George Platt Brett

Infobox Person
name = George Platt Brett, Jr.


caption =
birth_date = 1893
birth_place = Darion, CT
death_date = 1984
death_place = Southport, CT
spouse = Isabel Stevenson Yeomans
father =George Platt Brett, Sr.
children = George Platt Brett III
Bruce Yeomans Brett
parents =
resting_place =
known_for = Publisher of Gone with the Wind
occupation = Publisher
nationality = flagicon|USAAmerican
alma_mater =

George Platt Brett, Jr. (1893-1984) served at Chairman of the American division of Macmillan Publishing and secured publishing rights to Gone With the Wind. cite news |first= Wolfgang|last= Saxon |title= George P. Brett is dead at 91; Headed Macmillan Company|url= http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30A14F6395F0C768DDDAB0894DC484D81|publisher= New York Times|date= February 15, 1984|accessdate=2008-04-19 ]

Biography

Career

George Brett started with Macmillan in 1913 as a traveling salesman and took over as President of Macmillan in 1931. Brett took over as chairman in 1936 after the death of his father, George Platt Brett, Sr. [cite book
title= Macmillan A Publishing Tradition |first= Elizabeth |last= James |page= 187 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year= 2002 |isbn= 0-333-73517-X] [cite web |url=http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/97/Macmillan-Inc.html |title= Macmillan, Inc. - Company Profile |accessdate= 2008-04-07] [cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3683/is_199510/ai_n8731586/pg_7 |title=Macmillan Company of Canada in the 1930s, The |accessdate=2008-04-17]

Brett is best known for having "scored one of publishing's all-time triumphs by gaining the rights to 'Gone With the Wind.' " The success of Gone with the Wind from 1935-1936 lead to bonuses of 18% to all employess at Macmillan. Additional literary success under Brett were Rachael Filed's "All This" and "Heaven Too" and Katleen Winsor's "Forever Amber." [cite book |first=David | last=McKitterick | title=A History of Cambridge University press Volume III: New Worlds for Learning 1873-1972 | page=308] . In addition, Brett published notable authors C. S. Lewis and Marianne Moore.cite book |first=Fred |last=Kobrak |title=The Structure of International Publishing in the 1990s | page=31]

In 1936, Brett agreed to publish Ayn Rand's book "We the Living". [ [http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_aynrand_biography The Ayn Rand Institute: A Brief Biography of Ayn Rand ] ] Brett said "he did not know if they would make money on it or not, but that it was a novel that should be published." [cite book
title= Essay on Any Rand "We the living" |first= Robert |last= Mayhew |page= 139 |publisher=Lexington Books |year= 2004 |isbn=0739106988]

In 1944, following WWII, Brett fought efforts by the British Publisher Bureau to corner the American market for Bristish publishing houses. [cite book
title= The Diplomacy of Ideas: US Foreign Policy and Cultural Relations, 1938-1950 |first= Frank |last= Ninkovich |pages= 89-90] In 1951, Brett bought the US division from London based Macmillan Publishing. At this time Macmillan was the second largest publisher in the United States [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888948,00.html?promoid=googlep Crofter's Crop - TIME ] ]

Brett was succeeded by his son, Bruce Y. Brett in 1958.

Military and Public Service

*From 1916 to 1919, he served with the Army on the Mexican border and then in France during World War I.
*Served as chairman of the book committee of the People-to-People Program United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower established in 1956.
*Serve on missions for the United States State Department in Latin America and postwar Germany.cite news |first= Wolfgang|last= Saxon |title= GEORGE P. BRETT IS DEAD AT 91; HEADED MACMILLAN COMPANY|url= http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30A14F6395F0C768DDDAB0894DC484D81|publisher= New York Times|date= February 15, 184|accessdate=2008-04-19 ]

Memberships

*Member of the Players Club [cite book |first=Hamlin |last=Garland |title=Roadside Meetings | page=397]

Personal life

Brett was born in Darien, CT and attended the Salisbury School in his home state and the Collegiate School in New York. Brett was married to Isabel Stevenson Yeomans. [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E05E2DA1F31E733A05757C1A96F9C946796D6CF]

=Bibliography=
*"The role of books in inter-American relations" by George Platt Brett (Unknown Binding - 1943)

*The growth and care of cultivated evergreens: An address delivered before the Garden Club of Fairfield on May 26, 1931 (Unknown Binding)

Additional Information

*Chronicles of Barabbas 1884-1934 By George H. Doran
*The House of Macmillan (1843-1943) by Charles Morgan
*The Structure of International Publishing in the 1990s By Fred Kobrak, Beth Luey
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0DE5DB173FE633A25750C1A9629C946296D6CF New York Times article "Stefansson a Hero to British Public: George P. Brett back from London with a glowing account of the Young Explorers Success, printed on April 13, 1913]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A04E3DC173FE633A25753C3A9659C946296D6CF New York Times March 13, 1913 article about Brett book "Book publishing and its present tendencies"]

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940CE1D71730E733A25752C0A9629C946596D6CF New York Times article about Macmillan and George Brett]

Places with more information

* [http://www.pequotlibrary.com/ Pequot Library ] 720 Pequot Avenue, Southport, CT 06890 [phone]
* [http://www.nypl.org/ New York City Public Library ] 455 Fifth Avenue, 10016-0122. [phone]

References

ee also

*George Edward Brett
*George Platt Brett, Sr.
*Richard M. Brett