James Reston

James Barrett Reston (11 November 1909 – 12 June 1995) (nicknamed "Scotty") was a prominent American journalist whose career spanned the mid 1930s to the early 1990s. Associated for many years with The New York Times, he became perhaps the most powerful, influential, and widely-read journalists of his era.

Life

Reston was born in Clydebank, Scotland into a poor, devout Scottish-Presbyterian family, which emigrated to the United States in 1920. After working briefly for the Springfield, Ohio Daily News, he joined the Associated Press in 1934. He moved to the London bureau of the New York Times in 1939, but returned to in New York in 1940. In 1942, he took leave of absence to establish a US Office of War Information in London. Rejoining the Times in 1945, Reston was assigned to Washington, D.C., as national correspondent. In 1948, he was appointed diplomatic correspondent, followed by bureau chief and columnist in 1953.

Related Topics:
Clydebank - Scotland - Springfield, Ohio - Associated Press - London - 1939 - New York - Office of War Information - Washington, D.C.

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In subsequent years, Reston served as associate editor of the Times from 1964 to 1968, executive editor from 1968 to 1969, and vice president from 1969 to 1974. He wrote a nationally syndicated column from 1974 until 1987, when he became a senior columnist. During the Nixon administration, he was on the notorious Dean-Colson enemy list.

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Reston retired from the Times in 1989.

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Reston interviewed many of the world's leaders and wrote extensively about the leading events and issues of his time. He interviewed President John F. Kennedy immediately after the 1961 Vienna Summit with Nikita Khrushchev on the heels of the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Related Topics:
John F. Kennedy - 1961 - Nikita Khrushchev - Bay of Pigs

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Reston won the Pulitzer Prize twice, in 1945 and 1957. His books include Prelude to Victory (1942), The Artillery of the Press (1967), and Sketches in the Sand (1967). In 1991, he published a memoir, Deadline (1991)

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