James Preston O'Donnell (July 30, 1917 – April 16, 1990) was an American author and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Biography

O'Donnell was educated at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

and worked as a journalist, mostly for magazines. He was a friend of the Kennedy family. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps until July 2, 1945, when he was discharged. He became ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' magazine's German bureau chief. In this capacity, he arrived in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on July 4. He was assigned to investigate

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's death and to obtain information as to Eva Braun. O'Donnell bribed the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

soldier guarding the entrance to Hitler's Berlin bunker becoming the first non-Soviet to examine it. He found and took numerous top secret Nazi documents. After using these documents and interviews with many of the last occupants of the ''Führerbunker'' in his later publications, he became an authority on the

death of Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler, chancellor and dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, committed suicide via a gunshot to the head on 30 April 1945 in the in Berlin after it became clear that Germany would lose the Battle of Berlin, which led to the e ...

, and ultimately published his collected findings in his 1975 book, '' The Bunker''. After his tenure with ''Newsweek'', O'Donnell worked for many years as a freelance journalist in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and published pieces in magazines ranging from ''

Life magazine ''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly publi ...

'' to ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

''. He later joined the U.S. State Department as an adviser on Berlin. He spent his last years as a journalism professor at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. In 2011, historian

Niall Ferguson Sir Niall Campbell Ferguson, ( ; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

credited O'Donnell as one of the few Western observers who accurately foresaw the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

.Ferguson, ''Civilization'', p. 252: "The most uncannily accurate prophecy was by the American journalist James P. O'Donnell in an article entitled "The Ghost Train of Berlin", published in the West German ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' magazine ''Das Beste'' in January 1979, which foresaw the destruction of the wall ten years later and even the sale of pieces of the wall as souvenirs." In the 1981 CBS television movie '' The Bunker'', O'Donnell is portrayed by actor

James Naughton James Naughton (born December 6, 1945) is an American actor and director. On television he is best known as astronaut Pete Burke in the 1974 single-season television series ''Planet of the Apes''. He won Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical ...

in a brief scene at the beginning.

Books

* * *

Articles

* O'Donnell, James P. "I Cruised the Rhine on a Marshall-Plan Barge." ''

,'' 3 September 1949. * O'Donnell, James P. "The Ghost Train of Berlin." ''Das Beste'', January 1979. (German)

References

Other sources

* Ferguson, Niall. ''Civilization: The West and the Rest.'' New York:

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, 2011, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, James P. 1917 births 1990 deaths Harvard University alumni Boston University faculty American male journalists 20th-century American journalists Historians of Nazism 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers United States Army personnel of World War II