Background

Ethnicity: Pierre Salinger was a son of a Jewish father and a French-born mother.

Pierre Emil George Salinger was born on the 14th of June, 1925 in San Francisco, California, United States; the son of Herbert Edgar Salinger and Jehanne Bietry Carlson. After his father's death, Pierre's mother was remarried to Mr. Jerome Carlson.

Education

Pierre Salinger studied at Lowell High School in San Francisco. From 1941 to 1943 he attended San Francisco State University. Pierre graduated from the University of San Francisco, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1947.

Career

During the Second World War Pierre Salinger served in the U.S. Navy as the skipper of a submarine chaser in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Salinger was honorably discharged with the rank of lieutenant in 1946. His first job after college was as a reporter and night city editor for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1942-43 and in 1946-55. At the Chronicle, Salinger gained a reputation as a gifted investigative reporter, even going to such lengths as to get himself thrown into jail so that he could study prison conditions.

Salinger then briefly worked for Collier's magazine as its west coast editor and contributing editor from 1955 to 1956, where he continued his investigative work, most notably on stories about labor corruption. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy read Salinger's report on the issue and was so impressed that he put Salinger on the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Investigate Improper Activities in Labor-Management Relations in 1957 as an investigator. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy hired the reporter to be his press secretary and to serve as his press officer in the 1960 presidential campaign.

After Kennedy was assassinated, Salinger worked for President Lyndon Johnson for a time. On August 4, 1964 Pierre Emil George Salinger was named senator of California. He served a year in the California Senate, filling an opening in that office left after the death of Clair Engle before leaving politics behind for good. From 1965 to 1968, he was Vice-president of international affairs for Continental Airlines.

During the late 1960s, he also worked as Vice-president and consultant for National General Corporation, a business that managed theaters, as well as president of Fox Overseas Theatres and of the Gramco Development Corporation. In 1968 he became Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign director. But after Robert Kennedy's murder on June 4, 1968, he left the USA to settle in France.

In 1973 Salinger returned to his forte of reporting by joining the staff at L'Express in Paris. He left the newspaper in 1988 to join ABC as Senior Editor until he retired in 1993. The next three years, from 1993 to 1996, were spent as Vice-Chairman and consultant for Burson-Marsteller, and on the lecture circuit.

Salinger was the author or coauthor of several books, including With Kennedy in 1966, America Held Hostage: The Secret Negotiations in 1981, and John F. Kennedy, Commander-in-Chief: A Profile in Leadership in 1997. He also published three novels and the autobiography P.S., a Memoir in 1995, among other nonfiction titles.

Achievements

• Pierre Salinger was the White House Press Secretary for two United States presidents and ABC News' chief correspondent in Europe for more than a decade. As a correspondent Salinger is particularly known for his coverage of the Iran Hostage Crisis; the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland; and his claims of a missile being the cause of the explosion of TWA Flight 800.
  
  In 1978, the French awarded Salinger the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest civilian honor, for increasing understanding between the two nations. He won the 1981 George Polk award for his investigation into the secret hostage negotiations between America and Iran.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • P.S., a Memoir

    (The veteran journalist looks back on his eventful life in...)

    1995
  • Mortal Games

    (After barely escaping an assassination attempt, Andre Koh...)

    1988
  • John F. Kennedy, Commander-in-Chief: A Profile in Leadership

    (Focuses on the late president's role as Commander-in-Chie...)

    1997
  • The Dossier

    (An American journalist working in Europe learns of a secr...)

    1984
  • Secret Dossier: The Hidden Agenda Behind the Gulf War

    (It provides a detailed account of the diplomatic negotiat...)

    1991
  • America Held Hostage: The Secret Negotiations 1981
  • With Kennedy 1966
  • Guerre du Golfe 1991

Views

Quotations: "A lot of people criticize the primaries but I think they are absolutely essential to the education of the President of the United States".

"I've had at least my share of tragedy, but I have had far more than my share of happiness".

Membership

Pierre Salinger was a member of the French National Assembly, National Press Club, and American University in Paris.

• Chairman of the board of trustees

  American University , France

  1978 - 1988

• Honorary chairman

  American University , France

  1988 - 2004

Connections

Pierre Emil George Salinger was married four times. His first marriage was to Renée Labouré from 1947 to 1957. Together they had three children, Marc, Suzanne, and Stephen. His second marriage was to Nancy Brook Joy from 1957 to 1965. Soon after that, he was married to Nicole Helene Gillmann. They were together until 1988 and had one son, Gregory. His last marriage was in 1989 to Nicole Beuvillain de Menthon. They were together until his death.

Father:

Herbert Salinger

Mother:

Jehanne (Bietry) Salinger

ex-wife:

Nicole Helene Gillmann

Wife:

Nicole Beauvillain de Menthon

ex-wife:

Renée Labouré

late son:

Marc Salinger

late daughter:

Suzanne Salinger

Son:

Stephen Salinger

Son:

Gregory Salinger

ex-wife:

Nancy Brook Joy

Brother:

Herbert Salinger

Brother:

George Salinger

Brother:

Richard Salinger