Kennett Farrar Potter Love (August 17, 1924 – May 13, 2013) was an American journalist for The New York Times.

Kennett Love
Born(1924-08-17)August 17, 1924
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedMay 13, 2013(2013-05-13) (aged 88)
Alma materColumbia University
OccupationJournalist
Spouse(s)1. Marie Felicité Pratt

2. Melinda Elisabeth Reed

Blair Seagram (partner)
Children4,[1] including Suzanna Love

Early life

edit

Love was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 17, 1924, to Mary Chauncey (née Potter) Love and John Allan Love, founder of Prudential Savings of St. Louis.[2][3]

He attended John Burroughs School and Princeton University, receiving an Associate in Arts degree,[4] before serving (1943-1946)[5] as a pilot in the Navy Air Corps during World War II.[3]

In 1946, he married Marie Felicité Pratt (1926–2002),[3] a granddaughter of John Teele Pratt and great-granddaughter of Charles Pratt, Pratt Institute founder,[6] with whom he had two daughters, Mary and Suzanna, and two sons, John and Nicholas.[3]

Love received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College in 1948.[3][5][7]

Career

edit

In 1948, after finishing college, Love began working as a reporter for The Hudson-Dispatch, a newspaper in Union City, New Jersey before joining The New York Times in 1948,[8] working in the morgue before becoming a newspaper reporter in 1950.[3]

As a foreign correspondent, his assignments included coverage of activities in the Middle East, East Africa, West Africa and Europe.[5]

In 1953, Love wrote about the CIA-orchestrated plot to overthrow Iran’s democratically elected prime minister.[9][10][11][8] Love and a reporter for The Associated Press wrote about the decrees signed by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi that called for Fazlollah Zahedi to replace Mohammad Mosaddegh.[12] The release of the decrees, which helped legitimize the coup, was engineered by the CIA.[13][14][15][16]

In 1954, when he was based in Cairo,[17] Love wrote front-page articles about the discovery of a 50-foot boat that had been intended to convey the spirit of the pharaoh Cheops to the underworld.[3]

In 1962, Love left The New York Times for the first national monthly news magazine, USA * 1: Monthly News & Current History, its editors included Lewis H. Lapham and Robert K. Massie.[8][18][19][20][21][22][23]

Between 1963 and 1964, Love served as a Peace Corps Planner-Evaluator in Ethiopia, Morocco, Tunisia and in training centers in the United States.[5][24]

Between 1964 and 1968, Love was an associate professor at Princeton University's School of Oriental Studies.[5]

Between 1971 and 1973, Love was a professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo, and served as a Cairo correspondent for ABC News.[5] Love was a correspondent and contributor for broadcaster CBS.[8]

In 1974 Love began a career as a free-lance writer, editor and photographer.[5]

In 1980, someone found a copy of Love’s 1960 term paper, for a professor at Princeton, in the sealed archives of Allen Dulles, and leaked it to CounterSpy, who accused Love of having been a CIA agent. He denied it.[25]

In 1984, Love denied helping the CIA with the 1953 Iran coup, while working for The New York Times, suing Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathan Kwitny,[26][27][28][29][30][31] until, at least, 1993. District Judge Mukasey found that Love's manuscript "suggested strongly that he may have played a role" in the coup.[32][33][34][35][36][37]

Love was a contributor to the publications New York Times Magazine, Washington Monthly, and Middle East Journal, and others.[8]

Love began research and interviews for a history of the 1953 coup in Iran.[5]

Bibliography

edit
  • Royalists Oust Mossadegh; Army Seizes Helm, The New York Times, August 20, 1953[38][39][12]
  • U.S. Envoy Lauds Egyptian Regime, The New York Times, December 6, 1954
  • Jordan Pressure Denied By Britain, The New York Times, Jan 10, 1956[40]
  • The American Role in the Pahlevi Restoration: On 19 August 1953, 1960.
(unpublished manuscript submitted as a term paper (coursework) to a Princeton University professor while the Council on Foreign Relations Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow)[41]
  • Suez: The Twice-Fought War, a History. (New York and Toronto: McGraw Hill, 1969) ISBN 007038780X[48][49][50][51]

