Westbrook Pegler: Difference between revisions

In 1941 Pegler became the first columnist to win a [[Pulitzer Prize]] for reporting, for his work in exposing [[racketeering]] in [[Hollywood]] labor unions, focusing on the criminal career of [[William Morris Bioff|Willie Bioff]] and the link between organized crime and unions.<ref name=Hoover/> Pegler's reporting led to the conviction of [[George Scalise]], the president of the [[Service Employees International Union|Building Service Employees International Union]] who had ties to organized crime.<ref>http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Reporting</ref> Scalise was indicted by New York District Attorney [[Thomas E. Dewey]], charged with extorting $100,000 from employers from three years. Convicted of labor racketeering, Scalise was sentenced to 10–20 years in prison.<ref name="The Scandal of George Scalise">{{cite journal|last=Witwer|first=David|title=The Scandal of George Scalise: A Case Study in the Rise of Labor Racketeering in the 1930s|journal=Journal of Social History|date=Summer 2003|volume=36|issue=4|pages=917–940|doi=10.1353/jsh.2003.0121|s2cid=143544135}}</ref>

Interest in Pegler was briefly revived when a line originally written by him appeared in Republican Vice-Presidential nominee [[Sarah Palin]]'s acceptance speech at the [[2008 Republican National Convention]] in St. Paul, Minnesota.<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12rich.html|title=The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama|last=Rich|first=Frank|date=October 11, 2008|publisherwork=[[NYTimes.com]]|access-date=2008-10-17}}</ref> "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity", she said, attributing it to "a writer."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122100226859616967?mod=googlenews_wsj | work=The Wall Street Journal | title=The GOP Loves the Heartland To Death | date=September 10, 2008 | first=Thomas | last=Frank|access-date=2012-11-01}}</ref> The speech was written by [[Matthew Scully]], a senior speech writer for [[George W. Bush]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1838808,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905072124/http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1838808,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 5, 2008 | work=Time | title=The Man Behind Palin's Speech | date=September 4, 2008}}</ref>