HendrikHertzberg,thecareerofthe(notonly)politicsguru

I was reading The New Yorker during a lunch break on a conference organized by our
department in September when one of the participants walked up to me and started chatting
about the magazine which he subscribes to every year as a Christmas present for his wife. He
told me about their favorite writer, Hendrik Hertzberg, andIdecidedtoreadsomeofhisarticles
online afterwards. His article, titled Newsweeks Glory Days (Mine, too), caught my attention
immediately,Ilovedtheflashbackthatintroducedtheworkofareporterinthe60s.
According to The New Yorker website, Hertzberg is asenioreditorandstaffwriterofthe
magazine, and usually writes Comments in the Talk of the Town section. He also has a blog
where he posts reflections to daily, mostly political events asstatedontheupperbannerofhis
blog page. His posts appear every week or so, and he published 604 pieces in the magazine up
until11/01/2014.Besideswritingarticles,hehaspublishedthreebooksaswell.
He began his career while attending Harvard, he wrote for the Harvard Crimson. In his
article titled Young Don Graham heexplainsthatitwashardtobecomeoneofthewriters:You
had to go through a gruelling, gradebusting, halfsemester comp, or competition, during
which you were more likely than not to be cut. As a comper, you might get some of your
stories into the paper, but only after you were safely elected could you be accordedthehonor
ofabyline.Hegotappointedmanagingeditoroftheuniversitymagazinewhichhe referstoasa
cross between a papal conclave and the anointing of a Mexican President, only more
selfimportant.Intheabovelineswecanseethetypeofcynicalhumorthatheusuallyappliesin
hisarticles.
In his article which raised my interest,, a reflection to USA Todays short news that
Newsweek was sold to IBT Media,hedescribeshisearlycareerattheSanFranciscoheadquarter
of the magazine. He worked there from 1966 till 1967, and it seems fromthemoodofthepiece
that he had enjoyed the time spent very much. He describes howreportersworkedthattimeand
thattheywereallmaleuntil1970atNewsweek.Theirfullarticleswerenotpublished theyrather
worked as correspondents, happy to see their original sentences in the magazine after editing.
Newsweek articles wereanonymoustheyonlygotcreditforphotos.Headmitsthatwhenhesent
his photos of Jefferson Airplane for an article about the San Francisco music scene, he made a
mistake, labeled the film Jefferson Airplane only, but there were some pictures of another band
as well, and Newsweek published the picture of another band as Jefferson Airplane. I found it
appealing that he revealed this secret, it shows the greatness ofapersontoadmittheirmistakes.
The style of this piece makes you feel the 60s with the little bits and references added, for
example one such is the way he mentions couple lines from Scott McKenzies San Francisco.
His firstreportthatwaspublishedalmostasawhole wasthelastone,abouttheHumanBeIna
gathering of musicians,hippiesandevenpoliticianswithacrowdofseveralthousandpeople. He
joined the Navy in 1967, and was also part of the War Resisters League. In 1969, according to

his own lines in the article about Don Graham, he attended the antiwar demonstration in
Washington D.C., the famous Moratorium March, showing anactiveparticipationinthepolitics
oftheday.
Hertzberg started working for The New Yorker in 1969 for the first time until 1976, and
he returned in 1992. Inbetween, he was a presidential speechwriterduringJimmyCartersterm
and held the editorial position of The New Republic for ten years. While at The New Republic,
the magazine won the National Magazine Awards forthree consecutiveyears,andasawriterhe
got awarded for hisCommentsintheColumnsandCommentarycategoryin2006.Hewasvoted
the 17th amongst the 25MostInfluentialLiberalsintheU.S.MediabytheForbesmagazinein
2009.
While living in Manhattan he attended a reading group organized by Don Graham, a
former college friend and owner and editor of the Washington Post. He referred to these
evenings as very stimulating. For me this simply says that he is very committed to literature, I
also think that a good writer must read a lot and has to discuss readings as he is someone who
writesaswell.
Mathematicians and people with an interest in statistics applauded his book titled One
Million which was intended to visualize the number one million with one million dots on 200
pages, 5000 of them on each one.Besidesomedotsalineleadstointerestingandshockingfacts
that have to deal with the given number. For example, the 7th, Poems by Emily Dickinson
published during her lifetime (out of 1,700 she wrote). Adams Douglas says in a reviewthatit
isabookthereaderexperiencesthroughthewittystatisticaldata,notreads.
He is widely known for his political articles,he writesabouttodayspoliticalevents,and
reflective pieces in which have historical or autobiographical background. For example the one
titled Friday, November 22, 1963 is one piece of the latter. HewasattheCrimsonthattimeand
from the article we know that he worked a lot on the paper, the day before Kennedys death he
was up until dawn. This shows that he has a very good work ethic. The Crimson published an
extra about the death of the president the next day serving asasaluteforhim,butHertzbergdid
not write one line in it. He thought it was disgusting, not a good way to grieve and he also
explains why he works at amagazinenow,notanewspaper,aweeklymagazinegivesyoutime
tocollectyourself.
His article about President Obamas inauguration for the second term, titled Walkingthe
Walk is a great example of his reflection torecentpoliticalissues.Hisstyleisveryclean,andhe
introduces several points of views. He first summarizes the event, thengoesontomentionwhat
other reportersthoughtofwhatthepresidentischewing,everyoneagreesit isNicorette.Next,he
proves that he has read the news about the topic by quoting from different American daily
newspapers that refer to liberalism and says that before they were careful to use this word.
Hertzberg is known to be a liberal therefore it is natural that he highlights this. In the last
paragraph, he reaches back to hisNicorettequoteswhichIfoundverythoughtful, andmakesthe
closing sentence a great one that frames the article: But whileB.H.O.spolitical Nicorettemay

not yield the full, rich tobacco flavor of F.D.R.s Camels, L.B.J.s Lucky Strikes, or J.F.K.s
Cubancigars,theactiveingredientisthesame.
For me HendrikHertzbergissomeoneIwouldcallawelleducatedreporter,atruewriter.
HehasmultiplesidesandwritesintelligentlyasprovedbyhisuniquebookOneMillionthebest.