THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, NY • MARCH 2012 Hitler From American Ex-Pats’ Perspective EVENT PREVIEW: MARCH 19 by Sonya K. Fry There have been many history books written about World War II, the economic reasons for Hitler’s rise to power, the psychology of Adolf Hitler as an art student, and a myriad of topics delving into the phenome- non that was Hitler. Andy Nagorski’s new book Hitlerland looks at this time frame from the perspective of American expatriates who lived in Andrey Rudakov Germany and witnessed the Nazi rise Andrew Nagorski to power. In researching Hitlerland, Na- Even those who did not take Hitler for the Kremlin. gorski tapped into a rich vein of in- seriously, however, would concede Others who came to Germany cu- dividual stories that provide insight that his oratory skills and charisma rious about what was going on there into what it was like to work or travel would propel him into prominence. include the architect Philip Johnson, in Germany in the midst of these Nagorski looks at Charles Lind- the dancer Josephine Baker, a young seismic events. berg who was sent to Germany in Harvard student John F. Kennedy Many of the first-hand accounts 1936 to obtain intelligence on the and historian W.E.B. Dubois. in memoirs, correspondence and in- Luftwaffe. Karl Henry von Wiegand, Andy Nagorski is an award win- terviews were from journalists and the famed Hearst correspondent was ning journalist with a long career at diplomats. There were those who the first American reporter to meet Newsweek. He served as the maga- sensed early on how dangerous Hit- and report on Hitler. Other prominent zine’s bureau chief in Hong Kong, ler was and yet many more who American correspondents included Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw and dismissed him as a flash in the pan, Edgar Ansel Mowrer of the Chica- Berlin. He is currently Director of a political curiosity whose anti-Sem- go Daily News, OPC member Sig- Public Policy for the EastWest Insti- itism and grandiose plans to restore rid Schultz of the Chicago Tribune, tute, an international affairs “think Germany to glory were laughable. Louis Lochner and Angus Thuerner tank” with offices in New York, (AP), future TV anchor Howard K. Brussels and Moscow. He has au- Inside. Smith, William Shirer (CBS) and thored four previous books and writ- Richard Hottelet who was jailed by ten numerous articles for countless Rooney Memorial............................2 the Gestapo in 1940. publications. He also won a 1978 One of the more interesting sto- OPC award for business reporting OPC President Letter......................3 ries is that of William Dodd, a histo- for Newsweek International as well Scholars Luncheon Recap...........4-7 rian from the University of Chicago, as two Citations. who served as ambassador to Berlin Hitlerland Book Night will take People Column...........................8-14 under Franklin Roosevelt. Dodd’s place on Monday, March 19 with a daughter Martha scandalized the reception at 6 p.m. and Nagorski’s People Remembered: Esper.........14 embassy with her procession of lov- talk at 6:30 p.m. Books will be avail- Tribute to Anthony Shadid.............15 ers, her initial infatuation with Na- able for purchase and signing. RSVP zis and later her affair with a Soviet by calling the OPC 212-626-9220 or New Books....................................16 diplomat that turned her into a spy e-mailing [email protected]. Andy Rooney Memorialized by Family and Friends by Allan Dodds Frank — said her father liked to sign Longtime OPC member Andy off with: “Call if you get work.” Rooney would have loved the Janu- Martha, a librarian at the National ary 12 memorial service in Rose Institutes of Health, said her dad Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center star- loved calling at 4:55 p.m. to say ring his four children, his girlfriend he was checking to see if his “tax and his friends from CBS. dollars” were still at work. El- His son, Brian Rooney, flaw- len, a photographer and editor lessly emceed the ceremony with in London, recalled her father’s clarity and humor. Brian, a long- Brian Rooney paid tribute to his father. usual gambit was: “What time is time ABC News correspondent and it there anyway?” Brian Rooney soon-to-be CBS News contributor, lovingly showed that also treated everybody with some of his father’s favorite he, too, has his father’s talent as a storyteller and writer. family rules. As a supporter of the volunteer fire depart- “My father was a character, but it was not an act,” Brian ment that covered the Rowayton section of Norwalk, said. “What you saw was the same show that ran at the Connecticut, where he lived, Rooney regularly dragged end of the dinner table.” his children out of bed to see local fires. Brian loved this After Rooney died at 92 of complications from a sur- one: “When your neighbor’s house is on fire, you have gical procedure just