Interview with a 20th Century War Correspondent Jonathan Randal

In the 1950s, Jonathan Randal left the United States to become a war correspondent. He went on to cover numerous wars over the next four decades, including the Algerian war for independence, mercenary wars in Africa, the Vietnam War, the Lebanese civil war, the Iranian revolution, the Iraq-Iran war, and the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

Like William L. Shirer a couple decades before him, Randal was part of that small coterie of correspondents who served as conduits for information about the entire world back to Americans at home. Like Shirer, Randal left the United States for an adventure abroad and ended up as a journalist in France. Like Shirer covering World War II, Randal dealt with censorship, potential imprisonment, and fear of death (if in other countries covering other wars). Like Shirer, Randal worked for the United Press wire service. And like Shirer, Randal also spent part of his career in the Herald Tribune newsroom on rue de Berri, the subject of my PhD dissertation.

I have known Randal for almost a decade now. He was a huge help as I researched my dissertation. I always enjoy our conversations, because he always has a story to tell from his absolutely fascinating career.

Among other highlights, Randal managed to write an article about Lebanon that got him banned from the country. A few years later, he was arrested for a week by Jean Bedel Bokassa, the emperor of the Central African Empire. And a couple years after that, Randal was better informed about the cross currents of the Iranian Revolution than the White House (above you can see him writing a story while sitting outside the embassy where the hostages were being kept).

In this interview, I ask Randal about the life of a war correspondent.

We cover a lot of ground, including:

• the balance between persistence and brilliance in journalism

• whether death or censorship is worse when reporting from a war zone

• the day he gave up on the Vietnam War

• what Shirer managed to do that Randal never did

• whether America was worse during the 1920s or 1950s

• what it was like working for the legendary editor Ben Bradlee

• what he got wrong about journalism and foreign policy, and

• why war reporting matters.

Hope you enjoy!