Richard Carlson’s adoptive father, a tannery manager, died when he was 12. He became a juvenile delinquent, arrested and jailed at 17 for car theft. He eventually enlisted in the Marine Corps and was a merchant seaman before pursuing a career in journalism, according to Tucker Carlson’s post.

Richard "Dick" Carlson, an award-winning journalist, political lobbyist and diplomat whose colorful – and often personally tragic – life took him from a Boston orphanage to the highest levels of media,