Portrait of James L. Greenfield

Birthday profile

James L. Greenfield

James L. Greenfield, American journalist and politician (died 2024)

Born
July 16, 1924
Died
May 19, 2024
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1924

About James L. Greenfield

James Lloyd Greenfield was an American journalist and government official. He served as the United States deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 1962 to 1964, and then United States Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 1964 to 1966. Latterly Greenfield worked in media, and was one of the editors of the New York Times who decided to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971. After leaving the administration, Greenfield became Vice President of Continental Airlines, then headed by the famous Robert Six, and founded Air Micronesia for Continental which gave the airline a route to Asia. After college, Greenfield became a foreign correspondent for Time, with postings in Asia, Europe and Washington. In the early 1950s, while posted in Hong Kong for Time, Greenfield met his future first wife, Margaret Ann Schwertley (December 23, 1924 – December 8, 1999), who was a Pan Am stewardess based out of Hong Kong; the couple wed in 1954.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

James L. Greenfield timeline

  1. In the early 1950s, while posted in Hong Kong for Time, Greenfield met his future first wife, Margaret Ann Schwertley (December 23, 1924 – December 8, 1999), who was a Pan Am stewardess based out of Hong Kong; the couple wed in 1954.
  2. Latterly Greenfield worked in media, and was one of the editors of the New York Times who decided to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

The world when James L. Greenfield was born

James L. Greenfield was born in 1924. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1924

  • #1 song"It Had to Be You" – Isham Jones
  • Top movieThe Thief of Bagdad (Douglas Fairbanks)
  • Best-selling bookSo Big – Edna Ferber

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Winter Olympics held in Chamonix, France
  • Top headlineCalvin Coolidge elected president in a landslide
  • Technology milestoneIBM founded
  • Defining fadMah-jongg craze sweeps America
  • Notable inventionSpiral-bound notebook
  • World population1.95 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championWashington Senators (World Series)
  • U.S. population114.1M

1924 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in James L. Greenfield's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19242026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$5,800$435,000
Average income$3,520$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population114.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Prabook, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.