Biography / Bibliography
on
Archibald MacLeish
Compiled by Brian C. Ahern, Millikin University, 1998.
1892 - Archibald MacLeish born May 7 in Glencoe, Illinois. Father: ?Andrew MacLeish , Scots immigrant; mother: Martha Hillard MacLeish.
1907- Hotchkiss School.
1911
1915- A. B., Yale University, showing his propensity for being a well rounded man by distinguishing himself in sports, academics, and the writing of poetry.
1916- Married Ada Hitchcock, June 21. Children: Kenneth, Brewster Hitchcock (deceased) , Mary Hillard, William Hitchcock.
1917- Rose from private to captain, United States Army,
1918 France.
1919 LL.B., Harvard University; taught at Harvard; Constitutional Law, International Law.
1920 Admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
1920- Practiced law in Boston.
1923
1923- Quit his practice of law and devoted his life to poetry. With wife and two children went to France to work on poetry; within these years made a five-month trip to Persia.
1923 During his stay in France he associated with other American writers such as Pound, John dos Passos, f Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemmingway, the latter becoming a close friend. Poems influenced by Pound, Eliot, and the spare style of Hemmingway.
1924 The Happy Marriage.
1925 The Pot of Earth.
1926 Nobodaddy.
1926 Streets in the Moon.
1928 Returned to America to farm at Conway, Massachusetts, writtng poems of strong American Patriotisim.
1928 The hamlet of A. MacLeish.
1928- Made trip to Mexico on foot and muleback, following rout of Cortes.
1929
1929 John Reed Memorial Prize awarded by Poetry Mag azine.
1930 New Found Land.
1930- Editorial Board, Fortune Magazine, began speeking out on the problems
of America and acting out his belief that a poet must speak out about
real issues, rather than hidding in his writtings.
Spoke out on the preservation ofDemocracy through his Poems and
Radio Plays.
1938
1932 Conquistador; awarded Pulitzer Prize; M.A. (honorary), Tufts College.
1933 Poems 1924-1933. Frescoes for Mr. Rockefeller's City. Elected, National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1934 Union Pacific.
1935 Panic.
1936 Public Speech.
1937 Guest Professor at Princeton (February).
1937 The Fall of the City.
1938- first Curator of Nieman Foundation of Journalism at Harvard. Litt. D. from Colby College and 1939 from Wesleyan University. Air Raid. Land of the Free.
1939- Librarian of Congress.
1944
1939 Litt. D., Yale University. America was Promises.
1940 The Irresponsibles. LL. D., Dartmouth College; elected trustee, Museum of Modern Art.
1941- Director, Office of Facts and Figures.
1942
1941 LL. D., Johns Hopkins University; D.C.L., Union College; L.H.D., University of Pennsylvania; Levinson Prize awarded by Poetry Magazine; The American Cause; A Time to Speak.
1942 Rede Lecturer, Cambridge University; American Opinion and the War (Rede Lecture). A Time to Act. D.H.L., William's College; admitted to the United States Supreme Court Bar; appointed Assistant Director Office War Information.
1943 LL.D., University of California.
1944 American Delegation, Conference of Allied Ministers of Education, London; American Story.
1944- Assistant Secretary of State.
1945
1945 Chairman, United States Delegation, London Conference of United Nations to found United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
1946 Chairman, American Delegation, First General Conference, UNESCO, Paris; American Member, Executive Council, UNESCO; Decorated Commander Legion of Honor (France); elected, American Academy of Arts and Letters; Litt. D., University of Illinois.
1947 Awarded Encomienda Order el Sol del Peru.
1948 Actfive. LL. D., Queens University, Oratory at Harvard.
1949- Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard.
1962
1950 Poetry and Opinion.
1951 Freedom is the Right to Choose.
1952 Collected Poems 1917-1952. Trojan Horse.
1953 Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Bollingen Prize for Poetry; Shelly Memorial Award; National Book Award in Poetry; This Music crept by Me Upon the Waters.
1953 President, American Academy of Arts and Letters.
1956
1954 Songs for Eve. Litt.D., Columbia University.
1955 Litt.D., Harvard University.
1956 LL.D., Carleton College.
1958 J. B. Antoinette Perry Award in Drama.
1959 Awarded Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
1961 Poetry and Experience.
1963 Named Simpson Lecturer at Amherst College.
1975 The Great American Fourth of July Parade.
1978 Riders on the Earth.
1982- Died in Boston on April 20.
Archibald MacLeish desired to be in touch with every man. Using words both written and spoken to stir and lead men with a vision of unity. He had to be where the action was. His vision seemed to be clear and direct, always working and striving to complete every task.