Awards

edit

Personal life

edit

Kennett Love was named for the surname of an ancestor, Congressman Luther Martin Kennett. Love's siblings were John Allan Love, Jr., Mary Lehmann, Deborah Deacon Pollock Matthiessen, Cynthia Brooks Roth, and Nathalie Chauncey Pierrepont Love.[citation needed] Deborah was the wife of novelist Peter Matthiessen.[56][57] Love was a great-grandson of Episcopal Bishop Horatio Potter,[58] descended from Rhode Island Colony founders Roger Williams (1603-1683) and William Arnold (1587-c.1676), and from Dr. Bernard Gaines Farrar (1784-1849) of St. Louis.[59]

In 1946, Love married Marie Felicité Pratt,[3] and in 1973, Melinda Elisabeth Reed,[60] and his partner in his final decades was Blair Seagram.[8]

Love was a sailor, who taught celestial navigation at the East Hampton Marine Museum.[8] In 1983, sailed from Sag Harbor to Dark Harbor, Me., in an 18-ft. ketch-rigged open skiff. He made ocean voyages in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific in yachts.[8]

Love designed several buildings, including a house in Sag Harbor and a house in East Hampton.[8]

Death

edit

Kennett Love died on May 13, 2013, of a respiratory failure at his home in Southampton, New York, aged 88, survived by his daughters, Mary Christy Love Sadron and Suzanna Potter Love; two sons, John and Nicholas; two sisters, Mary Lehmann and Nathalie Love; a niece, Rue Matthiessen Shaughnessy; a nephew, Alex Matthiessen; and five grandchildren.[3][8][61]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Mrs. Kennett Love Has Son". The New York Times. May 6, 1951.
  2. ^ "Clipped From St. Louis Post-Dispatch". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Mar 31, 1974. p. 42 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Kennett Love, Times Correspondent in 1950s, Dies at 88". The New York Times. May 9, 2013. p. 22.
  4. ^ "Mary Catherine Urian engagement party". The St. Louis Star and Times. Jul 18, 1942. p. 9 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Kennett Love Papers, 1953-1990". dla.library.upenn.edu.
  6. ^ "Suzanna P. Love, Actress, Married to Ulli Lommel". The New York Times. January 27, 1978. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  7. ^ "Obituaries | Columbia College Today". www.college.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Kennett Love". May 24, 2013. Archived from the original on July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  9. ^ "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, Iran, 1951–1954 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov.
  10. ^ Yoo, Hyun Sang (1996) An analysis of United States security policy towards a third world state during the Cold War era : case study of US-Iran relations. Durham theses, Durham University.
  11. ^ "The Battle for Iran, 1953: Re-Release of CIA Internal History Spotlights New Details about anti-Mosaddeq Coup". nsarchive2.gwu.edu.
  12. ^ a b "Princeton - in the News - April 19, 2000". pr.princeton.edu.
  13. ^ "The CIA Looks Back at the 1953 Coup in Iran". MERIP. Sep 4, 2000.
  14. ^ Lee, Carolyn T., A Cold War Narrative: The Covert Coup of Mohammad Mossadegh, Role of the U.S. Press and Its Haunting Legacies. Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2013.
  15. ^ William A. Dorman, Mansour Farhang The U.S. Press and Iran: Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference University of California Press, 1988 ISBN 0520909011
  16. ^ Bill Moyers The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis (1987)
  17. ^ "British Voice Concern; By KENNETT LOVE Special to The New York Times". The New York Times. Aug 23, 1956.
  18. ^ "Show Magazine Buys USA 1; News Monthly to Be Suspended". The New York Times. Aug 11, 1962.
  19. ^ "USA 1 News Magazine 4 1962 JFK Jackie Chou En-Lai Vietnam Romney Robert Frost at Amazon's Entertainment Collectibles Store". Amazon.
  20. ^ "U S A 1: Monthly News and Current History". Jul 12, 1962 – via Google Books.
  21. ^ "SHOW MAGAZINE SOLD FOR $60,000 $6.8 Million Debt Retained by Hartford Publications". The New York Times. Dec 3, 1964.
  22. ^ "Guide to the R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company Archive 1844-2005". www.lib.uchicago.edu.
  23. ^ "USA * 1 Monthly News & Current History: All Five Issues (entire run of the magazine) by CAMPBELL, Rodney C. (president & editor); GARDNER, Addison L. (chairman & publisher): Very Good Hardcover (1962) | Bluebird Books (RMABA, IOBA)". Jul 12, 2020. Archived from the original on July 12, 2020.
