Papers of Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist

U of Ideas of General Interest ó November 1999
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Contact: Andrea Lynn, Humanities/Social Sciences Editor (217) 333-2177; [email protected]

JAMES RESTON
Papers of Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist ëa historianís dreamí

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ó The personal papers of James "Scotty" Reston, one of the most influential print journalists of the 20th century, have come home to his alma mater, the University of Illinois.

The opening of the papers at the U. of I. Archives will be celebrated by a Nov. 3 symposium featuring speakers who were close to the legendary New York Times writer. They are Max Frankel, former executive editor of the New York Times; James Reston Jr., author and one of Restonís sons; and John Stacks, executive editor of Time magazine. Exhibits of items from the Reston papers will be on display in the University Library through November.

Reston was born in Clydesbank, Scotland, in 1909, and moved to Dayton, Ohio, in 1920. In 1932, he earned a degree in journalism from the U. of I. Reston was a reporter for the (Springfield) Ohio Daily News, and a publicist for Ohio State University and the Cincinnati Reds baseball team before going to work for The Associated Press. During World War II, he reported from the London bureau of the New York Times, and in 1941 began his 48-year stint with the Timesí Washington bureau. In 1945, Reston won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, which laid the foundation for the United Nations. He won a second Pulitzer for national reporting in 1957. Reston was associate editor of the Times from 1964 to 1968, and executive editor from 1968 to 1969. He served as vice president from 1969 to 1974, and as columnist from 1974 to 1989, when he retired. He died in 1995.

Restonís papers include correspondence, interview notes, typescripts, confidential memos, publications and writings, clippings and research files. Many of the documents concern the Times, including its internal operations and administrative decisions.

"On the surface, the papers might not look all that exciting because they are mostly typewritten documents," said university archivist William Maher, who will oversee the papers, "but if you know the context, the history, they can be dynamite. The collection is going to be a historianís dream."

Among the papers is a letter dated March 18, 1969, from Reston to Wilson Hirschfeld, an Ohio newspaperman, in which Reston explains his philosophy on using sensitive information confided on "a private basis" ñ in this case, information about U.S. military plans for Cuba during the missile crisis.

When President Kennedy asked Reston not to publish the information until JFK addressed the nation 48 hours later, Reston "told him then what I have always said: ëMy job as a reporter is to send all the facts I can gather on everything to The Times. I donít publish or suppress news. Thatís for the responsible editors in New York to decide.í Ö I write you this because all a guy in our craft has is his reputation as an honest guy, and confidence on this point among my colleagues means more to me than anything else."

The guide to the Reston papers is at www.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/reston/jbr_box_folder.htm.

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