Nieman from Newark

Nieman Fellow John Davies never could stomach working with women reporters. Even though he married one, he took a solemn oath that he would never have anything to do with them during working hours. The one time he broke this vow was on a day that shells were whistling over his head while his landing boat was pulling into the Inchon beachhead, and a sudden swerve sent a pretty young columnist flying into his lap. The somewhat embarrassed Davies recovered his equilibrium, however, and went on to become one of the top war correspondents, covering the Pacific campaign for the Newark Evening News.

Modest, unassuming Davies doesn't like to talk too much about his wartime experiences. But in a quiet, slow voice he will say that he has been covering wars, school news, gambling rackets and weddings since he was 14 years old.

Starting off on an Albuquerque paper where his only pay was a by-line, he was writing for four journals at once when he finished high school, besides being Editor-in-Chief of his school newspaper. After graduation he talked two more publishers into hiring him as a reporter, and wangled a job drawing editorial cartoons for another. This made a total of seven jobs at once, "but I was still making less than Louise (his future wife) who was writing for a large city newspaper." In 1936 he got his job with the Newark Evening News and decided that it was about time for him to get married--since he was finally making more money than Louise.

Helping to expose the gambling machines that were milking Newark in the early 40's was exciting: "I had to ride back and forth on the train, look for men who were reading scratch sheets, and try to find out from them where the gamblers operated. I followed a heavy bettor to the gaming house, counted how many times he rang the bell, and ten minutes later did the same. After playing craps for a while on the newspaper's money, I left by telling them an ulcer was acting up. But all this isn't unusual. Most reporters do it the same way."

Then came the war. Davies decided that he wanted to get into action as quickly as possible, so instead of waiting until the News sent him overseas he joined the Marines and went to China, and became the only Marine ever to be an editor of Stars and Stripes. "That way I could learn enough about Asia to go back for the News afterwards."

When he returned to the U.S., Davies decided that he wanted to learn Chinese. After the Berlitz school had taught him some fifteen hundred characters, he was ready to return to cover the Nationalist-Communist struggle. Then he found himself in the thick of the Korean War, covering the battle from the front lines. The war correspondent casualty rate was higher than in World War II, and Davies felt he was living on luck until one day when his jeep smashed into an onrushing tank. He emerged with a broken arm and a fractured skull.

Three days later, Davies pulled out of the hospital on a half-hour pass and went to cover a story on the battleship Missouri.

But battlefront coverage was over for the time being, and Davies returned to the states and came to Harvard on a Nieman Fellowship. 'This is one of the finest things I have ever done. Newspapering is intense work and you don't have much chance for relaxed reading."

Reporting is Davies' future. He is happy with his job and likes the paper he works for. "It's a good thing to be associated with a paper whose policy you can respect. You can hold your head up no matter whom you talk to."