One of the twentieth century’s most distinguished foreign
correspondents, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harrison Evans
Salisbury (November 14, 1908–July 5, 1993) wrote numerous articles and books about world events, especially those
in the former Soviet Union, China, and other communist
countries. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and
after enrolling in the University of Minnesota there to study
chemistry, he quickly became a cub reporter and then editor
in 1929 for the campus newspaper, the Minnesota Daily. He
also wrote for the Minneapolis Journal. In 1930 he joined
United Press in St. Paul and went on to report from Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City.
By 1943 he was United Press’s London bureau manager.
Salisbury covered World War II in England, North Africa,
the Middle East, and eventually, Russia. His series of articles on the war for Collier’s Weekly formed the basis for his
first book, Russia on the Way (1946).
Salibury’s interest in the Soviet Union continued to
develop, and in 1949 he became a Moscow correspondent
for the New York Times. This was a challenging assignment, given the anti-communist atmosphere in the United
States during the 1950s. His reports were often censored by
Soviet authorities. In 1955 he returned to New York City as
a general staff member and published in the Times a series
of articles about political and social life in Russia under
communist rule. Some editors at the Times and conservative critics outside the paper, considered him a “Communist
dupe.” His series, however, won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, solidifying his reputation as a leading
foreign correspondent of the postwar era.
Salisbury covered both the civil rights movement and
the Vietnam War. He covered civil rights issues in the
American South starting in the late 1950s. His reports
should be remembered when one considers the context for
the multi-million dollar libel suit against the Times, which
was resolved in favor of the newspaper in 1964 in the New
York Times vs. Sullivan case. As assistant managing editor
for the Times starting in September 1964, Salisbury now
spent more time in the United States. But he continued
to travel and report from abroad sometimes, including in
December 1966 when he visited Hanoi, as the first Western
reporter allowed in wartime North Vietnam. His historic,
eyewitness reporting from the enemy capital revealed that
American bombs had hit civilian neighborhoods and other
nonmilitary areas and directly disputed U.S. government
claims that the bombing was going well. He became the
first mainstream, well-respected journalist to oppose the
Vietnam War. The resulting angry attacks on Salisbury and
the Times may have cost him a Pulitzer Prize that year, for
what was arguably the most compelling news story of the
year.
Salisbury became the New York Times’ first Op-ed page
editor in 1970. He retired from the Times in 1973 as associate editor and continued to write books about international
politics, including those in China. His many books include
the bestseller The 900 Days (1969), a powerful account of
the siege by the German army of Leningrad; Black Night,
White Snow: Russia’s Revolutions 1905–1917 (1978); Without Fear or Favor: The “New York Times” and Its Times
(1980); The Long March: The Untold Story (1985); Tianamen Diary: Thirteen Days in June (1989); and two autobiographical works, Journey for Our Times (1983) and A
Time of Change (1988). His papers are located at Columbia
University in New York City.
Further Reading
Obituary. New York Times, July 7, 1993, D19.
Salisbury, Harrison E. The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad.
New York: Harper and Row, 1969
——. American in Russia. New York: Harper, 1955.
——. Black Night, White Snow: Russia’s Revolutions 1905–1917.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978.
——. A Journey for Our Times: A Memoir. New York: Harper &
Row, 1983.
——. The Long March: The Untold Story. New York: Harper &
Row, 1985.
——. Tianamen Diary: Thirteen Days in June. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1989.
——. A Time of Change: A Reporter’s Tale of Our Time. New
York: Harper & Row, 1988.
——. Without Fear or Favor: The New York Times and Its
Times. New York: New York Times, 1980. Also published
as Without Fear or Favor: An Uncompromising Look at the
New York Times. New York: Ballantine, 1981.
Nancy L. Roberts