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{{short description|American journalist}} |
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| ⚫ | '''Terry Pettus''' (August 15, 1904 – October 1984<ref>[[Social Security Death Index|SSDI]] for 536-10-1602. Accessed online 11 February 2009.</ref>) was a [[Journalist|newspaper reporter]] and [[Activism|activist]] from [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]].<ref name=Scigliano>Eric Scigliano, "What a Hoot!", ''Seattle Metropolitan'', December 2008, p. 52-54.</ref><ref name=Reider>Ross Reider, [http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=2682 Pettus, Terry (1904-1984)], HistoryLink, September 27, 2000. Accessed online 2 February 2009.</ref> |
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| ⚫ | '''Terry Pettus''' (August 15, 1904 – October 6, 1984<ref>[[Social Security Death Index|SSDI]] for 536-10-1602. Accessed online 11 February 2009.</ref>) was a [[Journalist|newspaper reporter]] and [[Activism|activist]] from [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]].<ref name=Scigliano>Eric Scigliano, "What a Hoot!", ''Seattle Metropolitan'', December 2008, p. 52-54.</ref><ref name=Reider>Ross Reider, [http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=2682 Pettus, Terry (1904-1984)], HistoryLink, September 27, 2000. Accessed online 2 February 2009.</ref> |
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==Biography== |
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==Background== |
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Meredith Burrus Terry Pettus was born on August 15, 1904, in [[Terre Haute, Indiana|Terre Haute]], [[Indiana]].<ref name=Scigliano /><ref name=Reider /> His father was a [[Christian Socialism|Christian Socialist]].<ref name=Reider /> |
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| ⚫ | In 1935, as a reporter for the ''[[Tacoma Tribune]]'' he became Washington State's first member of the [[American Newspaper Guild]]. In February 1936 he was asked by the Guild to organize its Seattle chapter. By the end of the year, this had led to the first successful [[strike action|strike]] to gain union recognition for workers at a [[Hearst Corporation|Hearst]] newspaper (the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]''). ([[David Selvin]] of the [[Pacific Coast Labor Bureau]] also played a key role in these events.)<ref name=Reider /> |
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==Career== |
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| ⚫ | Pettus worked briefly as a reporter in [[Minneapolis]] and in [[Grand Forks, North Dakota|Grand Forks]], [[North Dakota]], before moving to Seattle with his wife Berta in 1927. Shortly after arrival in Seattle, they lodged with artist [[Kenneth Callahan]]; Pettus went to work for the ''[[Seattle Star]]''.<ref name=Reider /> |
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| ⚫ | In the late 1930s, in Seattle, Pettus edited the Commonwealth Federation's newspaper and hosted the Seattle-area [[hootenanny|hootenannies]] (or "hoots"), which Eric Scigliano describes as "fundraising, consciousness-raising, and hellraising parties" for the federation. Pettus had originally learned the word in Terre Haute, where it meant "a party that just sort of happens" without prior planning and brought it to Seattle. When [[Woody Guthrie]] and [[Pete Seeger]] passed through Seattle, they performed at the hoots; it is believed that they picked up the term ''hootenanny'' there, and passed it into the broader American vocabulary.<ref name=Scigliano /> |
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| ⚫ | In 1935, as a reporter for the ''[[Tacoma Tribune]]'' he became Washington State's first member of the [[American Newspaper Guild]]. In February 1936 he was asked by the Guild to organize its Seattle chapter. By the end of the year, this had led to the first successful [[strike action|strike]] to gain union recognition for workers at a [[Hearst Corporation|Hearst]] newspaper (the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]''). ([[David Selvin]] of the [[Pacific Coast Labor Bureau]] also played a key role in these events.) The ''Tacoma Tribune'' closed its doors shortly thereafter.<ref name=Reider /> |
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| ⚫ | Pettus worked for a time in [[South Bend, Washington]], editing the ''Willapa Harbor Pilot'' and becoming involved with the [[left-wing]] [[Washington Commonwealth Federation]], initially in a drive for [[public utility|public power]]. Increasingly radicalized by the [[Great Depression]], in 1938 Pettus joined the [[Communist Party USA]] (CPUSA). He became editor of the Commonwealth Federation's ''Washington New Dealer'' (from 1943 ''New World''). When he tried to enlist to serve in [[World War II]], he was rejected because this work was considered essential to the war effort.<ref name=Reider /> |
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In 1946, Pettus ran unsuccessfully for [[Seattle City Council]], finishing last in a field of six contending for three seats.<ref>[http://www.seattle.gov/CityArchives/Facts/elections.htm General and Special Elections: Results for Elected Officials], City of Seattle. Accessed online 2 February 2009.</ref> |
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On January 27, 1948, Pettus disrupted the first witness of [[Canwell Committee]] hearings into Communist infiltration in the State of Washington. The witness was [[Louis F. Budenz]], managing editor of the Communist Party's official organ, the ''[[Daily Worker]]''. In that role, Budenz claimed to have heard of Pettus and to know of his newspaper the ''New World'' (previously the ''Washington New Dealer''). As soon as Budenz started talking about Communist newspapers in Seattle, Pettus tried to interrupt him. When Budenz stated "The New World is absolutely controlled by the political committee of the Communist Party," Terry Pettus finally made it onto the hearing's transcript, stating, "That is a lie, as the editor of that paper--" Budenz also said that [[Jack Stachel]] had told him about Pettus, editor and comrade.<ref> |
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{{cite web |
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| title = Transcript of Proceedings of the Un-American Activities Committee |
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| publisher = Canwell Hearings Witnesses and Testimony (Seattle 1948) |
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| url = http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/cpproject/images/hearings/canwell/2%20Louis%20Budenz.pdf |
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| pages = 3 (editor), 18 (comrade) |
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| date = 27 January 1948 |
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| accessdate = 15 June 2020}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | In February 1948, Pettus was named as a member of the Communist Party by former head of the [[Washington Commonwealth Federation]] [[Howard Costigan]] in testimony before the [[Canwell Committee]] of the [[Washington State Legislature]].<ref>Albert F. Canwell, et al., [https://archive.org/details/FirstReportUn-americanActivitiesInWashingtonState1948 ''First Report, Un-American Activities in Washington State, 1948: Report of Joint Fact Finding Committee on Un-American Activities: Established by the Thirtieth Legislature under House Concurrent Resolution No. 10.''] Olympia, WA: The House, n.d. [1948]; pg. 367.</ref> |
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[[Blacklist]]ed in the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy Era]] at the start of the [[Cold War]], Pettus became editor of the ''[[People's World]]'', a newspaper associated with the CPUSA. He was charged in 1952 with [[conspiracy (crime)#Conspiracy in the United States|conspiracy]] to overthrow the U.S. government, and convicted and sentenced to five years, plus an additional three on [[contempt of court|contempt]] charges for refusing to name names.<ref name=Scigliano /> He only actually ever served 60 days,<ref name=Reider /> and his conviction was eventually overturned by the [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref name=Scigliano /><ref name=Reider /> Pettus left the CPUSA in 1958.<ref name=Reider /> |
[[Blacklist]]ed in the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy Era]] at the start of the [[Cold War]], Pettus became editor of the ''[[People's World]]'', a newspaper associated with the CPUSA. He was charged in 1952 with [[conspiracy (crime)#Conspiracy in the United States|conspiracy]] to overthrow the U.S. government, and convicted and sentenced to five years, plus an additional three on [[contempt of court|contempt]] charges for refusing to name names.<ref name=Scigliano /> He only actually ever served 60 days,<ref name=Reider /> and his conviction was eventually overturned by the [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref name=Scigliano /><ref name=Reider /> Pettus left the CPUSA in 1958.<ref name=Reider /> |
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Pettus was fired from the "People's Daily World" publication in 1958, which was controlled by the Communist Party, because he broke with the Communist Party. The issue for the break had to do with expulsions of socialists at the publication's annual picnic.<ref>The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, August 26, 1958, Page 12, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123396811/communist-paper-fires-terry-pettus/</ref> |
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Back in Seattle, Pettus moved onto a [[houseboat]] in 1958 and later played a crucial role in saving [[Lake Union]]'s houseboats<ref name=Scigliano /><ref name=Reider /> and in preventing the city from dumping [[sewage]] directly into the lake.<ref name=Reider /> |
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==Legacy== |
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[[File:Pete_Seeger_NYWTS.jpg|thumb|right|[[Pete Seeger]] (here, in 1955) may have learned the term "[[hootenanny]]" from Pettus when he and [[Woody Guthrie]] passed through Seattle in the late 1930s]] |
