Name Don Whitehead Children Ruth Whitehead Spouse Marie Patterson (m. 1928) | Died January 12, 1981 Role Journalist | |
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Movies The FBI Story, Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan Books The FBI Story: A Report to, Attack on Terror: The FBI Aga, Beachhead Don: Reporting, The Dow story, Border Guard: The Story of th Similar People Mervyn LeRoy, Marguerite Higgins, Homer Bigart, Marvin J Chomsky, Raoul Walsh | ||
Don Whitehead (April 8, 1908 in Inman, Virginia - January 12, 1981) was an American journalist. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom. He won the 1950 George Polk Award for wire service reporting.
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He was awarded the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, and 1952 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.
Education
Whitehead studied at University of Kentucky from 1926 to 1928.
Kentucky
Beginning in 1928, Whitehead worked for the newspapers Lafollette Press and the Daily Enterprise in Harlan, Kentucky, and he covered the Harlan County War.
World War II
Beginning in 1935, he worked for the Associated Press, covering World War II. His beats included coverage of the Eighth Army in Egypt, in September 1942, after which he was transferred to cover the American Army in Algeria. He then covered the Allied invasion of Sicily at Gela, with the First Infantry Division, the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno, and the Italian campaign. He landed at Anzio in January 1944, then went to London to prepare for the Allied invasion of France. He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day (June 6, 1944), with the 16th Regiment, of the First Infantry Division, and covered the push from the beachhead, Operation Cobra at Saint-Lô, and the pursuit across France. He got the first story on the Liberation of Paris and covered the U.S. First Army's push into Belgium and into Germany, and the crossing of the Rhine River. He also covered the meeting of American and Russian troops on the Elbe River.
Korean War
He covered the Korean War, in 1950.
Stateside
He was Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, in 1956, and a columnist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. His book, The FBI Story was adapted into a 1959 film.
Papers
His papers are held at the University of Tennessee.
Personal life
Don Whitehead married Marie Patterson on December 20, 1928. They had a daughter, Ruth, and two grandchildren.