John Reed (journalist) - Early Life

Early Life

John Reed was born on October 22, 1887, in his maternal grandmother's mansion in Portland, Oregon. His mother, Margaret Green Reed, was the daughter of a leading Portland citizen who had made a fortune through three enterprises: as owner of the first gas works in Oregon, owner of the first pig iron smelter on the west coast, and as second owner of the Portland water works. John's father, Charles Jerome Reed, was the representative of an agricultural machinery manufacturer who had come to town from the East. With his ready wit, he quickly won acceptance in Portland’s business community. His parents were married in 1886.

A sickly child, young "Jack" grew up surrounded by nurses and servants, and his upper-class playmates were carefully selected. His brother, Harry, was two years his junior. Jack and his brother were sent to the recently-established Portland Academy, a private school. Jack was bright enough to pass his courses but could not be bothered to work for top marks, as he found school dry and tedious. In September 1904, Jack was sent to Morristown School in New Jersey to prepare for college as his father, who never attended a university, wanted his sons to go to Harvard. At this prep school, Jack continued his track record of poor classroom performance, although he did make the football team and showed literary promise.

Reed failed in his first attempt on the admission exam but passed on his second try and in the fall of 1906 he entered Harvard College. Tall, handsome, and light-hearted, Jack threw himself into all manner of student activities. He was a member of the cheerleading team, the swimming team, and the dramatic club. He served on the editorial boards of the Lampoon and the Harvard Monthly and as president of the Harvard Glee Club. In 1910 he held the position of κροκόδιλος in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and also wrote music and lyrics for their show Diana's Debut. Reed failed to make the Harvard teams for football and crew, but excelled in other sports of lesser prestige, swimming and water polo. He was also made Ivy orator and poet in his senior year of college.

Jack also attended meetings of the Socialist Club, over which his friend Walter Lippmann presided, but he never joined. Still, the club left its impact on his psyche. The group had social legislation introduced into the state legislature, attacked the university for failing to pay its servants living wages, and petitioned the administration for the establishment of a course in Socialism. Reed later recalled:

All this made no ostensible difference in the look of Harvard society, and probably the club-men and the athletes, who represented us to the world, never even heard of it. But it made me, and many others, realize that there was something going on in the dull outside world more thrilling than college activities, and turned our attention to the writings of men like H.G. Wells and Graham Wallas, wrenching us away from the Oscar Wildian dilettantism which had possessed undergraduate litterateurs for generations.

Reed graduated from Harvard College in 1910, and that summer he set out to see more of the "dull outside world," visiting England, France, and Spain before returning home to America the following spring.