Harrison Evans Salisbury (
November 14,
1908 –
July 5,
1993), an
American Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist (1955), was the first regular
New York Times correspondent in
Moscow after
World War II.
He was born in
Minneapolis,
Minnesota.He Graduated from Minneapolis North High school in 1925.
Salisbury was the first mainstream, well-known and respected journalist to oppose the
Vietnam War after visiting North Vietnam in 1966 (as opposed to the often criticized
David Halberstam). He took much heat from the
Johnson Administration and the political Right, but his previous standards of objectivity helped to sway journalistic opinion against the war. He is interviewed in the anti-Vietnam War documentary film
In the Year of the Pig.
He has written numerous books, including
American in Russia (1955) and
Behind the Lines—Hanoi (1967). His other books include
Orbit of China (1967),
War Between Russia and China (1969),
The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad (1969), "The Gates of Hell" (1975),
Black Night, White Snow: Russia's Revolutions 1905-1917 (1978),
Without Fear or Favor: The New York Times and Its Times (1980),
Journey For Our Times (autobiographical, 1983),
China: 100 Years of Revolution, (1983),
The Long March: The Untold Story (1985),
Tiananmen Diary: Thirteen Days in June (1989),
The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng (1992) and his last,
Heroes of My Time (1993).
The 900 Days was in the process of being adapted into a feature film by famous
Italian director Sergio Leone at the time of Leone's death in
1989.
Salisbury was an
Eagle Scout and a recipient of the
Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the
Boy Scouts of America.
He won the
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1955. He twice (in 1957 and 1966) received the
George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting.