The following piece appeared in “Indian Country Today\u201d in September of 2018, an \u201cupdate\u201d of the original obituary of 2005. It was entitled “The life of Alvin M. Josephy Jr., authoritative interpreter of history.”<\/p>\n
Alvin M. Josephy Jr., called an “iconic figure in American Indian history,”
\ndistinguished award-winning journalist, World War II Marine Corps combat
\ncorrespondent, magazine and book editor, pre-eminent historian on the
\nAmerican West and American Indians on whose behalf he was a tireless
\nadvocate (culminating with his role as the founding chairman for the
\nSmithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian), died
\nOct. 16 at his home in Greenwich, Conn. He was 90.<\/p>\n
Among Josephy’s more than a dozen authoritative books, cited for their
\nliterary quality as well as their exacting research, are: “The Patriot
\nChiefs,” “The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest,” “Red
\nPower,” “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” “The Civil War in the American
\nWest,” “The Indian Heritage of America” (a National Book Award nominee) and
\n“500 Nations.” His book, “A Walk Toward Oregon: A Memoir,” captures his
\nlong and dramatic career through most of the 20th century. It was named one
\nof the top 100 books of 2000 by The New York Times. His latest book, “Lewis
\nand Clark Through Indian Eyes,” is scheduled for publication by Alfred A.
\nKnopf in 2006.<\/p>\n
A former foreign correspondent in Guatemala and Mexico (where he
\ninterviewed the exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky), an associate
\neditor of Time Magazine and vice president and editor in chief of American
\nHeritage Publications, Josephy for almost 50 years played an active role in
\nsupporting American Indians in their struggles for self-determination,
\ntreaty rights and sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Stated Stewart Udall, former Interior Department secretary in the Kennedy
\nand Johnson administrations and for whom Josephy served as a consultant in
\n1963 and 1964: “Alvin M. Josephy was a valued friend for over 45 years.
\nFrom the late 1950s, in his books and articles beginning with his first
\nbook for American Heritage on American Indians and their history, until his
\nmasterful summation in ‘500 Nations,’ he was the most important creative
\ninterpreter of the history and culture of Native Americans. His
\nauthoritative voice influenced the opinions and actions of presidents and
\nmembers of Congress. He was always in the forefront of the fight for Indian
\nrights and justice. As a spokesman for Native people he had no peer.”<\/p>\n
Over the years, Josephy was a consultant to many private, governmental and
\nIndian organizations, including the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Senate
\nCommittee on Indian Affairs and the National Congress of American Indians.
\nIn the late 1960s, he was the author of a special report on change in
\nIndian policy for president-elect Nixon, which ushered in the era of tribal
\nself-determination.<\/p>\n
His work advanced a dialogue that for the first time in the 1960s included
\nthe voices of Native peoples describing their own history of many thousands
\nof years, their democracies and cultures in the “New World.” Josephy’s
\nscholarship and advocacy over the last half of the 20th century laid the
\ngroundwork for this movement.<\/p>\n
During the early 1970s, he wrote for Audubon Magazine on the environmental
\nimpacts of large industrial projects on the life of the West. Through his
\ninterest in the history of American Indians he was able to link the history
\nof the region and Native peoples with the emerging environmental movement.
\nThis had a sweeping impact on a generation of environmental historians like
\nRichard White, Patricia Limerick and Char Miller.<\/p>\n
Josephy was a trustee for the Museum of the American Indian in New York and
\nfrom there was elected founding chairman of the board of trustees of the
\nSmithsonian’s new National Museum of the American Indian, a place in which
\nAmerican Indians would tell their own stories and interpret their own
\nculture. Said director W. Richard West, Southern Cheyenne, “We feel his
\npresence every day … his imprimatur is on every aspect of the museum.”<\/p>\n
Josephy also served as vice chairman of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board,
\nwhere noted curator of Indian Arts and Crafts, George Horse Capture, has
\nsaid: “He is a heroic figure, a pioneering figure. We treasure him.”<\/p>\n
Over the years, Josephy was a fellow of the American Antiquarian Society, a
\nGuggenheim fellow and was awarded a doctorate of humanities degree from
\nAlbertson College in Caldwell, Idaho. In 1965 and 1968, he received the
\nGolden Spur Award and the Western Writers of America Award of Merit for his
\nbook “The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest.” In 1995 he
\nreceived the Wallace Stegner Award at the Center for the American West at
\nthe University of Colorado. In 1996 he was presented the Oregon Governor’s
\nAwards in the Arts and, later, the Oregon Book Award for a distinguished
\ncareer in Oregon letters.<\/p>\n
Josephy served as president of the Western History Association in 1993 and
\n1994, was on the board of the Society of American Historians, the
\nAssociation on American Indian Affairs, the U.S. Capitol Historical Society
\nin Washington, D.C., the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Western
\nFolklife Center and Friends of the Earth.<\/p>\n
Josephy was born in Woodmere, Long Island on May 18, 1915, and was raised
\nin New York City. He was educated at Horace Mann School, where he began his
\njournalism career on the school newspaper interviewing writers of the day
\nincluding John Galsworthy, G.K. Chesterton and H.L. Mencken (the latter he
\ncame to know through his uncle, publisher Alfred A. Knopf).<\/p>\n
Josephy attended Harvard University for two years, but the Depression
\nforced him to leave and accept a screenwriting offer from MGM in
\nCalifornia. He returned to New York and in 1936 began work for the New York
\nHerald Tribune as a reporter and, several years later, with WOR as director
\nof news and special events.<\/p>\n
With the onset of World War II, Josephy moved to Washington, D.C. to work
\nfor the Office of War Information as its radio bureau’s chief of special
\nevents. He joined the Marine Corps in 1943 as a combat correspondent
\nserving in the South Pacific with the Third Marine Division. Carrying heavy
\nrecording equipment, Josephy covered the battles in Guadalcanal, Guam and
\nIwo Jima. He received a Bronze Star for his work in Guam when he landed
\nwith the advanced troops, recording for the first and only time an
\non-the-spot account of an amphibious assault in progress, called an “epic”
\nby a later commentator. In 1946 he wrote his first book, “The Long, the
\nShort and the Tall,” an account of his Marine Corps experiences published
\nby Knopf.<\/p>\n
Josephy was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Elizabeth Peet. He
\nis survived by a brother, Warren Josephy, of New York City; daughters Diane
\nJosephy Peavey of Carey, Idaho, Allison Wolowitz of Old Greenwich, Conn.
\nand Katherine Josephy of Enterprise, Ore.; and a son, Alvin M. Josephy III
\nof Olympia, Wash. He also leaves eight grandchildren and one
\ngreat-grandchild.<\/p>\n
An open house for friends and family was held Oct. 23 at his home in
\nGreenwich, Conn.<\/p>\n
# # #<\/p>\n
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