Editing John Reed (journalist) (section)

==Early life and education==
Reed was born on October 22, 1887, in his maternal grandparents' mansion in what is now the [[Goose Hollow, Portland, Oregon|Goose Hollow]] neighborhood of [[Portland, Oregon]]. His grandmother's household had Chinese servants.<ref>Granville Hicks with John Stuart, ''John Reed: The Making of a Revolutionary''. New York: Macmillan, 1936. p. 1.</ref> Reed wrote of paying a nickel to a "Goose Hollowite" (young toughs in a gang in the working-class neighborhood below King's Hill) to keep from being beaten up. In 2001 a memorial bench dedicated to Reed was installed in [[Washington Park, Portland, Oregon|Washington Park]], which overlooks the site of Reed's birthplace (the mansion no longer exists).<ref name=prince>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YABWNNHirLIC&pg=PP1|title=Portland's Goose Hollow|last=Prince|first=Tracy J.|isbn=978-0-7385-7472-1|page=122|year=2011|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|location=Charleston, South Carolina}}</ref>

His mother, Margaret Reed (née Green), was the daughter of Portland industrialist Henry Dodge Green,<ref name="cartoon">[http://www.amiaconference.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/John-Reeds-Portland-Map.pdf "Jon Reed's Portland – Map"], Oregon Cartoon Institute</ref> who had made a fortune founding and operating three businesses: the first gas & light company, the first pig iron smelter on the West Coast, and the Portland water works (he was its second owner).<ref>Hicks with Stuart, ''John Reed'', p. 2.</ref> SW Green Avenue was named in his honor.<ref name="cartoon"/>

John's father, Charles Jerome Reed, was born in the East and came to Portland as the representative of an agricultural machinery manufacturer. With his ready wit, he quickly won acceptance in Portland's business community.<ref>Eric Homberger, ''John Reed.'' Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990. pp. 7–8.</ref> The couple had married in 1886, and the family's wealth came from the Green side, not the Reed side.

A sickly child, young Jack grew up surrounded by nurses and servants. His mother carefully selected his upper-class playmates. He had a brother, Harry, who was two years younger.<ref>Homberger, ''John Reed'', p. 8.</ref> Jack and his brother were sent to the recently established Portland Academy, a private school.<ref>Homberger, ''John Reed'', p. 9</ref> Jack was bright enough to pass his courses but could not be bothered to work for top marks, as he found school dry and tedious.<ref>Hicks with Stuart, ''John Reed'', p. 7.</ref> In September 1904, he was sent to [[Morristown-Beard School|Morristown]], a [[New Jersey]] [[University-preparatory school|prep school]], to prepare for college. His father, who did not attend college, wanted his sons to go to Harvard.<ref>Michael Munk, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/bio/portland.htm John Reed], marxists.org. Accessed November 4, 2007.</ref> At Morristown Jack continued his poor classroom performance, but made the [[History of American football|football]] team and showed some literary promise.<ref>Hornberger, ''John Reed'', p. 12.</ref>

[[File:John Reed poem Monthly vol 44 (1907).jpg|thumb|''The Harvard Monthly'' Vol. 44 (1907)]]

Reed failed his first attempt at Harvard College's admission exam but passed on his second try, and enrolled in the fall of 1906.<ref>Homberger, ''John Reed,'' p. 15.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Zinn|first=Howard|year=1997|pages=587|title=The Zinn Reader|publisher=[[Seven Stories Press]]|isbn=978-1-583229-46-0}}</ref> Tall, handsome, and lighthearted, he threw himself into all manner of student activities. He was a member of the cheerleading team and the swimming team, served on the editorial boards of the ''[[Harvard Lampoon|The Harvard Lampoon]]'' and ''[[The Harvard Monthly]]'', was president of the [[Harvard Glee Club]], and founded the [[Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club]] (then simply the Dramatic Club).<ref>{{Cite web |title=You Say You Want a Revolution {{!}} Magazine {{!}} The Harvard Crimson |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/3/31/john-reed-scrut/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref> In 1910 he held a position in the [[Hasty Pudding Theatricals]], and also wrote music and lyrics for their show ''Diana's Debut''. Reed failed to make the football and [[Rowing (sport)|crew]] teams, but excelled in swimming and water polo.<ref>Homberger, ''John Reed'', p. 16.</ref> He was also made "Ivy orator and poet" in his senior year.

Reed attended meetings of the [[Intercollegiate Socialist Society|Socialist Club]], over which his friend [[Walter Lippmann]] presided, but never joined. The group introduced legislation into the state legislature, attacked the university for failing to pay its servants living wages, and petitioned the administration to establish a course on [[socialism]].<ref>Hicks with Stuart, ''John Reed'', page 33.</ref> Reed later recalled:

<blockquote>All this made no ostensible difference in the look of Harvard society, and probably the club-men and the athletes, who represented us to the world, never even heard of it. But it made me, and many others, realize that there was something going on in the dull outside world more thrilling than college activities, and turned our attention to the writings of men like [[H. G. Wells]] and [[Graham Wallas]], wrenching us away from the [[Oscar Wilde|Oscar Wildian]] [[Amateur|dilettantism]] which had possessed undergraduate litterateurs for generations.<ref>Quoted in Hicks with Stuart, ''John Reed'', p. 33.</ref></blockquote>

Reed graduated from Harvard College in 1910. That summer he set out to see more of the "dull outside world", visiting England, France, and Spain before returning home to America the following spring.<ref>Hicks with Stuart, ''John Reed,'' p. 51.</ref> To pay his fare to Europe, Reed worked as a common laborer on a cattle boat. His travels were encouraged by his favorite professor, [[Charles Townsend Copeland]] ("Copey"), who told him he must "see life" if he wanted to successfully write about it.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Books: Promethean Playboy |url=https://time.com/archive/6892372/books-promethean-playboy/ |magazine=TIME |date=20 April 1936 }}</ref>