Ernest Cuneo

He remained with NANA as a columnist and military analyst from 1963 to 1980. For a number of years Cuneo wrote a syndicated column, "Take It or Leave It," which appeared three times a week. Earlier (in the early 1960s) he took over the "National Whirligig," the original "news behind the news" column which appeared five days a week; writing that column until his death.

In March 1951, Cuneo and a small group of investors purchased the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA). In addition, Cuneo and the Bell Syndicate-North American Newspaper Alliance group acquired the McClure Newspaper Syndicate in September 1952, with Louis Ruppel installed as president and editor. Cuneo acquired full control over NANA in the mid-1950s and served as president until 1963 when he sold it. Because of Cuneo's association with former members of American and British intelligence, including Fleming and Bryce, and because some writers in the Cuneo era had alleged links to the CIA, critics have suggested that NANA under his tenure was a front for espionage.

In 1936, James Farley appointed Cuneo associate general counsel of the Democratic National Committee. According to Neal Gabler, from the mid-1930s on, Cuneo not only acted as a liaison between Franklin Roosevelt and Walter Winchell, but he frequently wrote long political items for the Winchell column.

Cuneo's first newspaper experience was as editor of the school newspaper at East Rutherford High School in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Cuneo then attended Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. During his college vacations, Cuneo worked for the New York Daily News. Cuneo began to study law at Columbia Law School. He then studied at St. John's University, earning an LL.B. degree in 1931.

After completing law school at St. John's in February 1931, Cuneo became law secretary to Fiorello H. LaGuardia, who was then a congressman representing New York. During this time, he would brief LaGuardia on the investigations of judicial malpractice and fraudulent bankruptcies. His 1955 memoir Life With Fiorello would serve in large part for the basis of the Tony Award-winning musical Fiorello! In the year before Pearl Harbor he ghost wrote pro-British articles for newspapers as part of a covert anti-Nazi effort to build support for Britain's war effort.

Ernest L. Cuneo (May 27, 1905 – March 1, 1988) was an American lawyer, newspaperman, author, and intelligence liaison. He was also a professional football player in the National Football League.