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Creator
Rosenthal, A. M. (Abraham Michael), 1922-2006
Call number
MssCol 17929
Physical description
54.18 linear feet (129 boxes)
Preferred Citation

New York Times Company Records. A.M. Rosenthal Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The New York Times Company records: A.M. Rosenthal papers document the editorial career of New York Times Managing and Executive Editor Abraham Michael Rosenthal (1922-2006), noted for his stewardship of that newspaper during one of its most tumultuous periods, from the 1960s through the 1980s. The collection contains Rosenthal's office files from The New York Times, spanning the era of his editorial tenure. Containing extensive professional correspondence, the papers illustrate the deliberations and thought processes behind the decisions made at the very top of arguably the most important newspaper in the world.

Biographical/historical information

A. M. Rosenthal (1922-2006) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent who became the executive editor of The New York Times and led the paper's global news operations through 17 years of record growth, modernization and major journalistic change. After 19 years as a reporter and correspondent, Rosenthal spent the next 23 years serving successively as metropolitan editor, assistant managing editor, managing editor and executive editor, securing The Times's journalistic significance by pursuing the news aggressively and modernizing the paper while maintaining its strictest standards.

Abraham Michael Rosenthal was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada on May 2, 1922, the sixth child of Russian immigrants. The family emigrated to the United States three years later. Growing up in the Bronx during the Great Depression, Abe faced the same poverty as so many of his neighbors, but he had other hardships to endure. His father died when Abe was still very young, as did three of his five sisters. As a teenager, Abe was bedridden for two years by a case of osteomyelitis. Told he would probably never walk again, Abe expected the worst, but help from his surviving sisters allowed him to travel to the Mayo Clinic, where he slowly recovered.

Rosenthal was an eager student, but not a rich one, so he happily attended City College of New York, the academically rigorous, but no-cost, school in Manhattan. Taking particular delight in political discussion there, Rosenthal aspired to the coveted position of The New York Times City College campus correspondent. Attaining the job in his senior year, Rosenthal began a relationship with the paper that continued for over fifty years. He worked on the city staff as a general assignment reporter from his graduation in 1943 until he was named United Nations correspondent in 1945. After nine years covering the U.N., Rosenthal traveled the world as a foreign correspondent, stationed in India, Poland, Switzerland, and Japan from 1954 to 1963. His coverage of the political situation in Poland won him two of his proudest honors: a Pulitzer Prize and forcible expulsion from Poland.

Reluctantly returning to New York, Rosenthal was named Metropolitan Editor (an appellation he disliked, preferring the old title of City Editor). He presided over the expansion of New York coverage, adding more feature stories and social observation to the typical crime beat and press conference summaries common to city desks of the era. In 1967, Rosenthal was promoted to Assistant Managing Editor and, shortly thereafter, to Associate Managing Editor. In 1969, he was named Managing Editor. He took a more hands-on approach to the job than his predecessors, with his first action being to insist on reading selected copy before it appeared in the paper. Rosenthal himself later contrasted his style with that of earlier editors by suggesting that they preferred to be judges, assessing what was good or bad about yesterday's paper, while he preferred to be a participant, guiding what would be in tomorrow's paper.

Rosenthal found ways to enlarge the scope of the paper, adding daily sections on various special subjects, such as business, science, and entertainment. His changes increased circulation and advertising, allowing The New York Times to maintain its profitability as more people turned to television for their daily news consumption, while broadening the definition of news itself in the "paper of record." By 1976, the Sunday paper, previously a separate editorial entity, merged with the daily paper, and Rosenthal was named Executive Editor, responsible for every page of The New York Times, except for the editorial and Op-Ed pages.

In spite of presiding over an era of unprecedented change, Rosenthal's primary editorial goal was always to "keep the paper straight." Eager to keep any bias out of Times news coverage, Rosenthal constantly reminded his reporters and editors of the importance of impartial journalism. Rosenthal generally felt that as long as the Times received criticism from both sides of the political spectrum on a given issue, the reporting had been fair. Ironically, one of the controversies arising during Rosenthal's tenure resulted from one of the very few pieces he wrote as an editor. He was at Columbia University on the night of a particularly violent student protest in 1968 and, after surveying the aftermath, he decided to write an article covering the story. Critics from within The New York Times, as well as from outside, accused Rosenthal of showing his sympathy for the administration and his contempt for the protesters. He denied any bias, but did avoid any subsequent original reporting. Some controversial policy issues arising during Rosenthal's tenure sprang from stylistic choices; until 1986, "Ms." was not a permissible honorific in the Times and "gay" could only be used as a synonym for happy. On the other side of the political coin, the publication of the Pentagon Papers made The Times, and Rosenthal in particular, a target of conservative criticism.

At the helm of a staff of highly regarded editors and writers that included many young stars he had recruited, Rosenthal directed coverage of the major news stories of the era - the war in Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers, the Watergate scandal and successive crises in the Middle East. After 17 years as a principal architect of the modern New York Times, Rosenthal stepped down as the top editor in 1986, having nearly reached the mandatory retirement age set for the editorial staff of the paper. He then began the last phase of his Times career, nearly 13 years as the author of a twice-weekly column, "On My Mind," for the Op-Ed page. The column centered on public affairs in general, with a particular focus on international issues, human rights, and drug policy in America. After publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. ended Rosenthal's tenure as a Times columnist in 1999, Rosenthal continued as a columnist with the New York Daily News, as well as with several online media outlets. He made no secret of his disappointment at being asked to leave his lifelong journalistic home, but he was eager to keep writing on the subjects about which he still had something to say.

Rosenthal was married to Ann Marie Burke from 1949 to 1986, and to Shirley Lord from 1987 until his death. He had three sons with his first wife, one of whom, Andrew Rosenthal, went on to become an editor at The New York Times.

Scope and arrangement

The A.M. Rosenthal papers are comprised of Rosenthal's files at The New York Times dating from the late 1960s to his retirement in 1986. The collection provides an in-depth look at Rosenthal's professional discourse and decision making in his most influential years. The papers comprise an essential part of the paper's history. Rosenthal was a key figure, working at what was then arguably the most important newspaper in the world. With his colleagues, Rosenthal made decisions that influenced how many people perceived current events. The New York Times files represent the correspondence to and from A.M. Rosenthal's office during his tenure as managing editor and executive editor.

The New York Times files consist of Rosenthal's office files from, roughly, 1967 through 1986, covering his roles as Assistant and Associate Managing Editor, Managing Editor, and Executive Editor. It contains mostly memoranda to and from the publisher, Rosenthal's associates and staff members in the News Department, and executives and members of other departments of The Times, as well as business correspondence with staff members abroad, professional acquaintances and organizations, government officials and other persons in the news, and subscribers and readers. Some correspondence with friends and relatives, as well as a few papers postdating his retirement from The Times, are included. The files delineate Rosenthal's relationship with The Times and The Times's relationship with the world.

The collection contains thousands of internal memoranda and correspondence with Times staff that document the deliberations and thought processes behind the management of the paper. Personnel decisions regarding hiring, assignments, and bureau staffing are debated and solved by Rosenthal and his deputies as they worked to find the best talent in journalism and the best use of the talent they had. Editorial policies and questions of tone, style, taste, and subject are settled in these pages. Disagreements are outlined and discussed, providing greater insight into the final outcomes of internal debates. Rosenthal's place at the top of the editorial line allows researchers to see the extent to which the publisher communicated with the day-to-day staff, which questions required an opinion from the publisher, and which did not. The development of Times innovations like the Science Times and the Weekend section are illustrated in these files, showing the planning, and occasional false starts, leading to major changes in the paper's format.

Ongoing in these files is the dialogue between the paper, often represented by Rosenthal, and the newsmakers The Times covered, with some of whom Rosenthal developed more personal relationships. Many significant figures in local, national, international and cultural affairs wrote to Rosenthal; some of these letters are long and revealing, some funny. He replied and/or wrote to someone else at The Times about the letter. Rosenthal also often recorded his meetings with these individuals in long, thoughtful memos to his colleagues.

The papers include files on figures such as Spiro Agnew, Zbigniew Brzezinski, William F. Buckley Jr., George Bush, Truman Capote, Jimmy Carter, Mario Cuomo, Bill Graham, W. Averell Harriman, Hubert Humphrey, Jacob Javits, Alfred Kazin, Ted Kennedy, Alfred A. Knopf, Ed Koch, John Lindsay, Arthur Schlesinger, Robert Moses, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Rupert Murdoch, Ralph Nader, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Rockefeller, George Steinbrenner, Gloria Steinem, Tom Stoppard, Elie Wiesel, and Tom Wolfe, as well as subject files on topics such as Affirmative Action, the Pentagon Papers, Cambodia, El Salvador, Vietnam, Watergate, the Middle East, and the Moon Landing.

When newsmakers or readers wanted to communicate with The Times, Rosenthal's office was usually part of the conversation. In many cases, Rosenthal was in direct contact with correspondents of the paper; in others, he was brought into the dialogue by the publisher or by another editor. In some cases, Rosenthal and other Times staff members wrote notes directly on incoming letters, indicating their views or planned responses. Rosenthal was always a distinct personality, and his voice was never solely the voice of the paper. Some personal correspondence is included in this series, with colleagues and outsiders alike.

Still, Rosenthal saw himself as a guardian of The Times, and the files reflect that attitude. His principles informed and governed every aspect of the news operation, and they pervade these notes and letters. many of the papers deal with overcoming press restrictions, keeping the news columns free of opinion, separating content from business, and other issues of journalistic ethics.The papers reflect Rosenthal's responses to criticism, varying depending on whether or not he saw it as justified, and his enthusiasm for his work and for the paper on which he performed it.

The files are divided into two subseries: people and subjects. The people files consist of folders labeled by personal names. They contain correspondence with and/or about the individual named. The subject files consist of folders titled by keywords, events, organizational names, or geographic locations. The majority of the material dates from 1967 to 1986, but a few earlier and later exceptions are included. Memoranda and correspondence by Rosenthal's principal associates and assistants that had been in his files, though neither addressed to him nor marked as copies for him, have been retained here. Seven boxes of restricted material will become available in 2026.

Material germane to two or more titles is not, as a rule, duplicated in the relevant folders; instead, it is stored in the one deemed most important by The New York Times and other relevant names or subjects are cross-referenced. Papers dealing with specific subjects are generally stored in their subject folders rather than in the people folders of the persons involved, and their names are covered by cross-references. Cross-references are made from the principal names and the next most important subject titles, but are not exhaustive. Some names and subjects in the finding aid do not represent folders, but exist only as cross-references.

The New York Times Company records. A.M. Rosenthal papers are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: People
    52 boxes

    The people files are comprised of folders identified by personal names. The folders contain correspondence between Rosenthal and the subject, between Rosenthal and others regarding the subject, and in some cases, both. People files can be found for newsmakers, Times staff members, and Rosenthal friends, acquaintances, and relatives. Most of the correspondence details New York Times business, but there are letters and segments of letters that touch on more personal matters, including, in many cases, Rosenthal's 1986 retirement as Executive Editor. Some of the more notable names include Spiro Agnew, Zbigniew Brzezinski, William F. Buckley Jr., George Bush, Truman Capote, Jimmy Carter, Mario Cuomo, Bill Graham, W. Averell Harriman, Hubert Humphrey, Jacob Javits, Alfred Kazin, Ted Kennedy, Alfred A. Knopf, Ed Koch, John Lindsay, Arthur Schlesinger, Robert Moses, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Rupert Murdoch, Ralph Nader, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Rockefeller, George Steinbrenner, Gloria Steinem, Tom Stoppard, Elie Wiesel, and Tom Wolfe. Folders regarding staff members relate to hiring, assignments, editing, leave requests, and all aspects of their work on the paper. Some names in the finding aid do not represent folders, but exist only as cross-references. Five boxes of restricted material will be closed until 2026.

  • Series II: Subjects
    77 boxes

    The subject files categorize correspondence relating to news events, geographical areas, companies and organizations, fields of study or interest, and aspects of The New York Times itself. Historical topics include Affirmative Action, the Pentagon Papers, Cambodia, El Salvador, Vietnam, Watergate, the Middle East, and the Moon Landing. Subjects on features of The Times contain internal correspondence relating to the relevant sections of the paper, as well as letters to and from interested readers on the subjects concerned. Historical subjects include internal memoranda, letters from readers, and letters from newsmakers themselves regarding the subjects in question. Some subjects in the finding aid do not represent folders, but exist only as cross-references. Two boxes of restricted material will be closed until 2026.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Purchased from the estate of A.M. Rosenthal, 2009

Processing information

Compiled by Lee Spilberg.

Related Material

A.M. Rosenthal Papers, MssCol 17930. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. New York Times Company Records. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Access restrictions

Restricted material to be made available in 2026.