Art Buchwald

A well-known political humorist, Viorst uses Art Buchwald's story of his childhood as an example of a motherless boy who, because he was bounced around and left in different foster homes his entire childhood, experienced confusion, and withdrawal from any involvement with people. He experienced a sense of shame that affected him throughout his life. He was first placed with all three of his siblings, and later he and his sister were separated from the others, then two more foster homes, then a year with his father — Buchwald had no sense of stability or security whatsoever.

At an early age Buchwald decided that he was facing the world by himself, and ran away to join the Marine Corps. He learned to put on a pleasant facade, and was a great humorist, but his self-anger, following a move from Paris to DC, left him desperately depressed, in...