- Walter Trohan
Walter J. Trohan (
July 4 1903 -October 30 2003 ) was a former "Chicago Tribune "reporter and bureau chief inWashington, D.C. , and was regarded as the last of the legendary metropolitan newspaper Washington bureau chiefs whose bylines made them famous.Trohan began covering Washington in the second year of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 's presidency (1934) and stayed on the job throughRichard Nixon 's first term. He began his career as a reporter in 1929, and was also first on the scene of the infamousSt. Valentine's Day Massacre whenAl Capone 's gang gunned down several members of the rivalBugs Moran gang.Trohan was legendary for almost breaking the scoop that President Truman planned to fire General
Douglas MacArthur , the commander of UN forces in Korea. Truman found out that Trohan knew about his plan of action and publicly announced his decision.In 1975 Trohan wrote his memoirs and titled the book "Political Animals". In the book, he recalled how when he arrived in Washington in 1934 as an assistant correspondent in the "Tribune"
's Washington Bureau. He could remember freely wandering Roosevelt's White House and interviewing cabinet members and other staff. Due to tightened security measures, this freedom no longer exists. Trohan was president of the
White House Correspondents' Association in 1937-1938 and theGridiron Club in 1967. He died in late 2003 at the age of 100.
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