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Abstract
Victor Riesel was a highly visible newspaper columnist known for his reporting on organized labor in the 1940s and 1950s. Riesel considered himself to be a friend of the working class, but his columns echoed the anti-Communist, anti-labor sentiments of conservative politicians and business elites. Riesel's daily report appeared in nearly two hundred newspapers in the mid-1950s. His claim to being pro-labor and his wide distribution added potency to his criticism of unions, as did an acid attack in 1956 that le ft him blind. He publicly insisted the assault was retaliation for his coverage of organized crime in labor. Despite his prominence as a specialist on one of the most contentious issues of his time, few scholars have examined Riesel's career as a syndicated columnist. This essay examines his work leading up to the attack as he became one of the nation's most visible labor critics.
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Philip M. Glende
PHIL GLENDE was a newspaper reporter and editor before receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin under the direction of the late James L. Baughman. He currently is executive director of Student Media at Indiana State University.