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| ⚫ | In the late 1930s, in Seattle, Pettus edited the Commonwealth Federation's newspaper and hosted the Seattle-area [[hootenanny|hootenannies]] (or "hoots"), which Eric Scigliano describes as "fundraising, consciousness-raising, and hellraising parties" for the federation. Pettus had originally learned the word in Terre Haute, where it meant "a party that just sort of happens" without prior planning and brought it to Seattle. When [[Woody Guthrie]] and [[Pete Seeger]] passed through Seattle, they performed at the hoots; it is believed that they picked up the term ''hootenanny'' there, and passed it into the broader American vocabulary.<ref name=Scigliano /> |
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==References== |
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{{reflist|2}} |
{{reflist|2}} |
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==External links== |
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* [http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87890327.html Library of Congress: Pettus, Terry, 1904-1984] |
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* [http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv44088 Archives West: Terry Pettus papers, 1927-1984] |
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* Gordon Black, [http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/cpproject/whoswho.htm#pettus Who's Who in the History of the Washington State Communist Movement], Pacific Northwest Labor History Projects, Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington. Last updated July 31, 2007. Accessed 2 February 2009. |
* Gordon Black, [http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/cpproject/whoswho.htm#pettus Who's Who in the History of the Washington State Communist Movement], Pacific Northwest Labor History Projects, Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington. Last updated July 31, 2007. Accessed 2 February 2009. |
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* [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/findaids/docs/papersrecords/PettusTerry0139_0463.xml Terry Pettus papers.] 1927-1984. approximately {{convert|2.71|cuft|m3}} of textual materials, plus 2 folders, 1 looseleaf notebook, added ephemera and 10 cassettes. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington State, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections]. |
* [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/findaids/docs/papersrecords/PettusTerry0139_0463.xml Terry Pettus papers.] 1927-1984. approximately {{convert|2.71|cuft|m3}} of textual materials, plus 2 folders, 1 looseleaf notebook, added ephemera and 10 cassettes. At the [http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/laws Labor Archives of Washington State, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections]. |
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[[Category:1904 births]] |
[[Category:1904 births]] |
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[[Category:1984 deaths]] |
[[Category:1984 deaths]] |
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[[Category:American communists]] |
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[[Category:Members of the Communist Party USA]] |
[[Category:Members of the Communist Party USA]] |
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[[Category:American Marxists]] |
[[Category:American Marxists]] |
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[[Category:Washington (state) socialists]] |
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[[Category:American male journalists]] |
[[Category:American male journalists]] |
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[[Category:Marxist journalists]] |
[[Category:Marxist journalists]] |
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[[Category:Writers from Seattle]] |
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[[Category:20th-century American writers]] |
[[Category:20th-century American writers]] |
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Latest revision as of 06:42, 2 January 2025
Terry Pettus (August 15, 1904 – October 6, 1984[1]) was a newspaper reporter and activist from Seattle, Washington.[2][3]
Background
[edit]Meredith Burrus Terry Pettus was born on August 15, 1904, in Terre Haute, Indiana.[2][3] His father was a Christian Socialist.[3]
Career
[edit]Pettus worked briefly as a reporter in Minneapolis and in Grand Forks, North Dakota, before moving to Seattle with his wife Berta in 1927. Shortly after arrival in Seattle, they lodged with artist Kenneth Callahan; Pettus went to work for the Seattle Star.[3]
In 1935, as a reporter for the Tacoma Tribune he became Washington State's first member of the American Newspaper Guild. In February 1936 he was asked by the Guild to organize its Seattle chapter. By the end of the year, this had led to the first successful strike to gain union recognition for workers at a Hearst newspaper (the Seattle Post-Intelligencer). (David Selvin of the Pacific Coast Labor Bureau also played a key role in these events.) The Tacoma Tribune closed its doors shortly thereafter.[3]
