John Silas "Jack" Reed was an American journalist, poet, and communist activist, best remembered for his first-hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ten Days that Shook the World. He was married to writer and feminist Louise Bryant. Reed died in Russia in 1920, and was buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. John Reed was born on October 22, 1887, in his maternal grandmother's mansion in Portland, Oregon. His mother, Margaret Green Reed, was the daughter of a leading Portland citizen who had made a fortune through three enterprises: as owner of the first gas works in Oregon, owner of the... first pig iron smelter on the west coast, and as second owner of the Portland water works. John's father, Charles Jerome Reed, was the representative of an agricultural machinery manufacturer who had come to town from the East. With his ready wit, he quickly won acceptance in Portland’s business community. His parents were married in 1886. A sickly child, young "Jack" grew up surrounded by nurses and servants, and his upper-class playmates were carefully selected. His brother, Harry, was two years his junior.
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