- Born: November 1, 1908
- Birthplace: New York, NY
- Died: November 24, 1997
Ira Wolfert won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of World War II. When the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) branded Wolfert a communist by association, listing him among the "sponsors" of the anti-anticommunist Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace, his book was rejected by publishing house after publishing house. The well-known editor Angus Cameron took it upon himself to try to get the book published, and finally succeeded after 20 rejections. Within a month of the book's publication, it was in its third printing.
Wolfert grew up in New York City, and graduated from Columbia School of Journalismm in 1930. He found work writing for the New York Post, reporting from Berlin where he witnessed the rise of the Nazis. He wrote from the Pacific theater and penned a book on the Solomon campaign, The Battle for the Solomons (1943), which won him the Pulitzer Prize. Also in 1943, he published his book, Tucker's People, based loosely on the rise and fall of Dutch Schultz. Five years later it was made into the film Force of Evil. His next book, An American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1945) became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and was adapted into a 1950 movie.
Most Famous Works
- Tucker's People (1943)
