John Freeman

Career

Military service

During World War II, Freeman saw active service in the Middle East, North Africa, Italy and North West Europe. He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards, was commissioned in the Rifle Brigade in 1940 He was appointed MBE in 1943.

Political career

After Freeman's return to Britain, he was selected as Labour candidate for Watford and was elected as a Member of Parliament in the 1945 election.

In September 1947, Freeman was appointed Vice-President of the Army Council, the supreme administering body of the British Army.

Freeman was originally on the Bevanite left wing of the party, although also supported by Hugh Dalton, who liked to go 'talent-spotting' among young MPs. He rose quickly through the ministerial ranks, but resigned along with Aneurin Bevan and Harold Wilson in 1951 over National Health Service charges. He stood down as an MP at the 1955 general election.

Journalism and public career

Freeman became a presenter of Panorama and was editor of the New Statesman from 1961 to 1965. He also presented the BBC Television interview programme Face to Face.

In 1962, Freeman described Richard Nixon, then bidding to become Governor of California, as “a man of no principle whatsoever except a willingness to sacrifice everything in the cause of Dick Nixon”. Later in the pages of the New Statesman he portrayed Nixon as "a discredited and outmoded purveyor of the irrational and inactive" whose 1964 defeat would be a "victory for decency." Following this, the two became friends and Freeman "was the only Ambassador invited to the White House for social occasions during his first term". Kissinger said he "became one of my closest friends; that friendship has survived both our terms in office."