Storm, Hans Otto, 1895-1941

Hans Otto Storm, born in Bloomington, California in 1895, was raised in Anaheim, California, and educated at Stanford University, where he earned his B.A. in engineering in 1920. He worked as an electrical engineer and radio telegraph engineer for All American Cables and later for Globe Wireless Company. These positions took him to various parts of Latin America, including Nicaragua and Peru. Evidently, his observations and experiences on these business trips, during which he designed and installed radio transmitters for the governments of these nations, influenced his literary endeavors. He wrote three novelettes and one full-length novel ( Full Measure, Pity the Tyrant, Made in U.S.A. and Count Ten), the second of which brought him both acclaim and infamy (in different circles of readership). Pity the Tyrant, a novel which satirizes the Peruvian political situation of the late 1930s led to Storm's being deported during his second visit to Peru. Newspaper clippings of the time note that he was encouraged to leave Peru "if he wanted to remain in good health." In the United States, however, Storm received the Commonwealth Club's gold medal for "Best Work of a General Literature" by a California author in 1938. In 1935, he was elected to the executive committee of the communist-led League of American Writers. After Storm's death, David Greenhood, his literary executor, published a memorial collection of Storm's work titled Of Good Family: Stories and Observations About Spanish America. In addition to his literary accomplishments, Storm is known for developing the arc converter electrode and introducing methods to remotely control radio transmitters and receivers. Storm resided in Palo Alto, California until his death in 1941.

From the guide to the Hans Otto Storm Papers, 1937-1948, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)

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