Lyons, Eugene, 1898-1985

American journalist and author; correspondent in the Soviet Union, 1928-1934; editor, Reader's Digest, 1946-1968; president, American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, 1951-1952.

Eugene Lyons (1898-1985) was Russian-born journalist and writer who was associated with Tass News Agency, American mercury, The pageant, and Reader's digest. A student of Soviet affairs, the U.S.S.R., and communism, Lyons wrote and lectured extensively on the Soviet system and world communism.

Biographical Note

Eugene Lyons has been a newspaperman, foreign correspondent, editor, radio commentator, and a prolific political writer. He has corresponded with many of the prominent people responsible for major historical events in the twentieth century, and has dedicated himself to a lifetime of studies of Soviet affairs, the U.S.S.R., and communism. At first sympathetic to the "communist experiment," Lyons later turned fervently against it. He has written and lectured extensively on the Soviet system and world communism.

Lyons was born in Uzlain, Russia, on July 1, 1898, to Nathan and Minnie (Privin) Lyons. In 1907 he came to the United States. He attended the College of the City of New York in 1916-17, and Columbia University in 1917. In 1918, he joined the U.S. Army.

His career as a journalist began in 1919 as a reporter and editor for several eastern papers. In 1924, he received a position with the Tass News Agency offices in New York as either an editor or assistant director, depending upon the reference work cited.

In 1928, he was hired as a foreign correspondent for United Press and was stationed in Moscow. During this assignment he became the first foreign reporter granted an interview with Joseph Stalin. His experiences during this period are related in his book, Assignment in Utopia, published late in 1937.

During the war years (1939-1944) Lyons was the editor for The American Mercury in New York. In 1945 he initiated and served as the first editor for The Pageant ; and in 1946, he was offered a post on the editorial staff of Reader's Digest where he remained until his retirement in 1968.

In his other activities, he helped found and served as the first president for the American Committee for the Liberation of Peoples of Russia (known later as the Radio Liberty Committee), was among the founding members and the second president (1939-1940) of the Overseas Press Club and was a member of the Dutch Treat Club. Lyons currently resides in New York.