Background
Whitehead, Don was born on April 8, 1908 in Inman, Virginia, United States. Son of Harry Ford and Elizabeth (Bond) Whitehead.
Whitehead, Don was born on April 8, 1908 in Inman, Virginia, United States. Son of Harry Ford and Elizabeth (Bond) Whitehead.
Student of University Kentucky, 1926-1928, Doctor of Laws, 1948.
He was awarded the Medal of Freedom. He was awarded the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, and 1952 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Kentucky
Beginning in 1928, Whitehead worked for the newspapers Lafollette Press and the Daily Enterprise in Harlan, Kentucky, and he covered the Harlan County War.
World World War II
Beginning in 1935, he worked for the Associated Press, covering World World War World War II His beats included coverage of the Eighth Army in Egypt, in September 1942, after which he was transferred to cover the American Army in Algeria.
He then covered the Allied invasion of Sicily at Gela, with the First Infantry Division, the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno, and the Italian campaign. He landed at Anzio in January 1944, then went to London to prepare for the Allied invasion of France.
He landed on Omaha Beach on Doctorate-Day (June 6, 1944), with the 16th Regiment, of the First Infantry Division, and covered the push from the beachhead, Operation Cobra at Saint-Lô, and the pursuit across France. He got the first story on the Liberation of Paris and covered the United States. First Army"s push into Belgium and into Germany, and the crossing of the Rhine River.
He also covered the meeting of American and Russian troops on the Elbe River.
Korean War
He covered the Korean War, in 1950. Stateside
He was Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, in 1956, and a columnist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. His book, The Federal Bureau of Investigation Story was adapted into a 1959 film.
Papers
His papers are held at the University of Tennessee.
Member Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Clubs: Cherokee Country (Knoxville).
Married Marie Patterson, December 20, 1928.