Evan Welling Thomas III (born April 25, 1951) is an American journalist, historian, and author. He is the author of nine books, including two ''New York Times'' bestsellers.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' for 24 years. Prior to that, he was at ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
''. Thomas began his reporting career at ''
The Bergen Record
''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and ...
'' in northeastern New Jersey.
In 1992, DCI
Robert Gates
Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush a ...
granted Thomas historical access to view classified
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
files. The fundamental authority for this policy is Executive Order 12356 (April 1982), as implemented in HR 10–24(c)4. Under these provisions, CIA may grant individual researchers and former presidential appointees access to classified files, once the recipient of this access signs a secrecy agreement and agrees to allow the agency to review his manuscript to ensure that it contains no classified information. Former DCI Robert Gates directed that the CIA history staff locate and provide records that would satisfy Thomas's research request. Thomas's manuscript was subsequently reviewed in accordance with his secrecy agreement and approved on March 2, 1995, by the information review officer of the Directorate of Operations, with the concurrence of the
Office of General Counsel
A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department.
In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
. In 1996, Thomas penned an article for the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
's journal, ''
Studies in Intelligence
''Studies in Intelligence'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal on intelligence that is published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence, a group within the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It contains both classified and u ...
'', describing his experience having been granted the rare privilege of historical access to CIA's classified files.
Thomas was, for 20 years, a regular panelist on the weekly public affairs TV show '' Inside Washington'' until the show ceased production in December 2013.Farhi, Paul (September 8, 2013) "After more than 40 years, 'Inside Washington' will go off the air" ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.
He taught writing and journalism at Harvard and
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
between 2003 and 2014. For seven years, from 2007 to 2014, he was the Ferris Professor of Journalism in residence at Princeton.
Family
He is the son of Anna Davis (née Robins) and Evan Welling Thomas II, an editor who worked for
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
Early years
Thomas was the ...
, was a six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
He is married, and he and his wife, an attorney, are the parents of two daughters, including writer
Louisa Thomas
Louisa Thomas (born 1981) is an American writer and sports journalist.
Life
Thomas is the daughter of journalist and ''Newsweek'' editor Evan Thomas and Washington, D.C. attorney Oscie Thomas.
Thomas graduated from Harvard University. She is ...
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
, Evan Thomas, Simon & Schuster, 1986; Simon & Schuster, 1997.
*''The Man to See: The Life of Edward Bennett Williams''. Simon & Schuster, 1992.
*''The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA''. Simon & Schuster, 1996.
*''Back from the Dead: How Clinton Survived the Republican Revolution''.
Atlantic Monthly Press
Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself "A ...
, 1997.
*''Robert Kennedy: His Life''. Simon & Schuster, 2000.
*''John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy''. Simon & Schuster, 2004.
*''Sea of Thunder: Four Naval Commanders and the Last Sea War''. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
*''A Long Time Coming: The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama''. PublicAffairs, 2009.
*'' The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898'', Little, Brown and Company, 2010,
*''Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle to Save the World''.
Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...
Studies in Intelligence
''Studies in Intelligence'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal on intelligence that is published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence, a group within the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It contains both classified and u ...