James Truitt

James Truitt
Born Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died November 18, 1981
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Occupation Journalist
Spouse(s) Anne Truitt (1947–1971)
Evelyn Patterson
Children Alexandra Truitt
Mary Truitt
Sam Truitt

James Truitt (died November 18, 1981) was an American journalist who worked for Life and Time magazines. He later became the vice president of Newsweek magazine.

Career

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Truitt was raised in a prominent family in Baltimore, Maryland. He served as a Naval officer in the Pacific theatre of World War II, then returned to work for the US State Department. He married his first wife, Anne, in September 1947 in Washington, D.C. In spring 1948 he went to work for Life magazine in New York, then became their Washington correspondent. He spent three years with Life in San Francisco, then he returned to Washington, D.C. in May 1960 to become the personal assistant to Phillip Graham at the Washington Post, where he rose to become vice president. He also worked for Time, served as publisher of Art News, and became vice president of Newsweek in 1964. He sported a crew-cut haircut, was friends with Cord Meyer and James Angleton, and was known for his intelligence, eccentricity, and social graces.

In 1962, Cord Meyer's ex-wife Mary Pinchot Meyer told Truitt that she was having an affair with President Kennedy. Truitt made notes of the conversation, which years later he showed to journalist Jay Gourley. The notes recorded an episode in July 1962 when Mary Pinchot Meyer and President John F. Kennedy smoked marijuana, and include mention of Pinchot Meyer forgetting her slip after one visit and having it mailed back to her in a White House envelope.

In early 1963, Truitt helped extricate Phillip Graham from an ill-advised appearance at a publishers' conference in Arizona, where Graham mentioned Kennedy's affair.[1] Graham committed suicide on August 3, 1963. Katharine Graham assumed ownership of the Washington Post. Later in 1963, Truitt left the Post and moved to Tokyo as the Japan bureau chief for Newsweek. There, Anne Truitt received news that her friend, Mary Pinchot Meyer, had been murdered. Anne called James Angleton to see that Meyer's diary was taken care of, per her wishes. The Truitts later returned to Washington and to the Post.

Later years

In the years that followed, James Truitt's mental health allegedly declined. In 1969, Ben Bradlee forced him to resign from the Post, with accusations of mental incompetence. Truitt accepted a settlement in exchange for a signed statement that he would not write anything that was "in any way derogatory" of the Washington Post. Truitt and Anne divorced in 1971,[2] and he moved to Mexico where he married Evelyn Patterson.

In March 1976, Truitt granted an interview to the National Enquirer. Truitt revealed Mary Pinchot Meyer's affair with President Kennedy (as Philip Graham had alleged). Truitt noted that Pinchot Meyer's diary had been found by Angleton after her murder who knew where to find it having been told its location by Anne Truitt from Tokyo. Initially, Bradlee and Angleton denied the story, but it was soon confirmed by Meyer's friends, who spoke to reporters at Time Magazine, the New York Times and Washington Post, and by others.

Death

James Truitt committed suicide on November 18, 1981 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Evelyn later claimed that her husband's papers, including copies of Pinchot Meyer's diary, were stolen by CIA officer Herbert Burrows.

References

  1. ↑ Deborah Davis, 3rd ed. 1991, p. 154
  2. ↑ Berman, Mark (2009-10-11). "Anne Truitt Became an Art Pioneer From the Friendly Confines of Washington". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 11 September 2011.

Sources