David Graham Phillips

Journalist

Birthday October 31, 1867

Birth Sign Scorpio

Birthplace Madison, IN

DEATH DATE Jan 24, 1911 (43)

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About

A prominent muckraking journalist, he is particularly known as a critic of political corruption and old-money wealth. Also a novelist, he wrote The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig; tragically, the novel's publication led to Phillips' 1911 death at the hands of an unstable musician who felt personally insulted by the work.

Before Fame

In a Cosmopolitan magazine article, he exposed the reality of political donors receiving cushy rewards. His exposé stirred national controversy and ultimately paved the way for the passing of the Seventeenth Amendment.

Trivia

Early in his career, he wrote for both The Sun and The New York World.

Family Life

He was born in Madison, Indiana. In 1887, he graduated from Princeton University.

Associated With

His final manuscript, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, was made into a film starring Greta Garbo and Clark Gable.