Famed Journalist David Halberstam dies; auto accident

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author David Halberstam Dies
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author David Halberstam Dies
By Jessica Berman
Washington
24 April 2007



Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam died Monday. Halberstam's coverage of the Vietnam War earned the enmity of two American presidential administrations. But it set a new standard in investigative journalism, as we hear in this report .

In many ways, David Halberstam was the typical, American success story. This son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants attended one of the very best schools in America - Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But, by his own admission, he did not do very well there.

"I was someone who did better in life after college than in college. But, to me, it began to narrow down to journalism," he explained. " It was something I thought I was good at. I was on the college paper. I was better at being on the 'Harvard Crimson' than I was being a student at Harvard."

What appealed to Halberstam was that he could be in the public limelight - as a "player" - without being a politician or running for public office.

"You did not have to be good looking. You did not have to be rich. But you could act on conscience," he noted. "And, if you believed that one of the most important things in America was the idea of justice, I think good reporters could contribute to that."

David Halberstam was born on April 10, 1934, in New York City - the son of a surgeon and a teacher.

Halberstam's first journalism job after Harvard was with the "Daily Times Leader" in Westpoint, Mississippi. From that vantage point - and shortly thereafter as a reporter for the larger daily, the "Nashville Tennessean" - David Halberstam published engaging and thorough eyewitness accounts of the growing civil rights movement in the American South.

His reports on the struggle by African-Americans and others in the United States to abolish legal and moral racial barriers caught the attention of the prestigious "New York Times." And, in the early 1960's, Halberstam suddenly found himself in Vietnam, reporting on the Southeast Asian conflict for an American audience, half world away.

David Halberstam's dispatches frequently questioned the official versions of what was going on in Vietnam. His efforts were least appreciated by the administrations of both presidents Kennedy and Johnson, whom he felt were deceiving the American public about the extent of American involvement in the war.

"I think, in every venue, there is an element of truth," he said. "And, governments often try and cover it up because it goes against policy, as in Vietnam. I think Vietnam did make a generation of us angry. It was a titanic struggle in democracy in which the government was lying and ordinary people were telling the truth."

A number of books about the Vietnam war followed, including "The Making of a Quagmire" in 1965 and "The Best and Brightest," published in 1972, about the U.S. officials who were responsible for engineering America's involvement in Southeast Asia.

In 1964, Halberstam was awarded the Pulitzer Prize - America's highest literary honor - for his reporting of the civil rights struggle.

David Halberstam proved himself to be as diverse as he was talented: he also wrote engaging accounts about major league sports - "The Summer of '49," "The Breaks of the Game", the decade of the 1950's - "The Fifties" and the American and Japanese auto industries - "The Reckoning".

"There is a phrase from (American philosopher Ralph Waldo) Emerson which I did not know at the time," he explained. "Let me paraphrase it: 'If one good man plants himself upon his conscience, the whole world will come 'round.' And, my life has validated that. This is what makes reporting - it isn't us. It isn't our fame. It is the courage of ordinary citizens - the wisdom, the courage and honor of ordinary citizens - that I do believe in."

Journalist and author David Halberstam, dead at the age of 73.

Halberstam Obits and Memories
Halberstam Obits and Memories, VT Coverage, Ex-Santa Barbara Editor
By E&P Staff
Published: April 24, 2007 10:50 AM ET

Halberstam Memories, Obituaries

-- New York Times: "I think the work he was proudest of was his trilogy on war," his wife, Jean Halberstam, said last night.

-- Los Angeles Times: "In an age when journalism was practiced by some very talented people, David stood out as one of the great reporters of his time," said Pulitzer Prize-winning author Neil Sheehan.

-- USA Today: Halberstam turned journalism into history.

-- Poynter: He is likely to be most remembered for an unquenchable desire to describe what he saw in war, writes Roy Peter Clark.

-- Harvard Crimson: "He was just raw energy, you just saw the man in constant motion. I picture him at one or two in the morning looking over the last proofs of the paper before they went to print," said Arthur J. Langguth, Jr., who was president of The Crimson when Halberstam was managing editor.

-- Detroit Free Press: "Let me tell you why David Halberstam was important to the sports pages," writes Mitch Albom. "Because, in a world where too many of us use our mouths, David used his mind. In a world where fast and ignorant are celebrated, David was slow and cerebral."

-- Boston Globe: "It was a privilege and honor to watch David practice his craft and an even greater one to call him a friend," Bill Belichick said in a statement.

David Halberstam Killed in Car Accident
David Halberstam Killed in Car Accident
By E&P Staff and The Associated Press
Published: April 23, 2007 8:00 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who chronicled the Washington press corps, the Vietnam War generation and baseball, was killed in a car crash early Monday, a coroner said. He was 73. Halberstam was a passenger in a car that was broadsided by another vehicle in Menlo Park, south of San Francisco, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said.

