Theodore White

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Theodore Harold White (May 6, 1915 – May 9, 1986) was an American political journalist, historian, and novelist, best known for his accounts of the 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 presidential elections.

1 Reporter
2 Making of the President series
3 Major books
4 Assessments
5 References
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Reporter

Born May 6, 1915, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of a Jewish lawyer named David White. Theodore H. White received a scholarship to Harvard in 1934, based upon his academic achievements at the famous Boston Latin School, from which he graduated in 1932.

White graduated from Harvard in 1938 summa cum laude (Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. was a classmate), with a degree in Chinese history, the first honors student of John K. Fairbank. He went to Chungking (Chongqing), China's wartime capital as a freelance reporter. When Henry R. Luce, China born founder and publisher of Time Magazine, came to China the following year, he and White hit it off. White became the China correspondent for Time during the war. White chafed at the restrictions put on his reporting by the censorship of the Nationalist government and the rewriting of his stories by the editors at Time.

Although he maintained great respect for Henry Luce, he resigned and returned home to write, along with Annalee Jacoby, a best selling description of China at war and in crisis, Thunder Out of China [1]. The book described the incompetence and corruption of the Nationalist government and described the power of the rising Communist Party. The authors called upon Americans to come to terms with this reality. The Introduction warned “In Asia there are a billion people who are tired of the world as it is; they live such terrible bondage that they have nothing to lose but their chains.... Less than a thousand years ago Europe lived this way; then Europe revolted... The people of Asia are going through the same process.” (p. xix).

White then served as European correspondent for the Overseas News Agency (1948–50) and for The Reporter (1950–53

He returned to his wartime experience in the novel The Mountain Road (1956), which deals with the retreat of a team of Americans in the face of the Japanese offensive. Although the Americans begin with a sympathy for the Chinese, their mission ends with the burning and destruction of a Chinese village.

[edit] Making of the President series

With experience in analyzing foreign cultures from his time abroad, White took up the challenge of analyzing American culture with the books The Making of the President, 1960 (1961), The Making of the President, 1964 (1965), The Making of the President, 1968 (1969), and The Making of the President, 1972 (1973), all analyzing at American presidential elections. The first of these was both a bestseller and a critical success, winning the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.^[1] It remains the most influential publication about the election that made John F. Kennedy President. The later presidential books sold well but failed to have as great an effect, partly because other authors were by then publishing about the same topics, and White's larger-than-life style of storytelling became less fashionable during the 1960s and '70s.

Shortly after JFK's death, White obtained an exclusive interview with Jacqueline Kennedy. During this interview Mrs. Kennedy spoke at length on a personal level about her husband and what she hoped would be his legacy. Her comments inspired White to compare the short-lived presidency of John F. Kennedy with the legend of Camelot, for which Life was also acclaimed. White covered the assassination and funeral extensively, also for Life. White was the best known reporter at Andrews Air Force Base on November 22, 1963, when the body of the assassinated president arrived there.

White died on May 15, 1986, in New York City. He was survived by two of his children, Heyden White Rostow and David Fairbank White.

[edit] Major books

Thunder Out of China (with Annalee Jacoby) (1946) reprinted Da Capo, 1980 ISBN 03068012800.

Fire in the Ashes (1953)

The Mountain Road (Sloane(1958) reprinted, with an Introduction by Parks Coble, EastBridge 2006 ISBN 15998800080) which was made into a movie starring James Stewart.

Breach of Faith : The Fall of Richard Nixon (1975) A comprehensive history of the Watergate Scandal with biographical information about Richard Nixon and many of the key players of the event.

In Search of History: A Personal Adventure (1978)

America in Search of Itself: The Making of the President, 1956–1980 (1982)

[edit] Assessments

According to David Halberstam's book, The Powers That Be, White's China reporting for Time Magazine was extensively rewritten in order to reflect publisher Henry Luce's admiration for Chiang.

William F. Buckley, Jr. a well-known conservative author, wrote an obituary of White in the National Review. He wrote of White that "conjoined with his fine mind, his artist's talent, his prodigious curiosity, there was a transcendent wholesomeness, a genuine affection for the best in humankind." He praised White, saying he "revolutionized the art of political reporting." Buckley added that White made one grave strategic mistake during his journalistic lifetime: "Like so many disgusted with Chiang Kaishek, he imputed to the opposition to Chiang thaumaturgical social and political powers. He overrated the revolutionists' ideals, and underrated their capacity for totalitarian sadism." [2]

In her book, Theodore H. White and Journalism As Illusion, Joyce Hoffman alleges that White's "personal ideology undermined professional objectivity" (according to the review of her work in Library Journal). She alleges "conscious mythmaking" on behalf of his subjects, including Chiang Kai-shek, John F. Kennedy, and David Bruce. Hoffman alleges that White self-censored information embarrassing to his subjects to portray them as heroes.

[edit] References

Theodore H. White, In Search of History: A Personal Adventure (New York: Harper & Row, 1978). 561p. [ISBN 0060145994] Memoir of White's early years, training at Harvard under John K. Fairbank, experiences in wartime China, relations with Time publisher Henry Luce, and later tribulations and success as originator of the Making of the President series.

Thomas Griffith, Harry and Teddy: The Turbulent Friendship of Press Lord Henry R. Luce and His Favorite Reporter, Theodore H. White (New York: Random House, 1995).

“. . . The Crucial 1940's Nieman Reports.” Walter Sullivan The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University (Spring 1983) [3]