NEW YORK -- James A. Wechsler, a veteran newsman, liberal columnist and longtime editor of the New York Post -- who once fretted that newspapers were losing their crusading spirit -- is dead of cancer. He was 67.
Wechsler, who lived in Manhattan, died Sunday at New York Hospital.
A memorial service has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on 81st Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
Wechsler, who liked to describe himself as 'one of the few unreconstructed radicals of my generation,' was one of the first nationally known journalists to exchange fire with anti-Communist crusader Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.
Wechsler was born Oct. 15, 1915. He entered Columbia University in 1931 at the age of 16 and kicked off his career in journalism shortly thereafter as a reporter for The Columbia Spectator, the school newspaper.
After graduation, he took a job as a $30-per-week assistant editor with The Nation magazine. He subsequently became labor editor and Washington bureau chief for PM, a leftist newspaper, but quit in 1947 because he felt the newspaper's managers were Communist sympathizers.
He joined the Post as Washington bureau chief and was made editor in 1949 by former publisher Dorothy Schiff.
During his career, which spanned more than 40 years, he was befriended by such political figures as Eleanor Roosevelt and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
After Wechsler took issue with McCarthy's tactics during his infamous anti-Communist campaign, the senator's supporters were quick to counterattack by deriding Wechsler for showing an interest in Communism as a youth. Mrs. Schiff staunchly defended him.
Wechsler became editorial page editor in 1961 and began writing a regular column for the Post. His writings reflected his strong liberal beliefs.
'It was said long ago,' he wrote in one of his early Post editorials, 'that the function of a newspaper is to 'comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.' Too many newspapers have forgotten the words or grown so fat and comfortable themselves that they view the phrase as inflammatory.'
He remained in charge of the editorial page until 1980, four years after the Post was sold to publisher Rupert Murdoch. Wechsler continued to write articles for the paper's op-ed page until his death.
Wechsler is survived by his wife, Nancy, whom he met at an anti-Nazi rally; a daughter, Holly Schwartztol of Miami; two grandchildren and a brother, Herbert.
