Reporting from the Bureaus

During World War II, two types of reporters documented the conflict: combat and foreign correspondents. The former followed troops to the frontlines and gained fame for their harrowing tales of battle. Don Whitehead, Ernie Pyle, and Andy Rooney are primary examples of those who provided the boots-on-the-ground view of the war. Foreign correspondents, in contrast, worked in bureau offices overseas, writing the larger-geopolitical view of the conflict. Bureau writers failed to gain the same attention and notoriety as combat correspondents, yet their fact-based contributions form the basis of our knowledge of World War II. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the relatively unknown experiences and hardships of the war correspondents who lived in metropolitan war zones and suffered alongside the civilian populations. The personal papers and professional writings of Associated Press correspondents Louis P. Lochner, Edwin A. Shanke, Alvin J. Steinkopf, and Edward P. Kennedy serve as a lens into the role of foreign reporters in the second global war.