James was born on June 25, 1890, in Irvington, Virginia, the son of Alonzo James and Sallie Elizabeth George James. His father was a successful oyster packer, with beds in the Rappahannock River and Carter's Creek. The family was an educated one that included doctors and ministers; nevertheless, all the children worked on the family truck farm, picking strawberries and asparagus for the Baltimore markets.
James attended Chesapeake Academy in Irvington, then worked his way through Randolph Macon College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated in 1909.
Shortly after graduation, James became a reporter on the Baltimore Sun. In 1912 he was assistant news editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch and in 1913 copy editor of the Albany, New York, Knickerbocker Press; in 1915 he joined the New York Times as a copy editor (at $60 a week) but was soon shifted to the reporting desk. He remained with the Times until his death. James's reportorial career with the Times began on a strong note - his first story was a beat revealing that a man posing as a diplomat sponsoring a dinner at the Hotel Astor was actually an escaped prisoner with a psychopathic weakness for posing as a dignitary. His zeal and ability were soon recognized, and he was sent to the Times's Albany office as second in charge. In 1918 he became chief correspondent with the American Army in Europe, joining such reporters as Walter Duranty, Charles H. Grasty, and Wythe Williams. James's accurate, balanced accounts of the major battles appeared in a number of page-one stories. On November 11, 1918, he filed his last story on the war. James remained in Paris as the Times's correspondent through the 1920's, although he often left that city to cover such stories as intrigues in Luxembourg, the maneuvers for control of the Dardanelles, the economic problems in Germany, the political unrest in Spain, the peace talks, and the major conference at The Hague. He was briefly in New York in 1924, returning to Paris as the Times's chief European correspondent, with the authority to expand the paper's European coverage. His report of Lindbergh's Paris landing became famous. In 1930 James moved to New York to become assistant managing editor of the Times, moving to managing editor in April 1932. In the latter post he arranged such special projects as a facsimile edition of the Times for the United Nations conference in San Francisco in 1945. His weekly column on world affairs was read and admired around the world - Pravda conceded that he was one of the most influential commentators in the United States. He also had a considerable following in the diplomatic and business worlds. However, James appeared more concerned with the coverage of major news events than with either the necessary trivia of the managing editor's role or with the interoffice struggles for power that involved such Timesmen as Lester Markel, Arthur Krock, and others. Certainly James led the Times during a period when great pressures were placed upon the paper in the coverage of World War II, the well-kept secrets of the atomic bomb, the temporary peace that followed, and the Korean conflict. James, ever the protagonist of objective reporting, always placed the coverage of the story ahead of any personal feelings. He died on December 3, 1951, in New York City.
Quotes from others about the person
Damon Runyon characterized James at this time as a "dressy" correspondent who "wore extremely well-tailored uniforms, always had plenty of money in his pocket, and went about with an air of self-possession and authority. "
On June 3, 1918, James married Simone Tremoulet, who was serving as a nurse's aide; their three children were all born during his years in France.
