75 YEARS OF AFTER-HOURS WISDOM VOA AUTHORS MANY YEARS • MANY STORIES 75 YEARS OF AFTER-HOURS WISDOM 75 YEARS OF AFTER-HOURS WISDOM 1 330 INDEPENDENCE AVE SW WASHINGTON, DC 20237 2 VOA AUTHORS: MANY YEARS • MANY STORIES TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ................................................... 5 ELI FLAM ................................................................ 48 DORA MEKOUAR .................................................... 90 VICTOR FRANZUSOFF ............................................. 50 HEATHER MURDOCK .............................................. 92 AUTHORS WILLIAM HARLAN HALE ......................................... 54 JOHN PAXSON ....................................................... 94 ED ALEXANDER .........................................................7 ALAN HEIL .............................................................. 57 HÜLYA S. POLAT .................................................... 97 STERLING ALFORD .....................................................8 STEVEN L. HERMAN ............................................... 58 DR. MARK G. POMAR ............................................. 98 AMANDA BENNETT ................................................ 14 JOHN HOLWAY ...................................................... 60 ROBERT R. REILLY ................................................... 99 DR. ELEZ BIBERAJ .................................................. 16 JOHN HOUSEMAN ................................................. 62 WALTER ROBERTS ................................................ 100 JOHN BIRCHARD .................................................... 18 DR. ROLAND HUBER ............................................... 64 LINA ROZBIH-HAIDARI ......................................... 101 DR. MARY G. F. BITTERMAN ................................... 20 DAVID HUBLER ...................................................... 65 DR. JOHN J.SCHULZ .............................................. 102 F. SCOTT BOBB ...................................................... 22 JOHN HUGHES ....................................................... 66 FRANK SESNO ...................................................... 103 FRED BROWN ........................................................ 23 WAYNE HYDE ......................................................... 67 SUSAN SHAND ..................................................... 104 DR. JOHN B. BUESCHER.......................................... 24 GEORGE JACOBS .................................................... 68 STEVE SHEPARD ................................................... 105 ROBERT E. BUTTON ................................................ 26 ALI AHMAD JALALI ................................................. 70 CHARLES THAYER ................................................. 106 AMBASSADOR RICHARD W. CARLSON ................... 28 LARRY JAMES ......................................................... 72 HANS (TOM) TUCH ............................................... 108 LINDA CASHDAN .................................................... 30 PHILOMENA JUREY ................................................ 75 SANFORD J. “SANDY” UNGAR ............................. 110 BOB CHANCELLOR .................................................. 31 SEAN KELLY ............................................................ 76 CHASE UNTERMEYER ........................................... 112 JOHN CHANCELLOR................................................ 32 JONATHAN KERN ................................................... 78 JERILYN WATSON ................................................. 113 WILLIS CONOVER ................................................... 34 AMBASSADOR FOY DAVID KOHLER ....................... 80 BARRY D. WOOD ................................................. 114 GEOFFREY COWAN ................................................ 36 TED LANDPHAIR AND CAROL HIGHSMITH ............. 82 NEIL CURRIE ........................................................... 38 EUNA LEE ............................................................... 84 EPILOGUE AUTHORS GEORGE CZUCZKA ................................................. 39 JEAN-PIERRE LEROY ............................................... 85 MARIA BAUER ...................................................... 118 JOHN CHARLES DALY ............................................. 42 PATRICIA GATES LYNCH ......................................... 86 DR. NICHOLAS J. CULL .......................................... 119 LYONEL DESMARATTES .......................................... 45 BILL MCGUIRE ........................................................ 87 MERNI INGRASSIA FITZGERALD ........................... 120 ERIC FELTEN .......................................................... 