KROCK, ARTHUR

KROCK, ARTHUR (1886–1974), U.S. journalist and newspaper editor. As a Washington columnist, Krock knew and reported on every president from William Howard Taft to Lyndon Johnson. Born in Glasgow, Kentucky, he first went to Washington in 1909 to report for the Louisville Times and the Louisville Courier-Journal. In 1915 he became editorial director of both newspapers and served as editor in chief of the former from 1919 to 1923. In 1918–19 his articles on the Versailles Peace Conference were widely syndicated, and he played an important role in persuading the conference to hold meetings in public. In 1927 Krock began a 40-year association with the New York Times, first as a member of its board of editors, then from 1932 to 1953 as its Washington correspondent, and from 1953 to 1967 as a Washington commentator. He wrote the column "In the Nation" for 32 years before he retired from the New York Times in 1966. His memoirs, entitled 60 Years on the Firing Line, were published in 1968. His early recollections, Myself When Young: Growing Up in the 1890s, came out in 1973. A keen observer of the national scene, he won two Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding reporting (1935, 1938), a special Pulitzer commendation (1951), and a special Pulitzer citation (1955). Regarded as one of the most influential American journalists of his time, Krock was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Nixon in 1970, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Other books by Krock include In the Nation: 1932–1966 (1966); Memoirs: Intimate Recollections of Twelve American Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Nixon (1970); and The Consent of the Governed, and Other Deceits (1971). (Irving Rosenthal / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)