Advertisement

Jack Anderson gives up column

WASHINGTON, July 23 (UPI) -- Jack Anderson plans to end the "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column that has appeared in U.S. newspapers for more than 70 years.

The 81-year-old investigative reporter is too ill with Parkinson's Disease to continue, Editor & Publisher reports.

Advertisement

Drew Pearson started the column in 1932, and Anderson became his assistant in 1947.

Anderson became known for inside stories on government and politics, many of them leaked to him by insiders. He won a Pulitzer Prize and a place on Richard Nixon's enemies list for a 1972 story on the Nixon administration's secret pro-Pakistan stance in its dealings with India.

Among his other revelations were stories on attempts by the U.S. government to enlist Mafia members to kill Fidel Castro, on the Iran-Contra scandal and on Watergate.

The column now appears in about 150 newspapers, down from 1,000 at the height of Anderson's fame.

"Jack Anderson is an American legend and this is truly the end of an era," Lisa Klem Wilson, an executive with United Media, which syndicates the column, told E&P.

Latest Headlines