John J. Leary Jr.

John Joseph Leary Jr. (February 2, 1874 – January 4, 1944) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and newspaper editor. He worked for a number of news organizations including Lynn Press, The Denver Times, the New York Herald, New York World, New-York Tribune, The Boston Journal, The Boston Post, and The Boston Record.

Leary's prize-winning work, written while working with the New York World, is still cited in books, more than 70-years after his death, with one author describing him as "the first star labor reporter in the United States. He was awarded the prize for his series of articles written during the national coal strike during the winter of 1919.

In his book, No Longer Newsworthy: How the Mainstream Media Abandoned the Working Class, Christopher R. Martin described Leary as "the first star labor reporter in the United States." Leary had begun covering the labor disputes, strikes and violence, between the United Mineworkers of America and the mine operators, beginning in 1918. His Pulitzer prize-winning stories were the first to be awarded the prize for labor reporting.

His story, "Coal Strike in West Virginia," (December 9, 1919, New York Herald) was reported on by various union labor journals all over the country, noting that he promised to continue reporting on the violence and efforts to stop unionization in Logan County, West Virginia.

The Buffalo Labor Journal ran one story headline, in December 1919, that read:

The journal article reported on "conditions that bordered on feudalism," to prevent future unionization in the Guyan River coal fields, in Guyan Valley, Huntington, West Virginia.

Leary continued reporting on the labor issues in West Virginia, writing, in 1922, about the inaction of then, Secretary of State, Herbert Hoover, and congress. In his article, "Coal-The Roosevelt Way Out," he wrote "'There is, " Secretary Hoover declared when the subject was put up to him, "no machinery for the purpose. We can only wait on developments."' He added that although President Harding had given much attention to the issue, "the attitude of official Washington reflects...the attitude of the man in the street...he knows that the situation is bad. But there have been situations as bad before and we have, some way or other, muddled through.'"

On Theodore Roosevelt Leary's collection of conversations with Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, was published in a book titled, "Talks with T.R.," first published in 1920. Roosevelt died in January 1919, Leary was one of a very few number of people who had the opportunity to interview him in-depth.

Late career Leary reported for The New York World until they closed operations in 1931.

Personal and death Leary was born to parents, John J. Leary and Mary Ann (Cronon). He married, Alice Ruth Dwyer (1876–1942), in 1896, she died, two years before his death, in 1942. Leary was buried, along with other family members, at Saint Mary's Cemetery, in Lynn, Massachusetts.