Harry was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on 13th March 1900; the son of John V. and Catherine (née Flynn) Flannery. He went to St.Paul’s High School in Scranton, Pennsylvania (1914) and Washington County High School in Hagerstown, Maryland (1915-18). He then attended Notre Dame University for four years and graduated with a Ph.B. in journalism in 1923.
Harry held numerous positions as a reporter. He worked for the Hagerstown Herald in 1916 and later, also for the Hagerstown Mail, the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago City News Service and the Albany Evening News (until 1925). He was editor of the Hoosier Observer (Fort Wayne, Indiana) from 1931-32, before changing to radio broadcasting, serving as radio news editor for station WOWO (Fort Wayne, Indiana) from 1932-33, news editor and analyst for KMOX (St. Louis, Missouri) from 1935-40, Berlin correspondent for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 1940-41 and news analyst for CBS, West Coast from 1942-48.
In 1948, Harry became makeup editor for the Los Angeles Examiner. He quit this position in January of 1950 to run for Congress as Democrat for the 15th District in California, a campaign he lost. In 1951, he became labour and foreign affairs editor for The Catholic Digest (St. Paul, Minnesota), before switching to an editorial position for the AFL News-Reporter from 1952-55. In 1955, Harry again became a radio journalist as AFL-CIO radio co-ordinator, a position he held until his retirement in 1967. For a couple of years after his retirement, he taught classes on labour issues at the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations.
In addition, Harry helped organize the Catholic Labor Institute in Los Angeles and was a member of the Radio Writers Guild Council, the American Newspaper Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists. He was also a member of Broadcast Pioneers.
Harry wrote several books and numerous articles on foreign policy (especially Germany) and labour issues in North America, Latin America, and Europe. He is the author of the bestseller "Assignment to Berlin" (1942), co-author of "Off Mike" (1944), editor of "Pattern for Peace" (1962), co-author of "The Church and the Working Men" (1965), and "Which Way Germany?" (1968).
Harry married Ruth Carmody in 1937. After his first wife’s death in 1968, he married Mary Heinemann in 1969.
Harry died on 11th March 1975 in Los Angeles, California.
[his portrait is illustrated above; courtesy of his book (1942)]