Joseph Alsop (ôl´səp), 1910–89, and Alsop, Stewart, 1914–74, American political journalists, b. Avon, Conn. Joseph joined (1932) the New York Herald Tribune as a staff reporter and moved (1936) to its Washington, D.C., bureau. His Washington political column, written (1937–40) with Robert E. Kintner under the title "The Capital Parade," was later renamed "Matter of Fact." After World War II, Joseph resumed the column, writing it with his brother Stewart from 1946 to 1958. Stewart went on to write for the Saturday Evening Post and Newsweek. When Joseph retired (1974), the column was believed to be the longest-running nationally syndicated opinion column, appearing thrice weekly in 300 newspapers. Although consistently anti-Soviet, the column expressed opposition to Senator Joe McCarthy's "Red scare" tactics. Stewart described himself and his brother as "very square, New Deal liberals." Joseph was a conservative on foreign issues and supported the war against Vietnam.

See S. Alsop, Stay of Execution (1973); J. Alsop, FDR (1982); and his posthumously published autobiography I've Seen the Best of It (1992), completed by A. Platt.