James Reston, Jr. Oral History

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James Reston, Jr. Oral History

Audio oral history interview with James Reston, Jr. A journalist and prolific author, Reston wrote a biography of Texas Governor John Connally, "The Lone Star" (1989), and a book on the Kennedy assassination, "The Accidental Victim" (2013). He worked for the Department of the Interior in 1963. His late father, New York Times reporter and editor James Reston, covered the Kennedy White House.Interview conducted by telephone on June 13, 2014 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-eight minutes long.

Object Details
Object title:

James Reston, Jr. Oral History

Date:

06/13/2014

Medium:

Born digital (.wav file)

Dimensions:

Duration: 58 Minutes

Credit line:

Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2014.001.0162

Curatorial Note:

In 2013, I met James Reston, Jr. literally in the middle of Dealey Plaza when he was visiting Dallas for a program at Southern Methodist University. Although he did not have time for a video oral history on that day, he kindly agreed to a telephone interview, which we recorded the next year in June 2014. His two books on Governor John Connally and the Kennedy assassination can be found in the Museum's Library Collection here: (Bibliovation | Details for The lone star) and here: Bibliovation | Details for The accidental victim. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

James Reston, Jr.'s father, the late James Barrett Reston (1909-1995) was a longtime journalist and editor at the New York Times, beginning in 1939. During the Kennedy presidency, Reston, Sr. was the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Times and frequently covered the White House. In a poignant article published in New York Times Magazine close to the one-year anniversary of the assassination on November 15, 1964, Reston notably wrote, "...what was killed in Dallas was not only the President but the promise. The heart of the Kennedy legend is what might have been. All this is apparent in the faces of the people who come daily to his grave on the Arlington Hill." In 1964, he became an associate editor at the New York Times, rising to executive editor and vice president by 1969. Reston retired from the New York Times twenty years later in 1989 and passed away at the age of 86 on December 6, 1995. The Museum has two of his books in our Library Collection as well as a biography of Reston by John F. Stacks: Bibliovation | Catalog Search Results. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

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James Reston, Jr. Oral History

Audio oral history interview with James Reston, Jr. A journalist and prolific author, Reston wrote a biography of Texas Governor John Connally, "The Lone Star" (1989), and a book on the Kennedy assassination, "The Accidental Victim" (2013). He worked for the Department of the Interior in 1963. His late father, New York Times reporter and editor James Reston, covered the Kennedy White House.Interview conducted by telephone on June 13, 2014 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-eight minutes long.

Object Details
Object title:

James Reston, Jr. Oral History

Date:

06/13/2014

Terms:

Dallas

Assassination

Press

Reporter

Oral histories

Author

Researchers

Conspiracy theories

Connally, John

Department of Interior

The New York Times

White House

Authors, Filmmakers, and Researchers (OHC)

News Media (OHC)

Medium:

Born digital (.wav file)

Dimensions:

Duration: 58 Minutes

Credit line:

Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2014.001.0162

Curatorial Note:

In 2013, I met James Reston, Jr. literally in the middle of Dealey Plaza when he was visiting Dallas for a program at Southern Methodist University. Although he did not have time for a video oral history on that day, he kindly agreed to a telephone interview, which we recorded the next year in June 2014. His two books on Governor John Connally and the Kennedy assassination can be found in the Museum's Library Collection here: (Bibliovation | Details for The lone star) and here: Bibliovation | Details for The accidental victim. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

James Reston, Jr.'s father, the late James Barrett Reston (1909-1995) was a longtime journalist and editor at the New York Times, beginning in 1939. During the Kennedy presidency, Reston, Sr. was the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Times and frequently covered the White House. In a poignant article published in New York Times Magazine close to the one-year anniversary of the assassination on November 15, 1964, Reston notably wrote, "...what was killed in Dallas was not only the President but the promise. The heart of the Kennedy legend is what might have been. All this is apparent in the faces of the people who come daily to his grave on the Arlington Hill." In 1964, he became an associate editor at the New York Times, rising to executive editor and vice president by 1969. Reston retired from the New York Times twenty years later in 1989 and passed away at the age of 86 on December 6, 1995. The Museum has two of his books in our Library Collection as well as a biography of Reston by John F. Stacks: Bibliovation | Catalog Search Results. - Stephen Fagin, Curator