"Looking at the accident and examining him at the scene indicated it's most likely internal injuries," Foucrault said.

Halberstam had come to fame in the 1960s covering the Vietnam war for The New York Times, often sketching stark if unpleasant realities. After a speech this past Saturday in Berkeley, he went to dinner and with a group of friends stayed late discussing the growing similarities between the Vietnam and Iraq conflicts. He considered each war a mistake.

The driver of the car carrying Halberstam is a student at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, and was taken to Stanford Medical Center. Two others were injured.

Halberstam spoke Saturday at a UC Berkeley-sponsored event on the craft of journalism and what it means to turn reporting into a work of history.

Clyde Haberman in The New York Times wrote tonight, "Halberstam was killed doing what he had done his entire adult life: reporting. He was on his way to interview Y. A. Tittle, the former New York Giants quarterback, for a book about the 1958 championship game between the Giants and the Baltimore Colts, considered by many to be the greatest football game ever played."

But another published account had him on the way to doing an interview for a book on the Korean war.

He was born April 10, 1934, in New York City, the son of a surgeon father and teacher mother.

After attending Harvard University, Halberstam launched his career in 1955 at the Daily Times Leader, a small daily newspaper in Mississippi. By age 30 he had won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Vietnam War for the New York Times.

He quit daily journalism in 1967 and wrote 21 books covering such diverse topics as the Vietnam War, civil rights, the auto industry and a baseball pennant race. His 2002 best-seller, "War in a Time of Peace," was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.

Last April, Halberstam told a college audience that the Iraq war was a "mistake" and "heartbreaking." He added, "I think most journalists were appalled as we moved toward war in Iraq. The worst mistake this administration made was not about weapons of mass destruction. It was the administration's view that we'd be welcomed as the great liberator. I think they were watching the movie 'Patton' when they should have been watching 'The Battle of Algiers' about urban insurgency."

Speaking to a journalism conference last year in Tennessee, he said government criticism of news reporters in Iraq reminded him of the way he was treated while covering the war in Vietnam. "The crueler the war gets, the crueler the attacks get on anybody who doesn't salute or play the game," he said. "And then one day, the people who are doing the attacking look around, and they've used up their credibility."

The San Jose Mercury News adds the following details.
*

Halberstam, 73, was a passenger in a red Toyota Camry driven by UC-Berkeley student Kevin Jones. There were no other passengers in the vehicle.

According to Harold Schappelhouman, chief of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, the car was apparently struck at a high rate of speed by a green late-model Infiniti, with Halberstam's side of the car bearing the brunt of the hit. Jones was attempting to make a left-hand turn at the intersection of Bayfront Expressway and Willow Road when his car was broadsided.

The impact of the crash forced the two cars into a third vehicle.

The fire chief, who assisted at the scene, said the force of the crash caused a 2-foot indentation on Halberstam's side of the car, pinning his legs. As firefighters tried to free him, the car's engine began to smoke, then caught fire.

Rescuers extricated Halberstam, who was wearing a seat belt, then tried to rescusitate him, but they could not find a pulse, Schappelhouman said.

Jones was able to exit the driver's side of the car, the chief said....

Orville Schell, the dean of Berkeley's graduate school of journalism, said in an e-mail this afternoon that Halberstam was on his way to an interview for his next book, about the Korean War, at the time of the accident.

"I have spoken with David's wife in New York City, extended the condolences of the whole school and have offered to do everything that we can in this difficult time for her and their family," Schell said in his e-mail.

Schell said he told Halberstam's wife that he "had given a truly inspired talk here at Berkeley."

In an interview, Schell said that after the Berkeley speech, he, his wife, Liu Baifang; "New Yorker" staff writer Mark Danner; and NPR documentarian Sandy Tolan, joined Halberstam at Chez Panisse, where the five closed down the restaurant discussing the similarities between the Vietnam War and the current quagmire in Iraq.

"No one wanted to leave," Schell recalled late this afternoon. `It was kind of like the last supper."

Halberstam Gave Good Quotes -- And Autographs
Halberstam Gave Good Quotes -- And Autographs
By Joe Strupp p E & P
NEW YORK (April 24, 2007

On numerous occasions in recent years, called out of the blue for a comment on deadline, David Halberstam responded willingly with opinions on everything from the war in Iraq to to newspaper ethics. Then there was the day he signed that book for my father-in-law.

I must have called David Halberstam half a dozen times over the past few years for comment, and each time he responded willingly with opinions on any number of topics, from newspaper ethics to the plight of embattled New York Times scribe Judith Miller.

In each case, Halberstam, called at his home office, was thoughtful and insightful. When asked about the Miller case, perhaps knowing his comments about his former employer would hold more weight than some, he added, "I think that's a pretty good quote, don't you?"

