"What is more important to a library than anything else -- than everything else -- is the fact that it exists., American Scholar; Washington, DC, June 5, 1972]"
American poet, playwright, and public intellectual who served as Librarian of Congress and later as assistant secretary of state. His writing spanned lyric poetry, drama, and political commentary, and he received multiple Pulitzer Prizes. He was an important literary and civic voice in the mid-20th century.