A.M. Rosenthal papers

1959-2004

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.