Chamberlain, John, 1903-1995.

Book reviewer, editor, and author of THE ROOTS OF CAPITALISM, published in 1959.

Journalist, literary critic, author; editor of Fortune magazine, 1936-1941, and associate professor at Columbia University School of Journalism.

American journalist.

John Chamberlain was a syndicated columnist and was in contact with many public personalities including former president Richard Nixon.

American journalist and literary critic John R. Chamberlain (1903-1995) graduated from Yale University in 1925, and the following year began his career in the news industry working for the New York Times . He later held positions as reporter, editor, columnist, and book reviewer for several other newspapers and magazines, including the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Life . Additionally, he authored a syndicated column for King Features for twenty-five years. Prior to the 1940s, Chamberlain was known as a liberal until switching his political beliefs over to conservatism, as did many other writers and thinkers of the time.

After the death of his first wife Margaret Sterling in the mid 1950s, he married Ernestine Stodelle, formerly married to Russian theatrical producer Theodore Komisarjevsky. Chamberlain had two daughters, one son, a stepdaughter, and two stepsons.

Sources:

“John Chamberlain, Columnist, Dies at 91.” New York Times. April 13, 1995. Accessed November 23, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/13/obituaries/john-chamberlain-columnist-dies-at-91.html.

“John Chamberlain (Journalist).” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed November 23, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chamberlain_%28journalist%29.

Biographical/Historical Note

American journalist.

John Chamberlain (1903-1995) was a significant figure in the American intellectual conservative movement that flourished beginning in the early 1940s. Following graduation from Yale in 1925, he embarked on a distinguished career in journalism and wrote several books, of which The Roots of Capitalism is considered his most important. Two others for which he is remembered are Farewell to Reform (1932) and The Enterprising Americans: A Business History of the United States (1963). Chamberlain also wrote the foreward to the American edition of Hayek's Road to Serfdom (1944), and was a contributing editor for the National Review .