Robert E Thompson

Robert Elliott Thompson (June 28, 1921 – November 19, 2003) was a top political writer and Washington journalist known for his sharp analysis and crisp writing of political affairs, who knew and covered every president from Harry Truman to George W. Bush. Over the course of a long career he rose through the ranks to become, among other things, a White House correspondent, publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and national editor and Washington D.C. bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers. He also worked as John F. Kennedy's press secretary in the late 1950s, quitting just prior to the then-Senator's presidential campaign.

Early life Thompson was born in Los Angeles and lived there until the start of World War II. Fresh out of high school, he joined the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was stationed in the South Pacific until the end of the war. As a radioman on a PBY Catalina in the famed Black Cats Squadron stationed in the Solomon Islands, he participated in numerous bombing runs on the Japanese Fleet, as well as reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions.

He was involved in several key battles during the war as the allies pushed northward, including the Battle of Vella Lavella, the Bougainville Campaign and the liberation of the Philippine Islands. He once came under fire when a Japanese Mitsubishi G4M attacked Canton Island where his crew had stopped to refuel on their way to Guadalcanal and watched from a short distance as a direct hit completely destroyed his PBY-5A.

After the war he attended Indiana University where he studied journalism and received the Ernie Pyle award, became the editor of the Daily Student, the school's newspaper, and served on the student governing board. After graduation in 1949 with a B.A. in journalism, Thompson joined the staff of the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana, his first job as a reporter. Many years later he returned to his Alma Mater as the Ernie Pyle lecturer on journalism.

Journalistic career In 1951, after working as a reporter for only two years, Thompson fulfilled his big ambition of covering Washington politics when he was hired on as a reporter for the International News Service (INS), a wire service owned by Hearst Corporation, to cover the Department of Agriculture. When he arrived one day to interview Secretary Ezra Taft Benson, he met the Secretary's administrative assistant Mary C. Mattern, whom he married in 1954, only three months after they met. Secretary Benson was a guest at their wedding.

It was on Stevenson's campaign that Thompson first met Robert F. Kennedy. The two would form a friendship months later during the McClellan Committee hearings into labor racketeering, on which Kennedy served as counsel and which Thompson covered for INS.

Kennedy and Johnson administrations President Kennedy and his former press secretary Bob Thompson (walking just behind Kennedy)In 1958 INS merged with United Press to become United Press International (UPI). In the transition many people lost their jobs, including Thompson. That same night he attended a party at Robert F. Kennedy's McLean, VA home Hickory Hill and while in conversation with then-Senator John F. Kennedy, the future President offered Bob a position as his press secretary. One of Bob's major contributions to JFK's 1958 senatorial reelection campaign was a movie he put together entitled "The U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy Story" that was broadcast on television in Massachusetts. Kennedy later said "it was the best thing (he) had in the campaign." As Miller had predicted, though wrongly about where, Jack Ruby stepped out in front of the reporters gathered around Oswald and fatally shot him. Thompson was witness to the whole thing standing only several feet away while Miller was still waiting outside. He served as bureau chief through the end of the Johnson administration, during the height of the Vietnam War as the Capital convulsed in turmoil from protests and anger. In fact Thompson, who had logged hundreds of hours flying aboard Air Force One with both Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, accompanied LBJ on an unannounced visit to see the troops in Vietnam in 1966.

Publisher, Seattle Post-Intelligencer President Gerald Ford and Bob ThompsonFollowing his term as bureau chief, Thompson moved his family to Seattle and took up the post as publisher of the (now defunct) Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1974 to 1978. He also served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize from 1975 to 1976.

Syndicated column, impact, and legacy When he retired, he continued to write a weekly column for Hearst. Using his vast experience to write crisp, clean articles that dissected politics with a sweeping historical narrative Thompson subtly reflected on his long career while simultaneously analyzing current political events, sometimes in the same sentence. With a keen eye for history he endeavored to prove to his readers that the past is in fact prologue. He continued his column until a month before his death in 2003. "Throughout his long career, Thompson worried about the balance between tough "gotcha" reporting on the candidates' character and records, and a broader portrait of a candidate that would look at their performance with a less adversarial tone.".

Thompson himself was interviewed a number of times on C-SPAN in the 1980s, usually by the network's founder, Brian Lamb. In addition to the White House Correspondents Association, Thompson was also a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization known mostly for its annual dinner, the Cosmos Club, a Washington social club where National Geographic was founded, and the National Press Club.

Military awards

Combat Aircrew BadgeWorld War II Victory MedalAir MedalAsiatic-Pacific Campaign MedalPhilippine Liberation Medal