"Tell the truth and run"

The Forgotten Man of American Journalism: A Brief Biography of George Seldes

By Randolph T. Holhut

" ... The story of George Seldes is the story of the Twentieth Century. He has written 21 books and is the archetype of the independent and crusading journalist. He was a witness to and occasional participant in some of the most important events of this century.

Seldes was one of a group of four journalists who snuck into Germany at the end of World War I to get an exclusive interview with Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, the supreme commander of the German Army. The interview might have changed the course of history had it not been censored by the Allies.

In 1922, Seldes was in Russia and there he met Lenin, Trotsky and the founders of the Soviet Union. He spent a year reporting from that country was was eventually expelled by the Soviet government for not bowing to its censorship of the news.

He chronicled the rise of Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 1920's and was also expelled from that country country when he refused to write what the Fascisti wanted him to write.

He and his wife Helen Larkin went to Spain in the mid-1930's when General Francisco Franco, aided by Germany and Italy, overthrew the democratically elected government and established a fascist dictatorship. The Seldeses reported on how the dress rehearsal for World War II was being played out on Spanish soil as the world impassively watched.

Disatisfied with censorship and the Right-wing bias of the American media, the Seldeses started In fact, the first publication in America solely devoted to press criticism. It was published from 1940 to 1950 and had a peak circulation of 176,000 before being Red-baited out of existence.

Because of his insistence upon writing the truth, George Seldes has been ignored by the mainstream media and has been denied his rightful place in the history of American journalism. But he harbored no bitterness toward the media establishment. "One of the greatest sources of comfort to me is knowing that I have lived long enough to be vindicated. I've outlived all of my enemies, but I've also outlived all of my friends," Seldes said. ... "

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