John Clinton Hunt
{{Short description|American writer (1925–2017)}}
{{Infobox writer
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|7|24}}
| birth_place = Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|12|30|1925|7|24}}
| death_place =
| occupation = writer
| education = University of Oklahoma
| alma_mater = Harvard University
| genre =
| subject =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| relatives = John Joseph Mathews (step-father)
}}
John Clinton Hunt (July 24, 1925 – December 30, 2017) was an American writer from the state of Oklahoma.
Early life and education
John Clinton Hunt was born on July 24, 1925, to Henry Hunt and Elizabeth Palmour in Muskogee, Oklahoma.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=104-105}} The family moved to Pawhuska in 1928 and his younger sister, Ann, was born in 1930.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=105}} On August 11, 1932, his father killed himself.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=106}} His mother began a relationship with and later married John Joseph Mathews during his childhood.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=113}}
In 1940, Hunt was sent to the Lawrenceville School. Like his step-father, he attended the University of Oklahoma and took a break from school to serve in a World War. In June 1943, he joined the Marine Corps Reserves and in 1946 he was discharged as a second lieutenant. He then finished his degree at Harvard University, where he was an editor of the Student Progressive.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=119}} He graduated in 1948 and married Barbara Helen Mead in October of that year.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=119-120}}
Academic career
In 1950, Hunt joined the faculty at the University of Iowa and taught the classics. He later taught at the Thomas Jefferson School.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=120}}
CIA career
In 1955, Hunt was recruited by Cord Meyer as a CIA asset. He worked undercover in Europe for the Congress for Cultural Freedom for about a decade. Around 1960, he was the head of the Paris office, but he was forced to resign in 1967.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=121-122}}
Writing career
Hunt's first novel was Generations of Men and was inspired by his upbringing in Pawhuska. The character Hardin Buck was inspired by John Joseph Mathews.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=114}} It won the Spur Award for Best Novel of the West in 1956 and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1957.{{cite web |title=The Spur Awards |url=https://web.mnstate.edu/schwartz/spurawards.htm |website=web.mnstate.edu |access-date=December 13, 2023}}{{cite web |title=Generations of Men |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/books/generations-of-men/ |website=Nationalbook.org |publisher=National Book Foundation}} His second novel was The Grey Horse Legacy (1968).{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=119}} Page Stegner, reviewing for The New York Times, described it as "in both style and conception, a fine work."{{cite news |authorlink1=Page Stegner |last1=Stegner |first1=Page |title=Victims Of Myth; THE GREY HORSE LEGACY. By John Hunt. 427 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $6.95. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/06/23/91231881.html?pageNumber=88 |access-date=13 December 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=June 23, 1968 |language=en}} In 1981, he co-wrote Knights Errant with Martin Kaplan.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=123}}
Personal life and death
In 1968 he divorced Barbara and married a Frenchwoman, Chantal Pépin de Bonnerive.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=123}}
In 1985 was the founding chair and president of BioTechnica International until his retirement in 1990.{{sfn|Snyder|2017|p=123}}
John Clinton Hunt died on December 30, 2017, at the age of 92.{{cite web |title=John Clinton Hunt |url=https://www.forevermissed.com/john-clinton-hunt/about |website=Forever Missed |access-date=24 January 2024}}
References
{{reflist}}
Works cited
- {{cite book |last1=Snyder |first1=Michael |title=John Joseph Mathews: Life of an Osage Writer |date=2017 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |isbn=978-0-8061-5609-5}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, John Clinton}}
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:American historical novelists
Category:American male novelists
Category:Congress for Cultural Freedom
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
Category:Mathews family (Osage Nation)
Category:Novelists from Oklahoma
Category:People from Pawhuska, Oklahoma
Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency