Homer William Bigart (October 25, 1907 – April 16, 1991) was an American reporter who worked for the ''
New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' from 1929 to 1955 (later known as the ''
International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'') and for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' from 1955 to his retirement in 1972. He was considered a "reporter's reporter" and an "enduring role model." He won two
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
s as a war correspondent, as well as most of the other major journalism awards.
Early life and education
Bigart was born in
Hawley, Pennsylvania
Hawley is a borough on the Lackawaxen River in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough's population was 1,229 at the time of the 2020 United States Census.
History
The borough was named for Irad Hawley, first president of the Penn ...
to Homer S. Bigart, a woolens manufacturer, and Anna Schardt Bigart. To author Karen Rothmeyer, he confided near the end of his life:
I decided that I would become an architect because it sounded so prestigious and so easy. Especially easy. I went to what was then
Carnegie Tech
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
in Pittsburgh and quickly discovered that if you were going to be an architect you at least had to learn how to draw. But I couldn't even do that. The only passing grade I got was in English, so I decided that about the only thing I could do was to become a newspaperman."
He transferred to the
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
School of Journalism in 1929.
Journalism career
He got a part-time job as a night copy boy at the ''Herald Tribune'', then dropped out of school to work full-time at the newspaper. He had a stutter and a painfully slow typing speed which did not stop him from being promoted to general assignment reporter after four years.
World War II
In 1942, with
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
raging, Bigart was asked to become a war correspondent. He stated that, although he never liked the war, when he was assigned to London:
ose first few months were about the happiest ones I think I've ever spent in journalism. I liked the people and I liked the city. There was sort of a lull in the air raid war so you had the excitement of being in a war area without any real danger.
He and seven other reporters flew bombing missions over Germany as part of "
The Writing 69th
The Writing 69th was a group of eight American journalists who trained to fly bomber missions over Germany with the U.S. Eighth Air Force during World War II.
The beginnings
The Writing 69th was so christened by one of the 8th Air Force's pub ...
". On one such mission to
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...
in March 1943, the
B-17
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
bomber formation in which he and fellow reporters
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
and
Gladwin Hill
Gladwin Hill (June 16, 1914, Boston – September 19, 1992, Los Angeles) was an American journalist who was a member of the famed Writing 69th, a group of reporters who trained and flew on bombing missions with the Eighth Air Force.
Education
Hil ...
were flying suffered heavy losses to enemy fighters. He also covered the fighting in North Africa, Italy, and southern France. When Germany surrendered, he went to the Pacific and was one of the first reporters to enter
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
after the atomic bombing. For the latter work, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting - International (a predecessor of the International Reporting Pulitzer), citing "his distinguished reporting during the year 1945 from the Pacific war theatre.""1946 Winners" The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
Secretary of War
The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...
Robert P. Patterson
Robert Porter Patterson Sr. (February 12, 1891 – January 22, 1952) was an American judge who served as United States Under Secretary of War, Under Secretary of War under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and US Secretary of War, U.S. Secretary of ...
honored war correspondents, including Bigart, at an event in Washington, on November 23, 1946.
This was only the first of several wars Bigart was to cover.
Korean War
Next up was the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
where he clashed with fellow ''Herald Tribune'' reporter
Marguerite Higgins
Marguerite Higgins Hall (September 3, 1920January 3, 1966) was an American reporter and war correspondent. Higgins covered World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and in the process advanced the cause of equal access for female war c ...
. Recalled Bigart:
When I came out I thought I was the premier war correspondent and I thought that she, being the Tokyo correspondent, ought to be back in Tokyo. But she didn't see things that way. She was a very brave person, foolishly brave. As a result, I felt as though I had to go out and get shot at occasionally myself. So I resented that.
Nonetheless, Bigart, Higgins and four others—two from the ''
Chicago Daily News
The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
History
The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...
'' and two from the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
—shared the 1951
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic R ...
."1951 Winners" The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-10-31. Once again, he was in the thick of things; a July 10, 1950 dispatch described being caught between North Korean tanks and an American artillery barrage. ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' called him "the best war correspondent of an embattled generation."
He left the ''Herald Tribune'' in 1955, a decade before its demise, for ''The New York Times''. He covered the trial of Nazi
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, where he stayed for six months. He soon realized that the war was a mistake, stating "I never thought we'd be stupid enough to send ground troops over there in the first place, after the experience in Korea".
Civil rights movement
''The New York Times'' dispatched Bigart to cover some of the most significant events of the struggle of Southern Blacks for civil rights. He followed the
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...
into
Little Rock, Arkansas
(The Little Rock, The "Little Rock")
, government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager
, leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_ ...
in 1957, in response to Governor
Orval Faubus
Orval Eugene Faubus ( ; January 7, 1910 – December 14, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party.
In 1957, he refused to comply with a unanimous ...
's refusal to comply with federal court orders to desegregate the city's public schools.Gene Roberts & Hank Klibanoff, The Race Beat " p. 184 (Random House 2008). He covered the demonstrations in St. Augustine, Florida, that led directly to the passage of the landmark
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
. His dispatch's blunt description of civil rights opponents in
Philadelphia, Mississippi
Philadelphia is a city in and the county seat of Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 7,118 at the 2020 census.
History
Philadelphia is incorporated as a municipality; it was given its current name in 1903, two year ...
, as "peckerwoods' and "rednecks," following the disappearance of civil rights activists Mickey Schwerner,
James Cheney
James Earl Chaney (May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) civil rights workers killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964. The others were Andrew Goodman (act ...
, and Andrew Goodman, set Bigart apart from other ''Times'' reporters.
Personal life
He divorced his first wife, Alice Veit.
Alice Weel, his second wife, died of cancer in 1969. Alice Weel Bigart was the first woman to write full-time for a US network news program, when she joined
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
''). Hélène Montgomery-Moore, the widow of Major
Cecil Montgomery-Moore
Major Cecil Montgomery-Moore DFC (1 July 1899 – 8 December 1970) was an American-born Bermudian First World War fighter pilot, and commander of the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers and the Bermuda Flying School during the Second World War.
Early li ...
, DFC, funded the ''Mrs. Cecil Montgomery-Moore Scholarship'' for journalism, in memory of Alice Weel Bigart.
Bigart retired in 1973 and died in 1991 in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...
, of cancer. He was survived by his third wife,
Else Holmelund Minarik
Else Holmelund Minarik (née Holmelund; September 13, 1920 – July 12, 2012) was an American author of more than 40 children's books. She was most commonly associated with her '' Little Bear'' series of children's books, which were adapted for t ...
, a writer of children's books.
Books
* ''Forward Positions: The war correspondence of Homer Bigart'', ed. Betsy Wade (University of Arkansas Press, 1992); "Forward positions: the war correspondence of Homer Bigart" Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved October 31, 2013.