Ralph G. Martin

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Ralph G. Martin , actually Ralph Martin Goldberg (born March 4, 1920 in Chicago , Illinois , † January 9, 2013 in Sleepy Hollow , New York ) was an American author and biographer . He has authored over thirty biographical books on politicians and celebrities.

Life

Martin was born in 1920 in Chicago and moved at the age of 8 years with his family in the New York district of Brooklyn . As a young man he changed his name to Ralph G. Martin.

Martin attended City College of New York and graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1941 . After graduating, he hitchhiked across the country until he found himself in Brigham City , Utah , where he took a job with the local newspaper, The Box Elder News Journal . There he worked as a managing editor, senior reporter, society reporter and more. After his predecessor died in the hospital the following day, Martin's first job there was to write an obituary for him.

With the beginning of the Second World War , Martin signed up for military service and joined the army . He served in Europe as a war correspondent for the military newspaper The Stars and Stripes and later for Yank , the Army's weekly military magazine.

In 1944 he married his wife Marjorie Pastel Martin. The ceremony was conducted by New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia , whom Martin previously interviewed for Yank . With Marjorie he had three children: Elizabeth, Tina and Maurice.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Martin worked as an editor for various magazines, including Newsweek , the political magazine The New Republic and as editor-in-chief for the interior design magazine House Beautiful . In 1952 and 1956 he was a member of the election campaign Adlai Ewing Stevensons , the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party .

Over the years he has authored over thirty books alone and as a co-author. The best known of these is Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill , a two-part biography of Jennie Jeromes , Winston Churchill's mother. The first part, which appeared in 1969, stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for over thirty weeks . In other biographies he dealt with King Edward VIII , the Kennedy family , Prince Charles and Princess Diana and Golda Meir . With Ballots & Bandwagons , he published a study of the nomination party conventions in the United States in 1964 .

Martin died on January 9, 2013 at the age of 92.

Works (selection)

  • 1964: Ballots & Bandwagons
  • 1969: Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill - The Romantic Years, 1854–1895
  • 1971: Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill - The Dramatic Years, 1895-1921
  • 1974: The Woman He Loved
  • 1983: A Hero for Our Time
  • 1985: Charles & Diana
  • 1988: Golda: Golda Meir, the Romantic Years
  • 1991: Henry and Clare: An Intimate Portrait of the Luces
  • 1995: Seeds of Destruction: Joe Kennedy and His Sons

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Martin, Ralph G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goldberg, Ralph Martin (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author and biographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 2013
Place of death Sleepy Hollow , New York , United States