John Clinton Hunt
John Clinton Hunt | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 24, 1925 Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | December 30, 2017 (aged 92) |
| Occupation | writer |
| Education | University of Oklahoma |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Relatives | John Joseph Mathews (step-father) |
John Clinton Hunt (July 24, 1925 – December 30, 2017) was an American writer from the state of Oklahoma.
Early life and education
[edit]John Clinton Hunt was born on July 24, 1925, to Henry Hunt and Elizabeth Palmour in Muskogee, Oklahoma.[1] The family moved to Pawhuska in 1928 and his younger sister, Ann, was born in 1930.[2] On August 11, 1932, his father killed himself.[3] His mother began a relationship with and later married John Joseph Mathews during his childhood.[4]
In 1940, Hunt was sent to the Lawrenceville School. Like his step-father, he attended the University of Oklahoma and took a break from school to serve in a World War. In June 1943, he joined the Marine Corps Reserves and in 1946 he was discharged as a second lieutenant. He then finished his degree at Harvard University, where he was an editor of the Student Progressive.[5] He graduated in 1948 and married Barbara Helen Mead in October of that year.[6]
Academic career
[edit]In 1950, Hunt joined the faculty at the University of Iowa and taught the classics. He later taught at the Thomas Jefferson School.[7]
CIA career
[edit]In 1955, Hunt was recruited by Cord Meyer as a CIA asset. He worked undercover in Europe for the Congress for Cultural Freedom for about a decade. Around 1960, he was the head of the Paris office, but he was forced to resign in 1967.[8]
Writing career
[edit]Hunt's first novel was Generations of Men and was inspired by his upbringing in Pawhuska. The character Hardin Buck was inspired by John Joseph Mathews.[9] It won the Spur Award for Best Novel of the West in 1956.[10] His second novel was The Grey Horse Legacy (1968).[5] Page Stegner, reviewing for The New York Times, described it as "in both style and conception, a fine work."[11] In 1981, he co-wrote Knights Errant with Martin Kaplan.[12]
Personal life and death
[edit]In 1968 he divorced Barbara and married a Frenchwoman, Chantal Pépin de Bonnerive.[12]
In 1985 was the founding chair and president of BioTechnica International until his retirement in 1990.[12]
John Clinton Hunt died on December 30, 2017, at the age of 92.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 104-105.
- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 105.
- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 106.
- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 113.
- ^ a b Snyder 2017, p. 119.
- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 119-120.
- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 120.
- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 121-122.
- ^ Snyder 2017, p. 114.
- ^ "The Spur Awards". web.mnstate.edu. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
- ^ Stegner, Page (June 23, 1968). "Victims Of Myth; THE GREY HORSE LEGACY. By John Hunt. 427 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $6.95". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ a b c Snyder 2017, p. 123.
- ^ "John Clinton Hunt". Forever Missed. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
Works cited
[edit]- Snyder, Michael (2017). John Joseph Mathews: Life of an Osage Writer. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-5609-5.
- 1925 births
- 2017 deaths
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American novelists
- American historical novelists
- American male novelists
- Congress for Cultural Freedom
- Harvard University alumni
- Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
- Mathews family (Osage Nation)
- Novelists from Oklahoma
- People from Pawhuska, Oklahoma
- People of the Central Intelligence Agency
- United States Marine Corps reservists
- University of Oklahoma alumni