Biographical Information

Introduction

The Papers of Bernard D. Nossiter '47 were originally a working deposit, and came into the Dartmouth College Library's ownership after Nossiter's death in 1992. It is an exciting body of papers generated by a Dartmouth alumnus, trained in Economics, who became a brilliant success as a journalist and author.

Bernard D. Nossiter was born April 10, 1926, in New York City. He served in the Army during World War II, attending the University of Maine and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute under the Army Specialised Training Program. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1947. While at the College, he was co-editor of The Dartmouth Log, a war-time version of The Dartmouth, and was a “stringer” for United Press International, The Boston Post, and The New York Times. Nossiter received his MA in Economics from Harvard in 1949.

After brief stints working for The Worcester (MA) Telegram, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune Magazine, marriage to Jacqueline Robinson (1950), and 18 months of active duty in the Army during the Korean crisis, Nossiter became a reporter for The New York World Telegram and Sun. He left that job in 1955 to become the National Economic Correspondent at The Washington Post, taking a year off (1962-1963) to accept a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard. His first book, The Mythmakers: An Essay On Power and Wealth, was published in 1964, and he was promoted to European Economics Correspondent. In 1965, he was given the Sidney Hillman Foundation Award for the best business news reporting from abroad.

Nossiter spent a year (1967-1968) as the Post's South Asian correspondent, based in New Delhi; his second book, Soft State: A Newspaperman's Chronicle of India, was published in 1970. He was the Post's London correspondent from 1971-1979, publishing his most controversial book, Britain: A Future That Works, as a result of that assignment. Nossiter left The Washington Post in 1979 to join The New York Times as its United Nations Bureau Chief. In 1983, he retired from newspaper work to become a freelance writer. He published two more booksThe Global Struggle For More: Third World Conflicts With Rich Nations (1987), and Fat Years and Lean: The American Economy Since Roosevelt (1990), as well as many articles on economics and politics. Nossiter died June 24, 1992 in New York City.

Bernard Nossiter's family created the annual Bernard D. Nossiter Prize in Journalism at Dartmouth College in 1994, to encourage sound and independent journalism among undergraduates. It is a fine tribute to a man who, himself, won so many awards for excellence in journalism.

The Nossiter Papers occupy 6 boxes, or approximately 7.5 linear feet of shelf space. The materials consist of book manuscripts, magazine and newspaper articles, correspondence, biographical information, clippings, book reviews, contracts, pamphlets, transcripts of media events, proposals, and much ephemeral matter. The largest group of materials under the heading Book Mss., is that of Nossiter's 1978 book, Britain: A Future That Works. The book generated a storm of controversy and a libel suit, both well documented in this collection. The magazine and newspaper articles contained within the collection clearly show the breadth of Bernard Nossiter's knowledge and experience in both economics and politics. Magazines such as The Nation, The Progressive, Harper's Magazine, Nieman Reports and The New York Times Magazine, among others, were pleased to accept his contributions. In addition to the journalism awards already mentioned, Nossiter won the Christopher Award (1955), the Sigma Delta Chi Award (1961), and the George Polk Award (1969) for excellence in newspaper reporting.

No restrictions have been placed on the use of any of the materials in this collection. Photocopying, however, will be done at the discretion of Special Collections staff. Further information concerning Bernard Nossiter may be found in Special Collections in the Dartmouth College Library.