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Distinguished Journalist in Residence
Johns Hopkins University, SAIS
Email: donober@comcast.net
Working Groups
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Security
Expertise
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- U.S. and International Diplomacy
Background
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Don Oberdofer was a U.S. Army Lieutenant in Korea 1953-54. He was Washington Post Northeast Asia correspondent for Japan and Korea from 1972-75. As a Washington Post Diplomatic correspondent from 1976 to 1993 he made numerous visits to South Korea and one to North Korea. He has interviewed DPRK officials in New York and in three trips to Pyongyang trips in 1991, 1995 and 2002. He is the author of The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Addison-Wesley, 1997; updated edition, Basic Books, 2001), which was subsequently published in London, Seoul and Tokyo. The Japanese edition was awarded the 10th annual Asia-Pacific Book Prize.
Biography
Don Oberdofer is the Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was a journalist for 38 years, including 25 years on the Washington Post. He is the author of five books. His most recent book is the biography of the late Senator and Ambassador Mike Mansfield, published by Smithsonian Institution Press in October 2003.
Oberdorfer is a native of Atlanta,,GA. He graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and served as a U.S. Army lieutenant in Korea immediately following the signing of the armistice in 1953. He began his journalistic career in 1955 on the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. He joined the Washington Post in 1968 and covered the Nixon White House, Northeast Asia (based in Tokyo) and U.S. diplomacy, including 17 years as Diplomatic Correspondent before retiring from journalism in 1993.
He is the author of thousands of newspaper articles on current affairs and dozens of magazine articles. His first book, Tet! (Doubleday, 1971; Da Capo Press, 1984; Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), a political-military history of the turning point of the Vietnam War, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1971. His second book, The Turn: From the Cold War to a New Era, (Poseidon Press, 1991; Touchstone Press, 1992) was republished in expanded form in May 1998 by Johns Hopkins University Press under the title, From the Cold War to a New Era. His third work, Princeton University: The First 250 Years, was published by Princeton in 1995 to commemorate its 250th birthday.
He has won many awards for journalistic excellence. He twice won the National Press Club's Edwin M. Hood Award for diplomatic correspondence (in 1981 and again in 1988.) He was also twice winner of Georgetown University's annual Edward Weintal prize for diplomatic reporting. He served as a visiting professor at Princeton University in 1977, 1982 and 1986. In 1996 Princeton bestowed on him its Woodrow Wilson Award given annually to a graduate for exemplary service to the nation.
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