From Kristallnacht to Watergate

Harry Rosenfeld

Description

Bronze Medalist, 2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Autobiography / Memoir I (Celebrity / Political / Romance) category
Bronze Winner, 2013 ForeWord IndieFab Book of the Year Award in the Autobiography & Memoir Category

In this powerful memoir, Harry Rosenfeld describes his years as an editor at the New York Herald Tribune and the Washington Post, two of the greatest American newspapers in the second half of the turbulent twentieth century. After playing key roles at the Herald Tribune as it battled fiercely for its survival, he joined the Post under the leadership of Ben Bradlee and Katharine Graham as they were building the paper's national reputation. As the Post's Metropolitan editor, Rosenfeld managed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they broke the Watergate story, overseeing the paper's standard-setting coverage that eventually earned it the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service. In describing his complicated relationship with Bradlee and offering an insider's perspective on the unlikely partnership of Woodward and Bernstein, Rosenfeld depicts the tensions and challenges, triumphs and setbacks that accompanied the Post's key role in Watergate, the most potent political scandal in America's history.

Rosenfeld also tells the gripping story of growing up in Hitler's Berlin. He saw his father taken away by the Gestapo in the middle of the night, and on Kristallnacht, the prelude to the Holocaust, he witnessed the burning of his synagogue and walked through streets littered with the shattered glass of Jewish businesses. After his family found refuge in America, his childhood experiences stayed with him and ultimately influenced his decision to make journalism his life's work.

At a time when newspapers and other media are under financial pressure to cut back on investigative reporting, From Kristallnacht to Watergate reminds us why journalism matters, and why good journalism is essential to our democracy.
Acknowledgments
Prologue

1. From Warsaw to Berlin

2. Kristallnacht

3. Coming to America

4. Annie

5. The Trib

6. In the Army

7. Fighting to Save the Trib

8. The Long Battle Rages On

9. The Washington Post

10. Assignment Vietnam

11. World Tour

12. Back in Washington

13. Shaping Up Metro

14. Inside Watergate

15. The Reporters Who Became Woodstein

16. Watergate Act Two

17. Nixon Gets a Wakeup Call

18. After the Pulitzer

19. Diversions High and Low

20. Nixon’s Final Hours

21. New Assignment

22. A Strike and Other Troubles

23. Uncharted Waters

24. New Job, New Demands

25. Primed for a Fresh Start

Epilogue
Appendix
Index

Sujets

• USA
• United States of America
• 20th century
• History of the Americas
• Entertainment
• États-Unis
• Media

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 18 septembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438449180
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

Extrait

Praise forFrom Kristallnacht to Watergate

“Harry has a great story to tell . . . He knew îrsthand the brutal mechanism of terror Hitler unleashed on Jews. It’s easy to trace Harry’s motivation of becoming a member of the Fourth Estate. He understood what could happen without a robust watchdog press. Harry’s book is an American immigrant’s tale as much as a newspaper memoir . . . But my favorite part in the entire 359 pages is how Harry met Annie. It is a beautiful love story.”

— Paul Grondahl, AlbanyTimes Union

“. . . [a] remarkable memoir . . . [and] a fascinating exploration of a golden era in journalism . . . the power of this volume . . . doesn’t lie in the speciîcs of the stories—which demonstrate, incidentally, that Rosenfeld could have been a great reporter, had he chosen that path rather than newsroom leadership. Rather, the book underscores that journalism’s role in preserving the freedoms Americans hold dear depends mostly upon one person after another doing their jobs with extraordinary skill and dedication, like that exempliîed by the grown-up version of that little boy who walked the streets of Berlin on a tragic night of breaking glass.”

— Rex Smith, AlbanyTimes Union

From Kristallnacht to Watergate

From Kristallnacht to Watergate

Memoirs of a Newspaperman

HARRY ROSENFELD

e e excelsioreditions State University of New York Press Albany, New York

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2013 Harry Rosenfeld

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

Excelsior Editions is an imprint of State University of New York Press

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production byEileen Nizer Marketing byKate McDonnell

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rosenfeld, Harry, 1929– From Kristallnacht to Watergate : the memoirs of a newspaperman / Harry Rosenfeld.  pages cm Summary: “An insider's account of how the Washington Post broke the Watergate story, depicting the tensions, challenges, and personal conicts that were overcome as it laid bare the criminal wrongdoings of the Nixon administration”— Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-4917-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Rosenfeld, Harry, 1929– 2. Journalists—United States—Biography. 3. Editors—United States—Biography. 4. Watergate Affair, 1972–1974—Press coverage. 5. Washington post, times herald—History. I. Title.

PN4874.R5955A3 2013 070.4'1092—dc23 [B]

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2013002444

For Annie

•

Contents

Acknowledgments / ix

Prologue / xiii

Chapter1 From Warsaw to Berlin / 1

Chapter2 Kristallnacht / 13

Chapter3 Coming to America / 19

Chapter4 Annie / 35

Chapter5 The Trib / 41

Chapter6 In the Army / 55

Chapter7 Fighting to Save the Trib / 73

Chapter8 The Long Battle Rages On / 89

photo gallery follows page 102

vii