March 19, 2002

GW Honors 100 Year-old Journalist

St. John Receives Honorary Doctorate Degree

On the occasion of his 100th birthday, The George Washington University presented broadcast pioneer and author Robert St. John with an honorary doctorate to celebrate his journalistic accomplishments over the last 80 years.

St. John, who turned 100 years old on March 9, has logged four million miles in travel. He began his career in print journalism and eventually owned The Cicero Tribune, where Al Capone’s mob took over his paper and left him for dead after a beating. In 1931, he joined the Associated Press, covering Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential campaign. In 1939, he became a foreign correspondent in the Balkans, and later was wounded while traveling on a Greek troop train in Greece when a Nazi plane opened fire. To this day St. John carries a Nazi bullet in his leg as a reminder of the attack.

After escaping Europe on a Greek sardine boat, St. John returned to New York to report on the war for NBC Radio and was one of the first journalists to announce the D-Day invasion, broadcasting for 117 consecutive hours. While reporting the dropping of the atomic bomb and the end of WWII, St. John managed to conquer the airwaves for 72 hours.

The author of 22 books, St. John has chronicled the lives of David Ben-Gurion and Abba Eban. Currently he is working on his 23rd book — a compilation of his experiences.

 

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu