Changes

===Feud with Eleanor Roosevelt===

===Feud with Eleanor Roosevelt===

After 1942 assailed [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] (and FDR) regularly. In public Eleanor ignored him.  In private in 1942 she asked the FBI to investigate Pegler suggestion a column he wrote involved “sedition.”  Her actions belied her public reputation as a champion of First Amendment rights when it came to leftists. In fact, she wielded her influence as First Lady to push the Bureau on this case. Dissatisfied with the FBI's initial report on the Pegler's column, she prodded J. Edgar Hoover to expand the investigation until it took on a voluminous scope.  Recent scholars (including Betty Houchin Winfield, Kenneth O'Reilly, and Richard W. Steele) have exposed Franklin Roosevelt's political use of the FBI and traced how he ordered wartime sedition investigations of anti-New Deal newspaper publishers, such as William Randolph Hearst and the Chicago Tribune's Robert McCormick.  In the Pegler's case, there was a willingness to use similar tactics against a prominent conservative columnist. Moreover, it also becomes clear that, despite her reputation as a champion of free speech rights, Eleanor Roosevelt resorted to similar methods against a media opponent.  The charges were entirely false, the FBI reported, but Eleanor continued to push the FBI to look for dirt on Pegler.<ref>David Witwer, "Westbrook Pegler, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the FBI: A History of Infamous Enmities and Unlikely Collaborations." ''Journalism History'', 2009 Vol. 34, Issue 4  in [[EBSCO]]

After 1942 assailed [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] (and FDR) regularly. In public Eleanor ignored him.  In private in 1942 she asked the FBI to investigate Pegler suggestion a column he wrote involved “sedition.”  Her actions belied her public reputation as a champion of First Amendment rights when it came to leftists. In fact, she wielded her influence as First Lady to push the Bureau on this case. Dissatisfied with the FBI's initial report on the Pegler's column, she prodded J. Edgar Hoover to expand the investigation until it took on a voluminous scope.  Recent scholars (including Betty Houchin Winfield, Kenneth O'Reilly, and Richard W. Steele) have exposed Franklin Roosevelt's political use of the FBI and traced how he ordered wartime sedition investigations of anti-New Deal newspaper publishers, such as William Randolph Hearst and the Chicago Tribune's Robert McCormick.  In the Pegler's case, there was a willingness to use similar tactics against a prominent conservative columnist. Moreover, it also becomes clear that, despite her reputation as a champion of free speech rights, Eleanor Roosevelt resorted to similar methods against a media opponent.  The charges were entirely false, the FBI reported, but Eleanor continued to push the FBI to look for dirt on Pegler.<ref>David Witwer, "Westbrook Pegler, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the FBI: A History of Infamous Enmities and Unlikely Collaborations." ''Journalism History'', 2009 Vol. 34, Issue 4  in [[EBSCO]]</ref>

==Criticism==

==Criticism==

Pegler criticized every president from Herbert Hoover to FDR ("moosejaw") to Harry Truman ("a thin-lipped hater") to John F. Kennedy.  He also criticized the Supreme Court, the tax system, and labor unions.  His attack on writer Quentin Reynolds led to a costly slander suit against him and his publishers, as a jury awarded Reynolds $175,000 in damages.  In 1962, he lost his contract with King Features Syndicate, owned by Hearst after he started criticizing Hearst executives. His late writing appeared sporadically in obscure publications, including the John Birch Society's ''American Opinion'' and grew increasingly vituperative, violent, and unnoticed by the public that once read him eagerly.

Pegler criticized every president from Herbert Hoover to FDR ("moosejaw") to Harry Truman ("a thin-lipped hater") to John F. Kennedy.  He also criticized the Supreme Court, the tax system, and labor unions.  His attack on writer Quentin Reynolds led to a costly slander suit against him and his publishers, as a jury awarded Reynolds $175,000 in damages.  In 1962, he lost his contract with King Features Syndicate, owned by Hearst after he started criticizing Hearst executives. His late writing appeared sporadically in obscure publications, including the John Birch Society's ''American Opinion'' and grew increasingly vituperative, violent, and unnoticed by the public that once read him eagerly.

*  Pilat, Oliver. ''Pegler, Angry Man of the Press'' Greenwood Press, [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=77838521 (1973)]

*  Pilat, Oliver. ''Pegler, Angry Man of the Press'' Greenwood Press, [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=77838521 (1973)]

* Witwer, David. "Westbrook Pegler and the Anti-union Movement" ''Journal of American History'' 92.2 (2005): online at <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/92.2/witwer.html>.  

* Witwer, David. "Westbrook Pegler and the Anti-union Movement" ''Journal of American History'' 92.2 (2005): online at <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/92.2/witwer.html>.  

 

== External links ==

== External links ==