Henry Clarence Cassidy  ‏(I0475)‏
Name:
Henry Clarence Cassidy

Gender: MaleMale
      

Birth: 12 May 1910 18 18 Boston, Mass
Death: 16 February 1988 ‏(Age 77)‏ New York, N.Y.
Personal Facts and Details
Birth 12 May 1910 18 18 Boston, Mass

Death 16 February 1988 ‏(Age 77)‏ New York, N.Y.

Reference Number 475
Last Change 17 March 2010 - 16:45:45 - by: pcassidy
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Parents Family  (F188)
Henry Albert Cassidy
1891 - 1980
Irene Irwin
1891 - 1989
Henry Clarence Cassidy
1910 - 1988
James Irwin Cassidy
1913 - 2009
Helen Arnold Cassidy
1916 - 2008

Immediate Family  (F189)
Martha Stucklen
-


Notes

Shared Note
The following description of Henry is taken from a New York Daily News article at his death. Henry Cassidy, 77, a Harvard educated Bostonian who became a pen pal of Josef Stalin in a distinguished career in journalism that included the p ost of foreign editor for the Daily News, died Tuesday in his Manhattan home after an 18 month struggle against cancer. The obituary continues as quoted below:

"Why does the Associated Press ‏(AP)‏ send a Greek, Cassidis, to Moscow?" the Soviet dictator queried his Washington embassy after learning AP brass had assigned Cassidy to the Kremlin.

The ambassador hurriedly straightened out the boss: "Cassidy comes from an old, non-noble Irish family."

"The non-noble business must have done it," says Cassidy, who served as AP's Moscow bureau chief from 1940 to 1944.

It was in his second year that AP directed Cassidy, who was fluent in Russian and French, to obtain an interview with Stalin on the possibility of the Allies establishing a second front in Europe. The Battle of Stalingrad was on, with the Soviets bearing the entire weight of the battle. A second front would divert part of the German war machine.
Cassidy, who disliked having to say no to a story idea, refused to accept Stalin's reply that he was too busy making war.

For Cassidy, Stalin said he would sit still for a few written questions.

In fact, Stalin replied to two of his letters, making Cassidy his first and most publicized pen pal.

"Those were the first two letters he had ever written to a newspaper man and they created quite a sensation around the world," Cassidy said later. "I still have them hanging on my living room wall."

Cassidy said the most important event he witnessed was the fall of Paris. He had lived in the Maginot Line with the French Army until Paris fell in June 1940. During that time, he was made a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.


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Family with Parents
Father
Henry Albert Cassidy ‎(I0337)‎
Birth 2 August 1891 28 22 Boston, Mass.
Death 12 March 1980 ‏(Age 88)‏ Dunedin, Florida
Mother
Irene Irwin ‎(I0474)‎
Birth August 1891 Boston, Mass
Death 30 April 1989 ‏(Age 97)‏ Dunedin, Florida

Marriage: 1909 -- Boston, Mass.
16 months
#1
Henry Clarence Cassidy ‎(I0475)‎
Birth 12 May 1910 18 18 Boston, Mass
Death 16 February 1988 ‏(Age 77)‏ New York, N.Y.
3 years
#2
Brother
James Irwin Cassidy ‎(I0476)‎
Birth 16 January 1913 21 21 Boston, Mass
Death 30 January 2009 ‏(Age 96)‏ Franklin, Mass.
4 years
#3
Sister
Helen Arnold Cassidy ‎(I0477)‎
Birth 23 November 1916 25 25 Boston, Mass
Death 18 January 2008 ‏(Age 91)‏
Family with Martha Stucklen
Henry Clarence Cassidy ‎(I0475)‎
Birth 12 May 1910 18 18 Boston, Mass
Death 16 February 1988 ‏(Age 77)‏ New York, N.Y.
Wife