a month after retiring from CBS, his an obligation to go watch it burn down.” family began sifting through the mountains of memora- CBS News chairman Jeff Fager summed up Andy: bilia he had saved, including a CBS check for $6,000 “He didn’t know how to sugarcoat anything. What he never cashed and letters he had written to various top came out of him, under any circumstance, was pure un- CBS executives, letters so virulent or insulting that it was varnished truth as he saw it.” Fager continued: “Andy a wonder he was not fired, Brian said. To one new CBS was also the unofficial conscience of CBS News. If News President, Rooney wrote: “Keep in mind, I have something happened at CBS News he didn’t like, that more experience being bossed than you have bossing.” went against the finest traditions of our organization, he Andy Rooney’s powers of observation were the key would say so, even if it meant taking on the owner of the to his popularity, Brian said. “He knew his thoughts so company.” precisely that they were the thoughts of millions of other After being introduced as “Andy Rooney’s girl- people who did not realize it until he put it into words… friend,” Beryl Pfizer, who frequently attended OPC he saw the universal in the particular.” events with Andy, put the finishing touch on the celebra- Each of Rooney’s daughters: Emily, Martha and El- tion of his life. She said: “What strikes me is how lucky len recalled how he loved to tease them regularly by we all were to have him in our lives and how lucky I was telephone. Emily — a TV host and producer in Boston to have him in mine.” OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF AMERICA • BOARD OF GOVERNORS PRESIDENT SECRETARY Chrystia Freeland Tom Squitieri ASSOCIATE BOARD PAST PRESIDENTS David A. Andelman Jane Ciabattari Global Editor-at-Large Freelance Journalist MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO Editor Author/Journalist Thomson Reuters Bill Collins John Corporon World Policy Journal Gillian Tett Director, Public & Allan Dodds Frank ACTIVE BOARD Evelyn Leopold U.S. Managing Editor Business Affairs Alexis Gelber FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Ron Allen Independent Journalist Financial Times Ford Motor Company William J. Holstein Marcus Mabry Correspondent United Nations Marshall Loeb Editor at Large NBC News Seymour Topping Emma Daly Larry Martz International Herald Tribune Santiago Lyon Emeritus Communications Roy Rowan Rebecca Director of Professor of Director Leonard Saffir SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Blumenstein Photography International Human Rights Watch Larry Smith Michael Serrill Page One Editor Associated Pess Journalism Richard B. Stolley Assistant Managing Editor The Wall Street Journal Columbia University Sarah Lubman Bloomberg Markets John Martin Partner EXECUTIVE Jonathan Dahl Writer/Editor Joel Whitney Brunswick Group DIRECTOR THIRD VICE PRESIDENT Editor-in-Chief Editor Sonya K. Fry Arlene Getz Smart Money Abigail Pesta Guernica Abi Wright Editor-in-Charge, Media Editorial Director Director EDITOR Thomson Reuters Adam B. Ellick Women in the World Alfred I. duPont- Aimee Vitrak Video and Print Journalist Columbia University TREASURER The New York Times Toni Reinhold Awards OPC Jacqueline Albert- Editor in Charge, ISSN-0738-7202 Simon Tim Ferguson New York Desk Copyright © 2002 U. S. Bureau Chief Editor Reuters Over seas Press Club of Politique Internationale Forbes Asia America 40 West 45 Street, New York, NY 10036 USA • Phone: (212) 626-9220 • Fax: (212) 626-9210 • Website: opcofamerica.org OPC Bulletin • March 2012 • Page 2 International Board Meeting Begins Gala Preparations year about the earthquake in Japan other hat, serves as president of the LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT and the uprising on Tahrir Square. OPC Foundation; and Thomson- PARIS — The knock on the Indeed, for most categories, the Reuters newest editor-at-large, the door of my hotel room behind the award materials have all arrived brilliant editor Sir Harold Evans. Place Vendome in Paris came at online as well. The last time there Between the two, they are already a quarter to midnight on January were more than 500 entries was setting up a record year revenue- 30. It was Marcus Mabry, OPC 2007, but with today’s higher wise with sponsorship of our pre- First Vice President and Editor-at- entrance fees, the OPC realized an party booked by Lenovo and the Large at the International Herald all-time revenue record. All this is after-party by Thomson-Reuters Tribune and it was time for the a tribute to the ease of submission in tribute to Sir Harold. Many of monthly OPC board meeting. I was and to the perceived value they add our most generous regular guests spending a week here for the launch by distinguishing greatness in an are starting to come in and some in France of the magazine I edit, increasingly crowded and diverse welcome newcomers.