William John Woestendiek (March 14, 1924 – January 16, 2015) was an American editor and journalist. A native of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange, Durham and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-largest municipality in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state ca ...

. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

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 ...

and in 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 ...

Career

Woestendiek was editor of IBM's ''Think'' magazine and a city editor of ''

The Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the ''Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston Pos ...

''. He was brought in to revamp the editorial format of ''This Week'', a nationally syndicated Sunday magazine supplement that was included in American newspapers between 1935 and 1969. "We tried hard to turn out a better editorial product," an unnamed Crowell, Coller executive told ''

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 ...

''. "We succeeded in doing it, but nobody wanted it."Henry Raymont
"This Week Magazine Ends Publication Nov. 2,"
''

,'' August 14, 1969, page 27. Woestendiek then took a job in 1969 with

WETA-TV WETA-TV (channel 26) is the primary PBS member television station in Washington, D.C. Owned by the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, it is a sister station to NPR member WETA (90.9 FM). The two outlets share studios ...

, a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

station in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he was the anchor, editor and producer of a television news program, “Newsroom.” He lost this position in April 1970 when his wife Kay accepted a position as press secretary to

Martha Mitchell Martha Elizabeth Beall Mitchell (September 2, 1918 – May 31, 1976) was the wife of John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. Her public comments and interviews during the Watergate scandal were frank and ...

, the “outspoken” wife of Attorney General

John N. Mitchell John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 – November 9, 1988) was the 67th Attorney General of the United States under President Richard Nixon and chairman of Nixon's 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns. Prior to that, he had been a municipal ...

. William J. McCarter, general manager of WETA, a public broadcasting station, said that Woestendiek was being ‘relieved of his duties’ as a direct result of his wife’s new job. “‘We have great respect for Mr. Woestendiek,’ McCarter said, ‘but this station’s action was necessary to avoid any possible charge of bias or influence which might affect the program...’” Woestendiek stated that he was told by station management to “tell your wife to quit or else...” “Woestendiek said he replied: ‘I won’t even ask her.’” Woestendiek stated that he would not stay with WETA under any capacity. “Kay Woestendiek joined Mrs. Mitchell last week as a press aide on the attorney general’s private payroll in the midst of a controversy generated by Mrs. Mitchell’s early-morning call to the ''

Arkansas Gazette The ''Arkansas Gazette'' was a newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas, that was published from 1819 to 1991. It was known as the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River. It was located from 1908 until its closing at the now historic Gazette ...

'' demanding that it ‘crucify’ Sen.

J. William Fulbright James William Fulbright (April 9, 1905 – February 9, 1995) was an American politician, academic, and statesman who represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1945 until his resignation in 1974. , Fulbright is the longest serving chair ...

, D-Ark, April 10.”

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

columnist

Art Hoppe Arthur Watterson Hoppe (April 23, 1925 – February 1, 2000) was a popular columnist for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' for more than 40 years. He was known for satirical and allegorical columns that skewered the self-important. Many columns fea ...

wrote a humorous piece headlined “John Loves Martha Still” in which Kay Woestendiek referees a conversation between the Mitchells after her hiring as a press secretary.Hope, Art, “John Loves Martha Still,” The San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, San Bernardino, California, Saturday 18 April 1970, Volume XXIV, Number 1, page A-5.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woestandiek, William 1924 births 2015 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War Journalists from New Jersey People from Newark, New Jersey UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni