McGrory, Mary

McGrory, Mary, 1918–2004, American journalist, b. Boston, grad. Emmanuel College. McGrory wrote with clarity, lyricism, and wit on the events and personalities of the five decades spanned by her groundbreaking career. In 1954 she began reporting for the Washington Star, where she had been hired in 1947 as a book reviewer, and quickly attracted notice with cogent pieces on the Army-McCarthy hearings (see McCarthy, Joseph Raymond). McGrory, an avowed liberal, began her syndicated column in 1960, moving (1981) to the Washington Post when the Star folded. She was particularly noted for her coverage of the election, assassination, and funeral of President Kennedy; the Vietnam War; the rise and fall of President Nixon (she was on his “enemies list”); the Watergate affair (Pulitzer Prize, 1975); the impeachment of President Clinton; and the invasion of Iraq.

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