Robert John Donovan (August 21, 1912 – August 8, 2003) was a Washington

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

, author and presidential historian. He died from complications from stroke.

Biography

Donovan attended Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York, where he was Captain of the Hocke Herald Tribune after the war and served as a foreign correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief. During the latter period he was President of the

White House Correspondents' Association The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

. From the Tribune, he moved to the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' as Washington Bureau Chief and for a short time as Associate Editor in Los Angeles. Donovan began writing books on the Washington political scene while still a reporter and continued that after retirement. He also served a year as a

Woodrow Wilson Fellow The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...

and a year as a Visiting Professor at

Princeton University 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 ...

. He liked to joke that he was the only Professor at Princeton never to have attended a single day of college in his life. On the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Congress, he addressed a

Joint Session of Congress A joint session of the United States Congress is a gathering of members of the two chambers of the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Joint sessions can be held on ...

as Truman's principal biographer. At the time, he was the only active journalist to have ever had that distinction. His titles include ''The Assassins'' (1955), ''

Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

: The Inside Story'' (1956), ''

PT-109 PT1 may refer to: * 486958 Arrokoth (New Horizons PT1), a Kuiper belt object and selected target for a flyby of the New Horizons probe * Pratt & Whitney PT1, a free-piston gas-turbine engine * Consolidated PT-1 Trusty, a 1930s USAAS primary trainer ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

in World War II'' (1961), ''The Future of the Republican Party'' (1976), ''Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

, 1945-48'' (1977), ''Tumultuous Years: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1949-53'' (1982), ''Nemesis: Truman and Johnson in the Coils of War in Asia'' (1984), ''The Second Victory: The Marshall Plan and the Postwar Revival of Europe'' (1987), ''Confidential Secretary: Ann Whitman's Twenty Years with Eisenhower and Rockefeller'' (1988), ''Unsilent Revolution: Television News and American Public Life, 1948-1991'' (1992, with Ray Scherer), and ''Boxing the Kangaroo: A Reporter's Memoir'' (2000).

References

External links

Donovan's Manuscripts of ''Eisenhower: The Inside Story''

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home is the Presidential library system, presidential library and museum of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dwight David Eisenhower, the List of presidents of the United States, 34th presi ...

*
Interview with Donovan and Ray Scherer on ''Unsilent Revolution: Television News and American Life''
''

Booknotes ''Booknotes'' is an American television series on the C-SPAN network hosted by Brian Lamb, which originally aired from 1989 to 2004. The format of the show is a one-hour, one-on-one interview with a non-fiction author. The series was broadcast at ...

'', August 9, 1992 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Robert J 1912 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Lafayette High School (Buffalo, New York) alumni 20th-century American male writers