# 4249 - 2008 42c American Journalist: John Hersey
John Hersey
American Journalist
Issue Date: April 22, 2008
City: Washington, DC
Birth Of John Hersey
Hersey’s parents were working as Protestant missionaries for the YMCA when he was born. He spent his first ten years in China, learning to speak Chinese before English.
When Hersey’s family returned to the US he attended public school and became the first Eagle Scout in his Boy Scout troop. Hersey went on to attend Yale where he lettered in football. He then went to graduate school at the University of Cambridge.
Hersey’s most important work, Hiroshima, was a startling account of the effects of the atomic bomb on the lives of six survivors. After reading Hiroshima, the editor of The New Yorker turned the entire issue over to Hersey’s story. Just weeks later, it was republished as a book.
In 1999, a group of respected New York University journalism professors and prominent journalists chose the 20th century’s Top 100 Works of Journalism. Hersey’s work Hiroshima was selected as number one.
Hersey died at his winter home in Key West Florida, on March 24, 1993. He received several honors during his lifetime – a school was named after him as well as a lecture series and a prize at Yale, given to a student whose journalist work reflects “the spirit and ideals of John Hersey: engagement with moral and social issues, responsible reportage and consciousness of craftsmanship.”
John Hersey
American Journalist
Issue Date: April 22, 2008
City: Washington, DC
Birth Of John Hersey
Hersey’s parents were working as Protestant missionaries for the YMCA when he was born. He spent his first ten years in China, learning to speak Chinese before English.
When Hersey’s family returned to the US he attended public school and became the first Eagle Scout in his Boy Scout troop. Hersey went on to attend Yale where he lettered in football. He then went to graduate school at the University of Cambridge.
Hersey’s most important work, Hiroshima, was a startling account of the effects of the atomic bomb on the lives of six survivors. After reading Hiroshima, the editor of The New Yorker turned the entire issue over to Hersey’s story. Just weeks later, it was republished as a book.
In 1999, a group of respected New York University journalism professors and prominent journalists chose the 20th century’s Top 100 Works of Journalism. Hersey’s work Hiroshima was selected as number one.
Hersey died at his winter home in Key West Florida, on March 24, 1993. He received several honors during his lifetime – a school was named after him as well as a lecture series and a prize at Yale, given to a student whose journalist work reflects “the spirit and ideals of John Hersey: engagement with moral and social issues, responsible reportage and consciousness of craftsmanship.”