Famous Half-Jews: Pierre Salinger

[Gary Freedman]

Pierre Emil George Salinger (June 14, 1925 – October 16, 2004) was a White House Press Secretary to U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He later became known for his work as an ABC News correspondent, and in particular for his stories on the American hostage crisis in Iran, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland, and his claims as to the cause of the explosion of TWA flight 800.

Salinger served briefly as a Democratic United States Senator in 1964 and was campaign manager for the Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign. Salinger was born in San Francisco, California. His father, Herbert Salinger, was a New York City-born mining engineer, and his mother, Jehanne (née Biétry), was a French-born journalist. His maternal grandfather, Pierre Biétry, was a member of the French National Assembly and devised Yellow socialism. Salinger was raised in his mother's Catholic religion, though his father was Jewish. After serving with the United States Navy to Lieutenant, junior grade during World War II, Salinger earned a B.S. from the University of San Francisco in 1947. Salinger then began his journalism career as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and as a contributing Editor to Collier's in the 1940s and 1950s.

Apparently, President Kennedy had a fondness for half-Jews, such as Pierre Salinger and Ted Sorenson. His daughter, Caroline, likes half-Jews so much, she's created her own clan of them!