They Wrote as They Pleased : a Study of the Journalistic Careers of Louis Fischer and Walter Duranty, 1922-1940

The interval between the world wars was a sorry period for American press coverage of foreign affairs. Isolationism in the United States took its toll on such journalism in many ways: seasoned correspondents were brought home for reassignment, while shrinking budgets and news space for overseas events worked a hardship on those who remained. One of the more striking features of this neglect of foreign events was the haphazard selection of new correspondents. Men with little training and little understanding of European problems were assigned to posts where they had to struggle to make sense of their findings. Very often the work of such men was muddled and inadequate. At worst, however, there were deliberate distortions and misinterpretations by reporters who ignored the truth. Two such figures who were among the most influential correspondents to report from the Soviet Union during the era were Louis Fischer and Walter Duranty.

Digitization of this thesis was made possible by a generous grant from the Jefferson Trust, 2015.