Name William Whitworth | Role Journalist | |
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William Alvin Whitworth (born February 13, 1937) is an American journalist. He worked as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune from 1963–66, columnist and associate editor for The New Yorker from 1966–80, and editor in chief of The Atlantic from 1981–99.
Career
In 1960, on completion of his BA in English/Journalism at the University of Oklahoma, Whitworth began work at the Arkansas Gazette where he covered low-level community and political stories.
Whitworth worked as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune from 1963–66, covering the political turmoil of the 1960s beginning with the Kennedy assassination, and including the student antiwar movement, Harlem riots, and Bobby Kennedy’s U.S. Senate race. He also reported on entertainment stories, including the Beatles’ first two U.S. appearances.
From 1966-1980, he worked as a columnist for The New Yorker, writing celebrity features, and reporting other entertaining subjects, including making regular contributions to the popular “Talk of the Town” section. At The New Yorker he wrote a long, detailed piece about an interview he conducted with Eugene V. Rostow regarding the strategy, values and purposes of the Vietnam War.
Becoming editor of the The Atlantic in 1981, Whitworth spent almost two decades leading the monthly magazine to numerous awards and commendations. After his retirement in 1999, he continued to edit occasional pieces.