46 HARUN MARUF AND DAN JOSEPH ......................... 88 DR. HOLLY COWAN SHULMAN ............................. 122 GREG FLAKUS ......................................................... 47 MOLLY MCKITTERICK ............................................. 89 75 YEARS OF AFTER-HOURS WISDOM 3 Reporters at work ine Voice’s New York City newsroom in the 1940’s. 4 VOA AUTHORS: MANY YEARS • MANY STORIES FOREWORD We started writing VOA Authors: 75 Years of • among them, a VOA foreign correspondent • a pair of VOA editors whose personal fasci- After-Hours Wisdom during the Voice’s 75th who before his Voice career was a fighter nation with baseball chronicle the national anniversary celebration, with descriptions of a pilot in 270 missions over Vietnam and pastime’s origins in the 19th century and in- relatively few known authors who had worked at writes about it in a fast-paced narrative in tegration of the major leagues shortly after VOA. It soon developed into a much larger proj- poetry and prose… World War II… ect as we uncovered many more authors, includ- • a VOA news anchor whose fascinating, • authors whose books have been published ed more information, and added pictures of the fictional page-turner on a spy scandal in in many languages other than English – in- authors and images of their books. It was a fun Canada that also reflects much about the his- cluding Haitian Creole, Dari, Pashto, Polish, and fascinating period of research, writing, and tory of America’s neighbor to the north… and Turkish… connecting with current and former colleagues. • a VOA anchor, music editor, and musician • the announcer of VOA’s first broadcast in While some of the books discuss VOA work ex- who reflects on life’s conflicting loyalties in 1942—who was also a noted author and editor… periences and history, the majority cover every- a book described by an eminent reviewer • and the 14 VOA directors who are also pub- thing from scholarly study to fiction, photogra- as “both erudite and readable… teaches you lished authors, with some of their works in- phy, and romance – so many interests that they something.” cluding personal recollections of leading wrote about outside of their work hours. • A VOA correspondent and economics editor America’s flagship multimedia network. Within these pages, you’ll meet: who bicycled 2,500 miles through Eastern We hope you enjoy learning about the richly • eleven VOA foreign correspondents and their Europe, while off-duty, over three years in the varied bounty of books authored by current and exclusive reportage in Europe, Africa, Asia mid-1990s, meeting new friends and learn- former VOA colleagues. Enjoy! and elsewhere around the globe and in the ing how their lives were radically changed United States, including the climactic end of by the collapse of communism… the Cold War and Nigerian civil war… ALAN L. HEIL, JR . MICHELLE D. HARRIS Former VOA Deputy Director Former VOA Public Relations Officer and Editor 36 years 26 years 75 YEARS OF AFTER-HOURS WISDOM 5 Ed Alexander (third from the left) with colleagues from the VOA Armenian Service in the late 1980s. 6 VOA AUTHORS: MANY YEARS • MANY STORIES ED ALEXANDER A CRIME OF VENGEANCE THE FREE PRESS AND PAPERBACK, IUNIVERSE, 2000, 218 PAGES. Edward Alexander was born in 1920 in New official known to be the mastermind of the geno- OTHER BOOKS BY EDWARD ALEXANDER York of Armenian parents, attended Columbia cide perpetrated on Turkey’s Armenian citizens The Serpent and Opus, Xlibris, 2000, College (A.B. 1941) and the Columbia Graduate during World War I. During the trial, the court the Bees, University 480 pages. This novel School of Journalism (M.S. 1942). During World heard detailed accounts, including those of Press of America, 1990, is a fictional account War II he served in the Psychological Warfare eye-witnesses, recounting the ruthlessness and 279 pages. This is a of a joint search by the Division under Generals Eisenhower and Bradley scope of the massacres. Tehlirian was acquitted narrative account of the American and Soviet (1942-45). In 1949, he became the first chief of by the German jury. KGB’s 15-year relent- cultural attaches in VOA’s Armenian Service. In 1959 he entered the The book has been praised by scholars, church less pursuit of the au- Budapest for a stolen Foreign Service and served in public affairs posts officials, historians and government figures. thor in an unsuccess- Beethoven manuscript. in East and West Berlin, Hungary and Greece, and Among them: Elie Wiesel, Senator Paul Simon, ful attempt between Their motives are dif- in Washington as USIA’s Deputy Assistant Direc- Samantha Power, and Henry Morgenthau. Rog- 1963 and 1978 to per- ferent but provocative tor for the USSR and Eastern Europe. er Smith, a College of William and Mary profes- suade him to work