| Peter H. Wyden | |
| Birth Name: | Peter Weidenreich |
| Birth Date: | October 2, 1923 |
| Birth Place: | Berlin, Germany |
| Death Place: | Danbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education: | City College of New York |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| Spouse: | 3 |
| Children: | 2, including Ron Wyden |
| Parents: | Erich Weidenreich Helen Silberstein |
| Relatives: | Franz Weidenreich (paternal uncle) |
Peter H. Wyden (October 2, 1923 – June 27, 1998) was an American journalist and writer.
Wyden was born Peter Weidenreich, in Berlin to a Jewish family.[1] His mother, Helen (née Silberstein), was a concert singer, and his father, Erich Weidenreich, was a businessman. Franz Weidenreich, German anatomist and physical anthropologist, was one of his uncles.
Wyden attended the Goldschmidt School until he left Nazi Germany for the United States in 1937.[2] [3] After studying at City College of New York,[1] he served with the U.S. Army's Psychological Warfare Division in Europe during World War II.[4] His training at Camp Ritchie places him among the ranks of the Ritchie Boys, a group of Military Intelligence Officers who used their language skills to obtain intel in Europe. In 2021, Peter's son Ron Wyden, a U.S. Senator, was instrumental in creating a senate resolution recognizing the Ritchie Boys for their efforts.
After the war, Wyden began a career in journalism, during which he worked as a reporter for The Wichita Eagle, a feature writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington correspondent for Newsweek magazine, a contributing editor for The Saturday Evening Post in Chicago and San Francisco, articles editor for McCall's, and executive editor for Ladies' Home Journal.[1] [4]
Wyden authored or coauthored nine books, and numerous articles that appeared in major magazines.[4] In 1969, he co-authored with his wife a book on homosexuality entitled Growing Up Straight; the book summed up research on the topic, which suggested homosexuality could be prevented with a close paternal relationship in childhood.[5] His last book, published in 1998, was about schizophrenia; it was based on his personal experience as his son Jeff suffered from the mental disorder.[1]
In 1970, Wyden became a book publisher in New York City and Ridgefield, Connecticut.[4]
Wyden was married three times.[1] He had two sons, including Ron Wyden, who became a United States senator.[6] He died on June 27, 1998, in Danbury, Connecticut.[1]