Alexander Cockburn
Irish-American journalist and writer (1941-2012)
Alexander Claud Cockburn ( KOH-bərn; 6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was a Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up by British parents in Ireland, and lived and worked in the United States from 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edited the political newsletter CounterPunch. Cockburn also wrote the "Beat the Devil" column for The Nation, and another column for The Week in London, syndicated by Creators Syndicate.
Background
Alexander Cockburn was born on June 6, 1941, in Scotland and grew up in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland. He was the eldest son of journalist Claud Cockburn, a former Communist author, and his third wife, Patricia Byron, née Arbuthnot. (She wrote an autobiography, Figure of Eight). His ancestral family included Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, who was responsible for the Burning of Washington, DC in the War of 1812. His two younger brothers, Andrew and Patrick, are also journalists.
The public source identifies “Alexander Cockburn” as irish-American journalist and writer (1941-2012). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alexander, Cockburn and Irish-American.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alexander Cockburn”, the useful work is to connect “irish-American journalist and writer (1941-2012)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1974292. VIAF identifies the subject as 79426540. The Library of Congress control number is n50032237. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 2012, 1972 and 1812.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexander Cockburn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.