Just over 30 years ago, a friend of mine gave me a copy of James Reston’s “Deadline: A Memoir” as a birthday gift. I proceeded to set aside the famed NYT journalist’s 500-page account of his life and career, figuring I’d read it sooner or later. At the time, I had no idea “later” meant taking more than three decades to finally flip it open and start reading. Which is surprising because I’ve long loved the memoirs of other World War II-era and beyond journalists, such as Teddy White’s classic “In Search of History” and William Shirer’s “Berlin Diary.” Their tales of covering long-ago historic events and figures inspired me as a young journalist – and still inspire me. Maybe I was just burnt out on journalist memories when I got “Deadline.” No matter. I finally did read the memoir of the now deceased Reston, finishing it just recently, and what an enjoyable trip through history. 

The book is indeed a memoir of the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist’s career that spanned the mid-1930s to the late 1980s. As a young correspondent based in London, Reston covered the rise of Nazism in Germany and later the Battle of Britain. As a more seasoned journalist based in Washington during and after the war, Reston covered the tragic start of the Cold War, the rise and fall of McCarthyism, and presidents from FDR to George H. W. Bush. 

But what I really liked about the book is Reston’s mini-essay profiles of famous historic and journalistic figures that he covered and interacted with over the decades – Walter Lippman, Arthur Krock, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Dean Acheson, John Foster Dulles, Adlai Stevenson, the Kennedys, Henry Kissinger. His chapters on Dwight Eisenhower, LBJ, Nixon and Jimmy Carter are particularly insightful.

Reston, who served as a a reporter, Washington bureau chief, executive editor and columnist at the Times over the years, also provides chapters on “Yalta and The Times,” “The Oppenheimer Case,” “The Reporters of Vietnam” and even his family’s purchase of the Vineyard Gazette on Martha’s Vineyard. Reston obviously had his share of faults that aren’t outlined in the book (such as criticism by some that he was too close to the manipulative Henry Kissinger), but those faults were few and far between as far as I can tell.

Can you recommend a book published 35 years ago? Sure. Why not? As I said, Reston’s book is ultimately an enjoyable trip through history – and a delayed trip through history for yours truly. … As for my old friend who gave me the book, he sadly passed away a while back. But I can still see his kind B-day inscription to me, handwritten on the inside, and all I can say is: Jim, wherever you are, thank you. I finally finished the book.