Thomas P. Whitney
Thomas Porter Whitney (January 26, 1917 in Toledo, Ohio – December 2, 2007 in Manhattan, New York) was an American diplomat, author, translator, philanthropist and Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder.
Biography
[edit]Born in Toledo, Ohio, Whitney graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. degree and went on graduate from Columbia University in 1940 with a Master's degree in Russian history.[1] A translator of a number of works from Russian to English, Whitney is best known for translating the work of Nobel Prize winning author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Whitney also translated Petro Grigorenko's Memoirs[2] and Yuri Orlov's Dangerous Thoughts.[3]
He wrote a memoir titled Russia in My Life.[4] First published in 1962 in New York City, it recounted the nine years he spent living in the Soviet Union at the close of the Joseph Stalin regime.[1]
During World War II, Whitney worked as an analyst for the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, D.C. From 1944 to 1947, he served as an attaché and chief of the economic section at the United States embassy in Moscow. In 1947, he became the Moscow correspondent for The Associated Press and later was appointed head of the Moscow office.
Whitney donated important collections of Russian art and manuscripts to Amherst College, and established a center at the college for Russian studies.
A fan of Thoroughbred racing, as a hobby Whitney owned and raced several horses, most notably winning the Grade 1 Diana Handicap in 1983.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Fox, Margalit (12 December 2007). "Thomas P. Whitney, Solzhenitsyn translator, dies at 90". The New York Times.
- ^ Grigorenko, Petr (1982). Memoirs (translated by Thomas P. Whitney). New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-01570-X.
- ^ Orlov, Yuri (1991). Dangerous Thoughts. Memoirs of a Russian Life (translated by Thomas P. Whitney). New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0688104711.
- ^ Whitney, Thomas (1962). Russia in My Life. New York: Reynal. OCLC 1355038.
- 1917 births
- 2007 deaths
- Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
- Amherst College alumni
- Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
- Russian studies scholars
- People of the Office of Strategic Services
- 20th-century American translators
- Russian–English translators
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- Writers about the Soviet Union
- American male journalists
- American racehorse owners and breeders
- American art collectors
- American philanthropists
- Writers from Toledo, Ohio
- Ambassadors of the United States to the Soviet Union
- 20th-century American diplomats
- Journalists from Ohio
- 20th-century American journalists
- 20th-century American male writers