David Halberstam (1934-2007) is a Pullitzer Prize winning journalist and author of 22 books whose early and most well known work was his coverage of the American war in South Vietnam for the New York Times in the early 1960s. In his reports he criticized the war’s progress and predicted its failure, uncovering lies United States officials were telling to the public about the status of the war. This earned Halberstam the anger and criticism of American military commanders and politicians, including President Kennedy –but it also earned him a the Pullitzer Prize in 1964, as well as a George Polk Award for his account of a Buddhist’s monk’s self immolation in 1963. He later wrote a book explaining why the war in Vietnam was a failure, called The Best and the Brightest (1972).
Halberstam’s additional works include reporting on the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, particularly an article for Harper entitled “The Second Coming of Martin Luther King,” about his journey accompanying Dr. King across the country. His 1999 book The Children focused on the Nashville Student Movement from 1959-1962. Among his other books is Firehouse, which chronicles the lives of 13 New York City firefighters who were in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Born in 1934, Halberstam graduated from Harvard in 1955. He married Jean Sandness, a writer, in 1979. In 2007 he was tragically killed in a car accident in California, on his way to interview Y. A. Tittle, the former New York Giants quarterback, for a book he was working on about the 1958 championship game. He is survived by his wife and their daughter, Julia.
Simon Schama2015Author and Historian
Michael Pollan2013Author and Food Activist
Letty Cottin Pogrebin2011Author
Thomas Friedman2009Author & Journalist
Dr. Ruth Westheimer2008Sociologist and psychosexual therapist
Scott S. Cowen, Ph.D.2006President of Tulane University
Frédéric Brenner2004Photographer
Barry Scheck, Esq.2003Defense Attorney and Professor
Dr. Judah Folkman2002Medical researcher
Ruth Gruber2001Journalist and humanitarian
David Halberstam2000Journalist and Non-fiction Writer
Peter Yarrow1999Musician and Activist
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield1998Ice Cream Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists and Activists
Felix G. Rohatyn1996Former U.S. Ambassador and Investment Banker
Senator Charles E. Schumer1995Democratic Politician
Marion Wiesel1993Translator and Humanitarian Activist
Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe1992Physician and Medical Activist
Adam Michnik1991Journalist and Anti-Communist Dissident
Jonathan Kozol1990Author and Education Activist
Isaac Stern1989Violinist and Philanthropist
Eugene M. Lang1988Businessman and Philanthropist
Mathilde Krim, Ph.D.1987Scientist and Medical Researcher
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