Russell Baker Biography Quotes 29 Report mistakes

Russell Wayne Baker
Russell Wayne Baker was an American journalist, essayist, and humorist whose plainspoken elegance made him one of the most widely read columnists of the late 20th century. He was born on August 14, 1925, in rural Virginia and grew up during the hardships of the Great Depression. The death of his father when he was a small boy left his mother, Lucy Elizabeth Baker, to shoulder the family through lean years. Lucy Baker, whose determination and wit would later become central figures in her son's writing, moved the family as circumstances required, and her aspirations for him helped send a talented, curious child toward a life in letters.

Education and Wartime Service
Baker's schooling was interrupted by World War II. He entered the U.S. Navy as an aviation cadet, an experience that broadened his view of the country and the world while sharpening a skepticism that would fuel his later voice in print. After the war he attended Johns Hopkins University, where he studied English and wrote for campus publications. He graduated in 1947 with the skills and ambition to attempt daily newspaper work, then the rough apprenticeship of American journalism.

Early Reporting Career
Baker began at The Baltimore Sun, learning the exacting routines of beat reporting, deadline writing, and rewrite-desk polish. He covered the miscellany of a metropolitan paper's life - politics, local events, human-interest stories - and developed the nimble style that allowed him to be both precise and slyly funny. The Sun's editors valued his reliability and range, and he soon earned opportunities to write beyond the straightforward news account.

The New York Times and The Observer
In 1954 Baker joined The New York Times, first as a Washington reporter. He covered national politics, Congress, and presidential campaigns, reporting with an eye for the revealing detail rather than the bombastic quote. A decade that produced forceful Times voices such as James Reston, Anthony Lewis, and Tom Wicker also made room for Baker's distinct approach. In 1962 he launched The Observer, a twice-weekly column that mixed satire, memoir, and political commentary. Published on the editorial page, it became a fixture of the paper under publishers like Arthur Ochs Sulzberger and the editors who valued Baker's ability to capture the country's mood without sacrificing civility. In 1979 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for these columns, which often illuminated Washington's rituals by deflating their pretensions.

Books and Literary Work
Baker extended his voice to books with notable success. Growing Up, his 1982 memoir centered on family, poverty, and his indomitable mother, won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. Its frankness and affection made it a classic of American autobiographical writing. He followed with The Good Times, a memoir of his reporting life and the bustling newsrooms that shaped him. He also edited The Norton Book of Light Verse, demonstrating his lifelong affection for wit and craftsmanship, and later assembled collections that surveyed American humor. Throughout, he wrote with an ear for rhythm and a preference for clarity, placing him in the tradition of American columnists who could be mordant without being cruel. Readers often mentioned him in the company of contemporaries like Art Buchwald, though Baker's tone was more rueful than antic.

Broadcasting and Public Presence
In 1992 Baker succeeded Alistair Cooke as the host of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, an unusual but apt appointment. His wry, conversational introductions set audiences at ease, and his respect for narrative dovetailed with the program's literary dramas. Working with the producers at WGBH Boston, he brought a newspaperman's brevity and a humorist's tilt to the role, remaining a familiar presence to public television viewers through the 1990s.

Style and Influence
Baker's style blended understatement with observation. He distrusted jargon, pretension, and needless speed, and he prized words that did their work without calling attention to themselves. He could move from a reminiscence of Depression-era Baltimore to a skewering of modern political spectacle without changing his essential voice. Colleagues across the Times opinion pages, including William Safire and others from different ideological corners, respected his craft. Younger journalists learned from his example that a clear sentence and a humane perspective could carry as much force as a shouted opinion.

Personal Life and Final Years
Baker married Miriam Emily Nash in 1950, and they raised a family while navigating the relocations and deadlines of a reporter's life. He retired from The New York Times in the late 1990s after more than three decades of The Observer. In later years he lived in Virginia, continued to write occasionally, and remained a valued public voice. He died on January 21, 2019, in Leesburg, Virginia, at the age of 93.

Legacy
Russell Baker's legacy rests on the durable pleasures of good prose and the moral intelligence behind it. He won two Pulitzer Prizes, edited anthologies that celebrated light verse and humor, and introduced millions to classic drama on television. Yet his most enduring achievement may be the trust he earned from readers, who came to know him as a guide through both public life and private memory. His work endures as a reminder that wit can be generous, and that the best journalism enlarges the reader's world without diminishing anyone else's.

Our collection contains 29 quotes who is written by Russell, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Writing - Parenting.

Other people realated to Russell: Erma Bombeck (Journalist)

• 1989 The Good Times (Memoir)
• 1982 Growing Up (Memoir)
• 1980 So This Is Depravity (Book)
• 1973 The Rescue of Miss Yaskell and Other Pipe Dreams (Book)
• 1972 Poor Russell's Almanac (Book)

• Wikipedia