Sketches in the Sand

by James Barrett Reston

James Reston is the most influential columnist on the most influential newspaper in America. For nearly a quarter century his political criticism and social comment from Washington have stimulated and irritated presidents, cabinet officers, congressmen, and other officials. He has shed light on the intricacies of Washington for the readers of The New York Times and other newspapers that carry his column. In many ways he is the conscience of Washington, a position that may come naturally to a Scottish-born Calvinist who "cannot help preaching and raising hell."

This collection of Mr. Reston's writings from The New York Times and other publications displays his endlessly curious mind, his pragmatic view of issues, and the distinguished quality of his reporting.

He is particularly concerned with the problems of change, which seem to him the central issue of the age. While he realizes that no generation of American officials ever had to face such a torrent of intractable new problems, he reaffirms the reporter's right to advise and criticize. He writes on such varied subjects at the responsibility of the press, the women of Washington, the problems of education, and the pitfalls of power. His portraits of John F. Kennedy, Dean Acheson, Robert Frost, and other figures are superb examples of his insight and sensitivity.

Sketches in the Sand is a wise and witty book which demonstrates that James Reston is one of the most graceful and intelligent writers in America.

479 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Scottish-born American journalist James Barrett Reston, known as Scotty and after 1939 associated with the New York Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 and 1957 for his reporting.

His poor, devout Presbyterian family migrated to the United States in 1920. He sailed with his mother and sister to New York as steerage passengers on board the steamship Mobile, and authorities inspected them at Ellis Island on September 28, 1920. After working briefly for the Springfield, Ohio, Daily News, he joined the Associated Press in 1934. He moved to the London bureau of the but returned in 1940. In 1942, he took leave of absence to establish an office of war information of United States in London. Rejoining in 1945, Reston was assigned to District of Columbia as national correspondent. In 1948, he was appointed diplomatic correspondent, followed by bureau chief and columnist in 1953.

Reston married his wife Sally (born Sarah Jane Fulton) on December 24, 1935, after meeting her at the University of Illinois. He also was a member of Sigma Pi - Phi Chapter at Illinois. They had three sons; James Jr., a journalist, non-fiction writer and playwright; Thomas, formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for public affairs and the deputy spokesman for the State Department; and Richard, the publisher of the Vineyard Gazette, a newspaper on Martha's Vineyard.

In subsequent years, Reston served as associate editor of the Times from 1964 to 1968, executive editor from 1968 to 1969, and vice president from 1969 to 1974. He wrote a nationally syndicated column from 1974 until 1987, when he became a senior columnist. During the Nixon administration, he was on the master list of Nixon political opponents.

Reston retired from the Times in 1989.

Reston interviewed many of the world's leaders and wrote extensively about the leading events and issues of his time. He interviewed President John F. Kennedy immediately after the 1961 Vienna Summit with Nikita Khrushchev on the heels of the Bay of Pigs Invasion fiasco.

Reviews

[Henry Sturcke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The point of the title is clear: Newspaper columns are ephemera, yet at their best repay rereading long after they appear. That is eminently the case with these collected columns by James B. ("Scotty") Reston. The fly-leaf begins by calling him the most influential columnist of the most influential newspaper in America, and that was not overstating the case. To a degree hard to imagine today, when anyone with an internet connection can share his or her views in the hopes someone will read them (sort of what I'm doing now), newspapers were commonly called then the Fourth Estate, a recognition of their necessary role in a thriving democracy. And the conscience of the newspaper was its columnists. And like Bond, nobody did it better than Reston.
The columns contained in this 480-page volume are sensibly arranged in thirteen thematic chapters. Those who might conclude based on Reston's land of birth and his Calvinist upbringing that the best adjective to describe him might be "dour" are advised to start with Chapter 8, Spoofs, although the chapter with the widest interest might be the final one, a collection of columns about JFK.
Reston would have never claimed that his judgments were always correct, but he knew how to think and write clearly.
I found my copy on the $2 remainder table of a D.C. bookstore in the summer of 1975. Money well-spent.