Robert Sherrill | Journalist, 89
Robert Sherrill, 89, a self-described "independent radical" journalist who brought an acerbic, at times polemical, wit to books about political leaders, to topics such as military judicial abuses, and to moneyed interests such as Big Oil and the gun industry, died Tuesday in Tallahassee, Fla. The cause was pneumonia, said his goddaughter, Sidney Brammer.
Robert Sherrill, 89, a self-described "independent radical" journalist who brought an acerbic, at times polemical, wit to books about political leaders, to topics such as military judicial abuses, and to moneyed interests such as Big Oil and the gun industry, died Tuesday in Tallahassee, Fla. The cause was pneumonia, said his goddaughter, Sidney Brammer.
Mr. Sherrill had a long association with the leftward-leaning magazine the Nation, serving at various times as its Washington editor and White House correspondent. He also contributed to periodicals such as Playboy, Esquire, and the Atlantic Monthly, and newspapers including the New York Times. He was among the dozens of journalists who appeared on President Richard Nixon's list of political opponents and enemies.
The Accidental President (1967) was his one-man assault on President Johnson as "treacherous, dishonest, manic-aggressive, petty, spoiled." In The Drugstore Liberal, written with Harry Ernst, Mr. Sherrill offered a lashing critique of Vice President Hubert Humphrey's political character.
Mr. Sherrill's other books include Gothic Politics in the Deep South (1968), which profiles George Wallace of Alabama and other leaders in what he called "the new Confederacy." - Washington Post