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© 2004 Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. All rights reserved.
Alfred Friendly, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and longtime managing editor of the Washington Post, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of Edward Rosenbaum and Harriet Friendly. Friendly graduated from Amherst College in 1933 with high honors in German. Shortly after graduation, Willard Thorp, one of Friendly's former economics professors, helped him to secure a position at the U. S. Department of Commerce in Washington. Friendly later worked for Thorp in New York City on the reorganization of Associated Gas & Electric. From 1935 to 1936, Friendly and his friend Chalmers M. Roberts traveled around the United States; this experience, which the two men chronicled in an account entitled "The Trek: or, Adventures in Depression America," reportedly had a profound impact on Friendly.
Friendly worked for the Washington Daily News, the precursor to the Washington Post, which he joined as a reporter in 1939. During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps, Military Intelligence Service, earning the rank of Major. After the war he worked for a year in Paris as press chief for W. Averell Harriman. He became managing editor of The Washington Post in 1955 and helped to transform the newspaper into a national publication of great renown during a crucial formative period in its history. Friendly retired as managing editor in 1965 and moved to London to become a roving correspondent for the Post. In this capacity Friendly won a Pulitzer Prize in journalism for coverage of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Friendly retired from journalism in 1971 but continued to write columns on many occasions.
Friendly served as an Amherst College trustee from 1961 to 1967. His diverse personal interests included archaeology, mathematics, naval history and atomic energy. His interest in archaeology prompted him to take a house in Turkey in 1971. Alfred Friendly was the author of several books, including "The Guys on the Ground" (1944); "Crime and Publicity: the Impact of News on the Administration of Justice" (with Ronald L. Goldfarb, 1967); "Israel's Oriental Immigrants and Druzes" (1972); "Beaufort of the Admiralty: the Life of Sir Francis Beaufort, 1774-1857" (1977); and "The Dreadful Day: the Battle of Manzikert, 1071" (1981).
Friendly was married with five children. Suffering from terminal throat and lung cancer near the end of his life, Friendly committed suicide in his Georgetown apartment on November 7, 1983 at the age of 71.
The collection consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence, and writings by Friendly: columns written for the Washington Post (or its precursor, the Washington Daily News), or for other publications; manuscripts; and various other endeavors. The majority of the collection is housed in scrapbooks compiled by Friendly himself.
This collection is organized into five series:
There is no restriction on access to the Alfred Friendly Papers for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Requests for permission to publish material from the Alfred Friendly Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
[Identification of item], in Alfred Friendly (AC 1933) Papers [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library
Accession #: 2002-139 The collection was the gift of Mrs. Alfred Friendly in August 2002.
Alumni Biographical Files - 1933 - Friendly, Alfred
[External Reference]
Folders are arranged alphabetically by correspondent name, with unidentified correspondence at the end.
Series 1, Correspondence, ca. 1970-1983, includes letters with intimates as well as more formal letters.
Series 2, School Days, 1927-1933, contains high school and college materials, including yearbooks and school publications of original work.
Material is arranged alphabetically by subject or title.
Series 3, Writings, 1934-1981, comprise the newspaper columns, articles, books and other pieces written by Alfred Friendly, in manuscript or published form. For Friendly's post-1938 writings in the Washington Daily News, see Series 4, Scrapbook Folders.
See also: Series 5, Subject Files - International Friends of Side
This series is arranged chronologically with an occasional subject specification.
Series 4, Scrapbook Folders, 1939-1983, contains newspaper clippings or articles written by Friendly, or concerning Friendly's writings.
Series 5, Subject Files, n.d., includes various topical biographical files relating to Friendly's life activities and interests.