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Haley et al.: Alumni Journal MEMOIRS OF A NEWSPAPERMAN In a new book, Harry Rosenfeld recounts his journey from JOURNAL escaping Nazi Germany as a child to his role as an editor in the Watergate coverage that brought down a president BY KATHLEEN HALEY ALUMNI HARRY ROSENFELD ’52 KNOWS THE immersed myself in my American life.” as a clerk/typist in the military history heavy responsibility of being a good edi- The now-retired newspaperman, who section. Returning to the Tribune, Rosen- tor. The former Washington Post metro- remains active as an editor-at-large and feld rose through the ranks as an editor politan editor guided two young report- a member of the Times Union editorial and later managing editor for the news ers through a series of stories that led board, crafted a life in journalism that service and then foreign editor. In 1966, to the resignation of a U.S. president was influenced by a childhood under a however, he left the struggling paper and changed the way a nation thought brutal regime and chan- as it was about to merge about investigative reporting. Most rec- neled his perspective with two other papers. “I ognize the names of those reporters— into the best of what it was heartbroken,” Rosen- Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward—but means to live in a democ- feld says. “I had spent Rosenfeld’s may not be as well-known. racy. His book has sent half my lifetime there.” alumni.syr.edu His presence, however, in directing the him across the country In his job hunt, Rosen- prize-winning Watergate coverage is to packed audiences ea- feld was offered a posi- no less important. The facts were scru- ger to hear the tales of a tion by then-Washington tinized and the veracity of sources was young boy from Germany Post managing editor questioned, and Rosenfeld backed his who grew into the role of Ben Bradlee. He began reporters in telling the stories that even- a tenacious editor. as night foreign editor tually led to congressional hearings. “I Rosenfeld’s work in the before being assigned to knew the quality of our work, and I had newspaper business be- head the foreign desk, total confidence in it,” Rosenfeld says. gan even before he start- which meant an around- “We managed by our work to finally en- ed at SU in 1948. He had the-world trip to become gage the government.” already been working at the New York acquainted with staff correspondents In his new memoir, From Kristallnacht Herald Tribune as a shipping clerk, try- and report for a time from Vietnam. to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaper- ing to get his foot in the door. “I wanted Rosenfeld later took over as metro man (State University of New York Press, to do something of public service and I editor, the position he held on June 17, 2013) Rosenfeld chronicles his decades- thought journalism would be a good ve- 1972—the day a team of burglars was long career as an editor, including his hicle,” he says. While studying English arrested inside the Democratic National 1-800-SUALUMS (782-5867) 1-800-SUALUMS tenure at The Washington Post and the and American studies, and taking jour- Committee headquarters at the Water- fascinating, complex time in which the nalism courses, he covered sports for gate complex. When Rosenfeld and his Watergate scandal unfolded. He also The Daily Orange. “It was an invaluable colleagues learned about the arrests, tells of his years at the fabled New York experience, traveling with teams, writ- they knew there would be much more Herald Tribune and Albany’s Knicker- ing on deadline, doing feature stories,” to the story than a simple burglary. bocker News and Times Union, and looks says Rosenfeld, who was the first recipi- “Right away we found a White House back on life as a 9-year-old immigrant ent of the College of Arts and Sciences’ connection through Howard Hunt [a in New York City, having escaped Nazi Distinguished Alumni Award. former White House employee whose Germany with his family. “The segrega- After college he became an editorial phone number was found on one of the tion, the denigration of the Jews was assistant at the Tribune news service be- burglars],” Rosenfeld says. Into the sec- part of my normal life in Germany,” he fore being drafted to serve in the U.S. ond week, John Mitchell, the former at- says. “But I was old enough to know that Army. Newly married to his wife, Annie, torney general, resigned as head of the I was deliriously happy to leave it, and I he headed off to Korea, where he served Committee for the Re-Election of the 44 Syracuse University Magazine Published by SURFACE, 2015 1 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 31, Iss. 1 [2015], Art. 10 ALUMNIJOURNAL President. “I