Pettus worked for a time in South Bend, Washington, editing the Willapa Harbor Pilot and becoming involved with the left-wing Washington Commonwealth Federation, initially in a drive for public power. Increasingly radicalized by the Great Depression, in 1938 Pettus joined the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). He became editor of the Commonwealth Federation's Washington New Dealer (from 1943 New World). When he tried to enlist to serve in World War II, he was rejected because this work was considered essential to the war effort.[3]
In 1946, Pettus ran unsuccessfully for Seattle City Council, finishing last in a field of six contending for three seats.[4]
On January 27, 1948, Pettus disrupted the first witness of Canwell Committee hearings into Communist infiltration in the State of Washington. The witness was Louis F. Budenz, managing editor of the Communist Party's official organ, the Daily Worker. In that role, Budenz claimed to have heard of Pettus and to know of his newspaper the New World (previously the Washington New Dealer). As soon as Budenz started talking about Communist newspapers in Seattle, Pettus tried to interrupt him. When Budenz stated "The New World is absolutely controlled by the political committee of the Communist Party," Terry Pettus finally made it onto the hearing's transcript, stating, "That is a lie, as the editor of that paper--" Budenz also said that Jack Stachel had told him about Pettus, editor and comrade.[5]
In February 1948, Pettus was named as a member of the Communist Party by former head of the Washington Commonwealth Federation Howard Costigan in testimony before the Canwell Committee of the Washington State Legislature.[6]
Blacklisted in the McCarthy Era at the start of the Cold War, Pettus became editor of the People's World, a newspaper associated with the CPUSA. He was charged in 1952 with conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government, and convicted and sentenced to five years, plus an additional three on contempt charges for refusing to name names.[2] He only actually ever served 60 days,[3] and his conviction was eventually overturned by the United States Supreme Court.[2][3] Pettus left the CPUSA in 1958.[3]
Pettus was fired from the "People's Daily World" publication in 1958, which was controlled by the Communist Party, because he broke with the Communist Party. The issue for the break had to do with expulsions of socialists at the publication's annual picnic.[7]
Back in Seattle, Pettus moved onto a houseboat in 1958 and later played a crucial role in saving Lake Union's houseboats[2][3] and in preventing the city from dumping sewage directly into the lake.[3]
Legacy
[edit]
In the late 1930s, in Seattle, Pettus edited the Commonwealth Federation's newspaper and hosted the Seattle-area hootenannies (or "hoots"), which Eric Scigliano describes as "fundraising, consciousness-raising, and hellraising parties" for the federation. Pettus had originally learned the word in Terre Haute, where it meant "a party that just sort of happens" without prior planning and brought it to Seattle. When Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger passed through Seattle, they performed at the hoots; it is believed that they picked up the term hootenanny there, and passed it into the broader American vocabulary.[2]
Seattle mayor Charles Royer honored him in 1982 with an official Terry Pettus Day, and in 1985, the year after his death, the city dedicated the small Terry Pettus Park on the shore of Lake Union near one of the houseboat neighborhoods.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ SSDI for 536-10-1602. Accessed online 11 February 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g Eric Scigliano, "What a Hoot!", Seattle Metropolitan, December 2008, p. 52-54.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ross Reider, Pettus, Terry (1904-1984), HistoryLink, September 27, 2000. Accessed online 2 February 2009.
- ^ General and Special Elections: Results for Elected Officials, City of Seattle. Accessed online 2 February 2009.
- ^ "Transcript of Proceedings of the Un-American Activities Committee" (PDF). Canwell Hearings Witnesses and Testimony (Seattle 1948). 27 January 1948. pp. 3 (editor), 18 (comrade). Retrieved 15 June 2020.
- ^ Albert F. Canwell, et al., First Report, Un-American Activities in Washington State, 1948: Report of Joint Fact Finding Committee on Un-American Activities: Established by the Thirtieth Legislature under House Concurrent Resolution No. 10. Olympia, WA: The House, n.d. [1948]; pg. 367.
- ^ The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, August 26, 1958, Page 12, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123396811/communist-paper-fires-terry-pettus/
External links
[edit]- Library of Congress: Pettus, Terry, 1904-1984
- Archives West: Terry Pettus papers, 1927-1984
- Gordon Black, Who's Who in the History of the Washington State Communist Movement, Pacific Northwest Labor History Projects, Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington. Last updated July 31, 2007. Accessed 2 February 2009.
- Terry Pettus papers. 1927-1984. approximately 2.71 cubic feet (0.077 m3) of textual materials, plus 2 folders, 1 looseleaf notebook, added ephemera and 10 cassettes. At the Labor Archives of Washington State, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
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