Archibald MacLeish 1892-1982
Lawyer, New Dealer, Professor, Poet. Three-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner
He was a man for all seasons, a poet, playwright, essayist, government official, professor, lawyer, U.S. librarian, soldier, New Dealer, scholar, and three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. ■ Archibald MacLeish was born May 7, 1892 in Glencoe, Illinois, and attended Harvard where he was graduated in law at the top of his class. He is regarded as one of the most respected poets of the 20th century and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. ■ In World War I he rose from private to captain and served as Assistant Secretary of State during World War II. He was a professor of English at Harvard and served as Librarian of Congress. He also founded the United Nations' UNESCO. ■ Three months before his death we questioned him about amnesty. His answer: "My father Andrew MacLeish was born in 1839 in Glasgow. He came to the U.S. in 1856, helped to found the Chicago department store of Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company, and served as vice president of the Chicago Board of Trade. He was also one of the founders of the second University of Chicago." ■ Archibald MacLeish was prominent in political circles during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was never one to shrink from any public controversy and he alienated many of his conservative friends by defending the New Deal policies of President Franklin Roosevelt ■ But MacLeish scolded those too timid to engage in public controversy. ■ He died in Boston on April 20, 1982.