Frederick Vanderbilt Field
Frederick Vanderbilt Field | |
|---|---|
Field c. 1928 | |
| Born | April 13, 1905 |
| Died | February 1, 2000 (aged 94) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University London School of Economics |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Brown (1st), Edith Chamberlain Hunter (2nd), Anita Cohen Boyer (3rd), Nieves Orozco (4th) |
| Parent(s) | William Osgood Field Lila Vanderbilt Sloane |
| Relatives | Cornelius Vanderbilt (great-great-grandfather) Samuel Osgood (ancestor) Cyrus Field (ancestor) |
Frederick Vanderbilt Field (April 13, 1905 – February 1, 2000) was an American leftist political activist, political writer and a great-great-grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, disinherited by his wealthy relatives for his radical political views. Field became a specialist on Asia and was a prime staff member and supporter of the Institute of Pacific Relations. He also supported Henry Wallace's Progressive Party and so many openly Communist organizations that he was accused of being a member of the Communist Party. He was a top target of the American government during the peak of 1950s McCarthyism. Field denied ever having been a party member but admitted in his memoirs, "I suppose I was what the Party called a 'member at large.'"