  24. ^ "What Program Was The First Peace Corps Project?". Peace Corps Worldwide.
  25. ^ a b "Fake News at the New York Times". sevenstories.com. 14 March 2024.
  26. ^ "ex-times reporter accused of role in 53 coup in iran" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017.
  27. ^ reporter sues reporter - Central Intelligence Agency
  28. ^ "WJR Picks the Aides". May 16, 1985 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  29. ^ "New York Magazine". New York Media, LLC. Mar 18, 1985 – via Google Books.
  30. ^ Kwitny, Jonathan (Jul 12, 1984). Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World. Congdon & Weed. ISBN 9780865531246 – via Google Books.
  31. ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany (20 June 2017). "64 Years Later, CIA Finally Releases Details of Iranian Coup".
  32. ^ "Love v. William Morrow and Co., Inc., 193 A.D.2d 586 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com.
  33. ^ a b "Love v. Kwitny, 706 F. Supp. 1123 (S.D.N.Y. 1989)". Justia Law.
  34. ^ "Love v. Kwitny". h2o.law.harvard.edu.
  35. ^ "LOVE v. WILLIAM MORROW AND CO., INC | 193 A.D.2d 586 | N.Y. App. Div. | Judgment | Law | CaseMine". www.casemine.com.
  36. ^ http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/CIA%20Reporters%20New%20York%20Times%20Series%2012-25-77/Item%2001.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  37. ^ "Fair Use: The Four Factors | Georgia State University Library News".
  38. ^ "Royalists Oust Mossadegh; Army Seizes Helm". archive.nytimes.com.
  39. ^ https://scholar.colorado.edu/downloads/jq085k438 [bare URL PDF]
  40. ^ https://web.stanford.edu/group/tomzgroup/pmwiki/uploads/3153-1956-01-10-PQ-a-KN.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  41. ^ Hess, John L. (1989). "More Lies Bared". Grand Street. 8 (2): 110–115. doi:10.2307/25007203. JSTOR 25007203.
  42. ^ Dorman, William A.; Farhang, Mansour (Aug 24, 1988). The U.S. Press and Iran: Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520909014 – via Google Books.
  43. ^ "New York Times Covers and Aids 1953 C.I.A. Coup in Iran," CounterSpy v.4 i.4 (September–October 1980)
  44. ^ "Four Important Books". Aug 12, 2004. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004.
  45. ^ http://cdn.calisphere.org/data/13030/64/c8jw8d64/files/2012C51.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  46. ^ "Register of the Herbert Romerstein collection". oac.cdlib.org.
  47. ^ "Love v. Kwitny | Cases | H2O". opencasebook.org. Archived from the original on 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  48. ^ Love, Kennett (Jul 12, 1976). "Suez: The Twice-Fought War, a History". McGraw-Hill Book Company – via Google Books.
  49. ^ Love, Kennett (Jul 12, 1970). Suez: the twice-fought war. Longman. OCLC 18285448.
  50. ^ Love, Kennett (Jul 12, 1969). Suez--the Twice-fought War: A History. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780582127210 – via Google Books.
  51. ^ Craig, Gordon (Nov 30, 1969). "Suez; The Twice-Fought War. A History by Kennett Love. Maps. 767 pp. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. $10". The New York Times.
  52. ^ "Historical Roster of CFR's Edward R. Murrow Press Fellows". Council on Foreign Relations.
  53. ^ "Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship". Council on Foreign Relations.
  54. ^ "Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship 60th Anniversary Event". Council on Foreign Relations.
  55. ^ "Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship in USA". Scholarship Positions. Jul 4, 2013.
  56. ^ "Deborah Love Matthiessen, Author and Teacher, 44". The New York Times. Jan 30, 1972.
  57. ^ "Catalog 132, M | Ken Lopez Bookseller". lopezbooks.com.
  58. ^ "MISS MARIE PRATT PROSPECTIVE BRIDE; Member of Glen Cove Family Will Be Wed to Kenneth F.P. Love, Former Ensign". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
  59. ^ Giulvezan, Isabel Stebbins (1963). "The descendants of Dr. Bernard Gaines Farrar, 1784-1849". Internet Archive.
  60. ^ "Melinda Reed Wed to Kennett Love". The New York Times. December 22, 1973. p. 31.
  61. ^ "Farewell to Kennett Love, Times correspondent who covered the plane crash in 1952". May 20, 2013. Archived from the original on July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
edit