Then there was the day he came down to the lobby of his apartment building to sign one of his books for my father-in-law -- and thanked me for my interest.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and legendary author always answered the phone in his well-known, deep-throated voice, ready to give views on whatever the journalism issue of the day. Even if he was in a rush, usually finishing his latest book, he'd either speak quickly or call back later. One time, his wife, Jean, relayed a message to his cell phone and Halberstam called back within minutes from an airport somewhere, gladly ready to put forth some nugget of journalistic insight.

So when I heard of his tragic death in an auto accident late Monday, one of my first thoughts was not just the loss of a great reporter, writer and news mind, but that I would never again get to speak with someone who had such great views on my profession, as well as being so kind about giving his time.

Among his views to E&P over the years were the following:

-- On the lead up to the Iraq War, in January 2003: "It is much tougher these days because the desire to control is greater. I think the press has done well asking questions. But most people who have Vietnam in their bones are uneasy about this war."

-- On reduced reporting of the war, in July 2003: "It's obviously a shallow outlook, but it has been that way forever. But the serious people with serious reporting come forward at this time."

-- On what question he would ask George Bush or John Kerry prior to a presidential debate in 2004: "Do you think we are impaled on a major guerilla insurgency in Iraq and how do we un-impale ourselves?"

-- On the Judith Miller scandal at his old paper, in 2005: "I think the paper has taken a terrible hit. I think it is shocking that this young woman who has been a known identified land mine for a long time seems to have guaranteed loyalty to the office of the Vice President of the United States more than to The New York Times."

He spoke at the most length about ethics issues raised by the Jayson Blair scandal at the Times:

"The industry as a whole is in trouble because people at the top are taking out too much money and driving the profits up. The perception is that the real customers are not those who read the paper but those who buy the stock. It damages the profession....

"The question on anonymous sources is how responsibly you use them. But don't be afraid to use them....

"Human nature is such that there will always be problems like these. ... I think the fact that so many people are appalled by (the ethical lapses) is a good sign. The people most offended are the journalists themselves."

Then there was the time in 2004 when he did me a favor. I had just finished his great book, "The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship," which is about several former teammates of Ted Williams driving to Florida to visit their dying friend.

I had bought a copy for my father-in-law, a longtime baseball fan, as a Father's Day gift and wanted Halberstam to sign it. I called his home office, just days before Father's Day, to see when he might be doing a bookstore signing. He informed me that none were set for the next few days, but offered to sign it if I wanted to come up to his apartment building.

Excited not just to get the gift autographed, but also to meet this giant of journalism, I got the address and headed up to his west side Manhattan building. When informed I was there, the doorman called up to Halberstam, who came down in the elevator, penned his name on the book, as well as on two other copies of his works I had brought, then chatted for a few minutes about how much he appreciated MY interest.

"It means a lot," he said, then shook hands and headed back up to his home.

Student Who Was Driving Halberstam Speaks
Student Who Was Driving Halberstam Speaks
Published: April 24, 2007
E & P

SAN FRANCISCO The journalism student who was chauffeuring David Halberstam when the Pulitzer Prize winner was killed said Tuesday he jumped at the chance to spend time with the writer and is grief-stricken at what happened.

"I want to apologize to his family because I feel so bad," said Kevin Jones, 26, who is in his first year of a two-year program at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. "I just wanted to help him."

Although police have not established who was at fault in Monday's crash, Jones said he felt responsible for the safety of his celebrated passenger.

An autopsy conducted Tuesday showed Halberstam died almost instantly when a broken rib punctured his heart, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said. The cause of death was listed as multiple blunt force trauma.

Jones was driving through an intersection with a traffic light when another car broadsided his, smashing into the passenger side, authorities said. Police said they were interviewing witnesses.

Halberstam, the author of 21 nonfiction books, was at work on a new one about the legendary 1958 NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. Jones was taking him to interview Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who lives south of San Francisco.

Jones, who suffered a small puncture in one lung, said he received an e-mail from the journalism school last Friday saying Halberstam was looking for a driver who would get $20 an hour and a one-on-one journalism lesson.

Jones was the first one to reply.

"He is one of those people you can't say his name without saying Pulitzer Prize-winning author," Jones said. "I'm a journalist and that deserves the utmost respect."

Halberstam's interview had been set for Saturday but was rescheduled for Monday morning, according to Jones. During the hour they spent in the car, they spoke about having children and about how Jones' wife and Halberstam's daughter were teachers.

Jones, who has hired a lawyer, would not discuss the crash itself. But he repeatedly expressed a desire "to make some kind of tribute" to the man who reached the pinnacle of his profession and spent the last hour of his life giving advice to a man just beginning his career.