Sherwood, Robert Emmet (1896-1955), was an American playwright, journalist, and biographer who stressed the evils of war in his writings. His play Idiot’s Delight (1936) lamented the approaching outbreak of war in Europe. Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938) used Lincoln’s own words to show the necessity of firm action in the face of war. There Shall Be No Night (1940) opposed the Soviet Union’s invasion of Finland. It was also Sherwood’s stand against what he called the hysterical desire of people to escape from reality. All three of these plays won Pulitzer Prizes.
Sherwood was born on April 4, 1896, in New Rochelle, New York. In 1920, he joined Life magazine, where he became a nationally known film critic. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Sherwood’s first produced play, The Road to Rome (1927), was a satire on Hannibal’s campaign against Rome. It said every sacrifice in the name of war is wasted. The Petrified Forest (1935) showed criminal morality triumphing in the world. During World War II, Sherwood wrote speeches for President Roosevelt. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (1948). Sherwood died on Nov. 14, 1955.
