Lee Lockwood

Lee Jonathan Lockwood (May 4, 1932 – July 31, 2010) was an American photojournalist best known for his coverage of Communist leaders behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War era. He interviewed Cuban leader Fidel Castro and spent nearly a month in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He also served from 1963 to 1966 as the editor of the journal Contemporary Photographer. During that period he was a member of the Association of Heliographers, and exhibited at the gallery on Madison Avenue.

Biography Lockwood was born on May 4, 1932, in New York City and became interested in photography as a child. He earned an undergraduate degree in 1954 from Boston University with a major in comparative literature and later attended Columbia University. He served in the United States Army during the 1950s, where he was stationed in Germany. After leaving military service, he traveled widely around the world, with his photographs being distributed by the Black Star photo agency.

Interview with Castro During a trip to Cuba in 1965, Lockwood was able to arrange a lengthy interview with leader Fidel Castro, during which they discussed topics ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis to racial issues in the United States. Lockwood's book, Castro’s Cuba, Cuba's Fidel: An American Journalist's Inside Look at Today's Cuba in Text and Picture, published by Macmillan Publishers, was intended to give American readers a clearer picture of the Cuban leader, saying, "If he is really our enemy, as dangerous to us as we are told he is, then we ought to know as much about him as possible". Robert J. McCloskey of the U.S. Department of State cited Lockwood's material about Stratton as evidence that North Vietnam was brainwashing prisoners for propaganda purposes.

Other books written by Lockwood include Conversation With Eldridge Cleaver: Algiers (McGraw-Hill, 1970), a biographical portrait of radical intellectual and author Eldridge Cleaver, and Daniel Berrigan: Absurd Convictions, Modest Hopes — Conversations After Prison With Lee Lockwood (Random House, 1972), The Holy Outlaw, a documentary of Daniel Berrigan, a peace activist and Catholic priest who had been one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives.

A resident of Weston, Florida, Lockwood died at age 78 in Tamarac, Florida on July 31, 2010, due to complications of diabetes. He was survived by his wife, the former Joyce Greenfield, as well as by a daughter, a son and six grandchildren.