Voting Station

Drew Pearson (Journalist)

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Commentator

The Resume

    (December 13, 1897-September 1, 1969)
    Born in Evanston, Illinois
    Wrote the syndicated column 'Washington Merry-Go-Round' (1933-69)
    Hosted 'Drew Pearson Comments' on NBC Radio (1941-53)
    Appeared in the movies 'City Across the River' (1949) and 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' (1951)

Why he might be annoying:

    His methods for getting a story included paying chauffeurs and waiters to eavesdrop on conversations, bribing a Navy clerk to reveal classified data, and ordering a staffer to break into the office of a Washington attorney.
    He freely mixed facts with unconfirmed rumors (especially if he did not like the subject of a column).
    He gladly used Joseph McCarthy as a source for dirt on other politicians.
    He was one of the first people to accuse JFK of using a ghostwriter for 'Profiles in Courage,' but when he wrote the novel 'The Senator,' he used a ghostwriter himself without publicly acknowledging it.
    He tried to derail Ronald Reagan's presidential ambitions by claiming, without evidence, that several of his aides were part of a 'homosexual ring.' (1967)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He organized the 'Friendship Train' that raised $40 million in aid for post-WWII Europe.
    He exposed plenty of actual corruption in Washington, with his disclosures resulting in four Congressmen being convicted and sentenced to jail.
    When he refused to support Senator McCarthy's allegations of '57 card-carrying Communists' in the State Department, McCarthy called him a 'Communist tool' and tried to get him blacklisted.
    When they met at a Washington, DC, club, McCarthy kneed him in the groin (December, 1950).
    At the time of his death, his column was syndicated in 650 newspapers -- more than twice as many as any other -- and had an estimated 60 million readers.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying