Patric, John, 1902-1985

John Patric (May 22, 1902 – August 31, 1985) was an American writer. He was a contributing writer for National Geographic during the mid- to late 1930s and early 1940s and was the author of two books. His 1943 book, Yankee Hobo in the Orient, sold twelve million copies domestically and internationally in both hardcover and digest format. In the 1940s, he was one of the best-known Oregon writers. He wrote a National Geographic feature article, Imperial Rome Reborn, about fascist Italy, and after writing on World War II shipyard labor practices for Reader's Digest, he gave testimony at a United States congressional hearing. Patric or his works are briefly mentioned by other writers on a diverse range of topics, including political history, an artist biography, an author biography, media history, cultural criticism, ship building, fascism, and Korean history. In later life, Patric was an early influence on portrait artist Chuck Close, and a perennial political activist and satirical political candidate in his home state of Washington. Clayton Fox of The Olympian described Patric using phrases like, "the bearded bard of Snohomish", "gadfly of golliwoggs and gooser of governmental gophers," and "the pricker of political stuffed shirts, scourge of junkmailers, implacable foe of pollution and corruption, aider and abetter of bees, trees and ocean breezes".