knew then that this was going pretty high up,” he says. With the implications for a national scandal, Rosenfeld was cognizant that their coverage would be picked apart and had to be irrefutable. Woodward and Bernstein, or “Woodstein” as they were referred to, began leading the reporting and generat- ing scoops on the money trail. “They soon recognized what they had in their hands,” he says. “It was the story that would make their careers.” The pinnacle of The Post’s coverage came in two stories just before the November 1972 election. “The first said that the Nix- on campaign had for years been on a sabo- Harry Rosenfeld (above, left) joins colleagues from The Washington Post at the White House tage campaign against its opponents, long Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1973. Also pictured (from left) are style predating the current campaign, and that writer Donnie Radcliffe, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, and Edward Bennett Williams, a Bradlee friend and The Post’s attorney. Below: Running the foreign desk, Rosenfeld (right) confers they used all manner of dirty tricks funded with Lee Lescaze (left) in The Post’s crowded newsroom. by a slush fund,” Rosenfeld says. A long- worked-on follow-up story revealed how later, but long before “Deep Throat” was the following months, The Post, which was five people, including Mitchell, controlled revealed as FBI agent Mark Felt, Rosenfeld recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for Public the fund that was constantly being replen- came to realize every editor should know Service in 1973, continued its investigative ished. The final Nixon executive identified, a reporter’s sources. “What’s on the line pieces and Congress held hearings about and the most important, was H.R. “Bob” is not the reporter’s judgment—it’s the the break-in. The end came on August 9, Haldeman, the president’s chief of staff. newspaper’s,” he says. “The reporter ex- 1974, when Nixon resigned. “It vindicated A key, of course, in the work was “Deep tends the confidentiality on behalf of the our hard work at a time when no other me- Throat,” a moniker for one of Woodward’s newspaper. The newspaper has to make dia was doing it,” Rosenfeld says. sources. At that time, Rosenfeld decided sure the reporter did the right thing.” The events were turned into a best-sell- against knowing the source’s name. Years Nixon was re-elected that year, but in ing book by Woodward and Bernstein, All the President’s Men, and later a movie, with actor Jack Warden portraying Rosenfeld. “I thought it captured the work of the reporters accurately but less so that of the editors,” he says. “We did not make snap decisions, but argued and agonized over them.” In 1978, he was asked to head up the two Hearst-owned Albany papers, and later a third, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, for a time. “I wanted to run my own newspapers, and this was my chance to do so,” says Rosenfeld, who retired at the end of 1997, but is still connected to the newspaper business. With his many years as an editor, his best advice for those guiding reporters is to be open and curious and listen to their staff members—and be ready to defend them. “I think you have to be demanding, but with that you have to be fair,” Rosenfeld says. “They may not like you, but they have to respect you.” Photos courtesy of The Washington Post Spring 2014 45 https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol31/iss1/10 2 Haley et al.: Alumni Journal ALUMNIJOURNAL CLASSNOTES Proud and NEWS from SU ALUMNI » Passionate SEND US NEWS OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. To submit information for Class Notes via the Internet, go to alumni.syr.edu and register with the SU Alumni Online Community . THESE PAST FEW MONTHS Items will appear in the magazine and in the Class Notes section have been exciting times of the online community. Items can also be sent to Alumni Editor, Syracuse University Magazine; 820 Comstock Avenue, Room 308; for Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 13244-5040. alumni. Across the country, we have been cele- Warren Kimble ’57 (VPA), a brating our inaugural year renowned American folk artist, in the Atlantic Coast Con- 40s received the 2013 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts ference (ACC) through Patrick McCarthy ’48 (A&S) of Oneida, N.Y., competed in the from the Vermont Arts Council. events and game-watch Empire State Senior Games and The award was presented to parties. As I traveled won a gold medal in badminton Kimble by Governor Peter Shum- around the country to singles. He and his wife, Patricia, lin last October at the Town Hall in Brandon, Vt.

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