books popularizing social issues, including The Hidden Persuaders (1957), The Naked Society (1964), and The People Shapers (1977). He also taught writing at Columbia and New York Universities.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.