J. D. Salinger J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American writer known for his widely read novel, "The Catcher in the Rye". Following his early success publishing short stories and "The Catcher in the Rye", Salinger led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. Salinger was raised in Manhattan and began writing short stories while in secondary school. Several were published in "Story" magazine in the early 1940s before he began serving in World War II. In
Pierre Salinger Johnson as Press Secretary, and Johnson later said during a speech, "I don't have to tell you that Mr. Salinger was John F. Kennedy's press secretary... and I don't know what I would have done without him, night and day, over this past month." At one point in his career, Salinger briefly considered running for president, as he described in an interview about his "Memoir" in 1995. Salinger published a biography of the president, "With Kennedy", in 1966. Following his service in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Salinger returned to California and ran for the Senate. He defeated California State