Joseph P. Lash | |
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Agnes Reynolds and Joseph P. Lash of the American Student Union before the Dies Committee, 1939.
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Born |
New York City |
December 2, 1909
Died | August 22, 1987 Boston, Massachusetts |
(aged 77)
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | City College of New York, Columbia University |
Genre | Biography |
Notable works | Eleanor and Franklin (1971), Eleanor: The Years Alone (1972) |
Spouse | Trude Wenzel Pratt Lash |
Joseph P. Lash (1909-1987) was an American radical political activist, journalist, and author. A close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Lash won both the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the National Book Award in Biography for Eleanor and Franklin (1971), the first of two volumes he wrote about the former First Lady.
Joseph P. Lash was born December 2, 1909 in New York City, the son of the former Mary Avchin and Samuel Lash, ethnic Jewish immigrants from the Russian empire. Joseph was the eldest of three sons and two daughters of the couple.
He received his Bachelor's degree from City College of New York in 1931 and a Master's degree from Columbia University in New York City in 1932.
In 1930 while a Junior at City College, Lash joined the Socialist Party of America (SPA), in which he remained a member until his resignation in 1937.
Following his graduation in 1932, Lash went to work for the League for Industrial Democracy (LID), an independent socialist organization closely tied to the SPA. He remained head of the Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID) and editor of its publication Student Outlook from 1933 until 1935. In 1936 Lash became the executive secretary of the American Student Union, a popular front organization which brought together members of the youth organizations of the rival Socialist and Communist parties. Lash served in this capacity until 1939.