Peglerized: How a Crusading Journalist Exposed a Union Corruption Scandal and Challenged the House of Labor.

FAIN: FT-51662-03

David Scott Witwer
Lycoming College (Williamsport, PA 17701-5100)

This book will trace the history of a union corruption scandal exposed by the prominent columnist Westbrook Pegler in 1939 and 1940. It will study the ways in which Pegler and his publisher, Roy Howard, worked to promote this scandal in hopes of undercutting both the labor movement and the New Deal. It will also explore the scandal’s political repercussions, particularly its use by conservative politicians, as well as the efforts by the leaders of organized labor to respond. Finally, the book will consider the ways in which this episode affected political discourse in the post-WWII decades.