Homer Bigart

Homer William Bigart(October 25, 1907 – April 16, 1991) was an American reporter who worked for theNew York Herald Tribunefrom 1929 to 1955 and forThe New York Timesfrom 1955 to his retirement in 1972. He was considered a "reporter's reporter"and an "enduring role model."He won twoPulitzer Prizesas awar correspondent,as well as most of the other major journalism awards.

Homer William Bigart
Born	(1907-10-25)October 25, 1907 Hawley, Pennsylvania
Died	April 16, 1991(1991-04-16)(aged 83) Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Early life and education

Bigart was born inHawley, Pennsylvaniato Homer S. Bigart, a woolens manufacturer, and Anna Schardt Bigart. To author Karen Rothmeyer, he confided near the end of his life:

I decided that I would become an architect because it sounded so prestigious and so easy. Especially easy. I went to what was thenCarnegie Techin Pittsburgh and quickly discovered that if you were going to be an architect you at least had to learn how to draw. But I couldn't even do that. The only passing grade I got was in English, so I decided that about the only thing I could do was to become a newspaperman.

He transferred to theNew York UniversitySchool of Journalism in 1929.

Journalism career

He got a part-time job as a night copy boy at theHerald Tribune,then dropped out of school to work full-time at the newspaper.He had a stutterand a painfully slow typing speed which did not stop him from being promoted to general assignment reporter after four years.

World War II

In 1942, withWorld War IIraging, Bigart was asked to become a war correspondent.He stated that, although he never liked the war, when he was assigned to London:

[T]hose first few months were about the happiest ones I think I've ever spent in journalism. I liked the people and I liked the city. There was sort of a lull in the air raid war so you had the excitement of being in a war area without any real danger.

He and seven other reporters flew bombing missions over Germany as part of "The Writing 69th".On one such mission toWilhelmshavenin March 1943, theB-17bomber formation in which he and fellow reportersWalter CronkiteandGladwin Hillwere flying suffered heavy losses to enemy fighters.He also covered the fighting in North Africa, Italy, and southern France. When Germany surrendered, he went to the Pacific and was one of the first reporters to enterHiroshimaafter the atomic bombing.For the latter work, he won thePulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting - International(a predecessor of the International Reporting Pulitzer), citing "his distinguished reporting during the year 1945 from the Pacific war theatre."

Secretary of WarRobert P. Pattersonhonored war correspondents, including Bigart, at an event in Washington, on November 23, 1946.

This was only the first of several wars Bigart was to cover.

Korean War

Next up was theKorean Warwhere he clashed with fellowHerald TribunereporterMarguerite Higgins.Recalled Bigart:

When I came out I thought I was the premier war correspondent and I thought that she, being the Tokyo correspondent, ought to be back in Tokyo. But she didn't see things that way. She was a very brave person, foolishly brave. As a result, I felt as though I had to go out and get shot at occasionally myself. So I resented that.

Nonetheless, Bigart, Higgins and four others—two from theChicago Daily Newsand two from theAssociated Press—shared the 1951Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.Once again, he was in the thick of things; a July 10, 1950, dispatch described being caught between North Korean tanks and an American artillery barrage.Newsweekcalled him "the best war correspondent of an embattled generation."

He left theHerald Tribunein 1955, a decade before its demise, forThe New York Times.He covered the trial of NaziAdolf Eichmannin 1961.

Vietnam War

In 1962, Bigart was sent toSouth Vietnam,where he stayed for six months. He soon realized that the war was a mistake, stating "I never thought we'd be stupid enough to send ground troops over there in the first place, after the experience in Korea".

Civil rights movement

The New York Timesdispatched Bigart to cover some of the most significant events of the struggle of Southern blacks for civil rights. He followed the101st Airborne DivisionintoLittle Rock, Arkansas,in 1957, in response to GovernorOrval Faubus's refusal to comply with federal court orders to desegregate the city's public schools.He covered the demonstrations inSt. Augustine, Florida,that led directly to the passage of the landmarkCivil Rights Act of 1964.His dispatch's blunt description of civil rights opponents inPhiladelphia, Mississippi,as "peckerwoods' and" rednecks, "following the disappearance of civil rights activistsMickey Schwerner,James Cheney,andAndrew Goodman,set Bigart apart from otherTimesreporters.

Personal life

He divorced his first wife, Alice Veit.

Alice Weel, his second wife, died of cancer in 1969. Alice Weel Bigart was the first woman to write full-time for a US network news program, when she joinedCBS'sDouglas Edwards and the Newsin 1948 and later became a producer of60 Minutes.Hélène Montgomery-Moore, the widow of MajorCecil Montgomery-Moore,DFC, funded the Mrs. Cecil Montgomery-Moore Scholarship for journalism, in memory of Alice Weel Bigart.

Bigart retired in 1973 and died in 1991 inPortsmouth, New Hampshire,of cancer.He was survived by his third wife,Else Holmelund Minarik,a writer of children's books.

Books

• Forward Positions: The war correspondence of Homer Bigart,ed.Betsy Wade(University of Arkansas Press, 1992);ISBN1557282579

External links

• Homer BigartatLibrary of Congress,with 1 library catalog record