Harry M. Rosenfeld facts for kids

Harry M. Rosenfeld (born August 12, 1929 – died July 16, 2021) was an American newspaper editor. He was in charge of local news at The Washington Post during the famous Watergate scandal. He made sure the newspaper covered Watergate well. He also stopped national reporters from taking over the story.

While Post executive editor Ben Bradlee often gets the most credit, Harry Rosenfeld worked closely with reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They helped develop the Watergate story. In 2013, Rosenfeld wrote a book about his time at the Post.

Early Life and Education

Harry Rosenfeld was born Hirsch Moritz Rosenfeld in Berlin, Germany, on August 12, 1929. His family was Jewish. His father worked with furs. During a terrible event called Kristallnacht in 1938, his family found safety in the Polish Embassy. This was a time when Jewish businesses and homes were attacked.

His family first tried to move to the United States in 1934. It took five years because of immigration rules. In March 1939, when Harry was ten, they finally moved to The Bronx, New York City. They arrived just before the Holocaust, a very sad time in history. Harry learned English without a German accent.

After finishing college at Syracuse University in 1952, he joined the US Army for two years. Later, he worked as an editor at the New York Herald-Tribune. He also studied history and poetry at Columbia University and New York University.

Career at The Washington Post

When Harry Rosenfeld started working at the Metro desk (local news) at the Post, Bob Woodward applied for a job. Woodward had just left the United States Navy and had no experience in journalism. Rosenfeld gave him a two-week trial without pay in August 1970.

Woodward wrote seventeen stories during this time, but none were ready to be published. Rosenfeld told him to get more experience and come back later. Woodward then worked for another paper and often got news before the Post. He kept calling Rosenfeld for a job. Rosenfeld hired him in 1971.

Covering the Watergate Scandal

Harry Rosenfeld strongly believed that Woodward and Bernstein should keep working on the Watergate story. He wanted it to stay with the Metro desk, not be given to the national news reporters. Roger Ebert, a famous writer, noted that Watergate began as a local story. He said it was a challenge for the Post's national staff because Woodward and Bernstein kept it as their own.

Katharine Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post, wrote about Rosenfeld in her book. She called him a "tough, old-style editor" and a "real hero of Watergate." She said he saw the story as a very big local event. He thought the Post's local team could do great work on it. He managed the story before it became front-page news. He kept it going on the front page of the metro section.

Rosenfeld said that the Post's careful work led to "the longest-running newspaper stories with the least amount of errors." Woodward and Bernstein wrote a book about Watergate called All the President's Men. In it, they compared Rosenfeld to a football coach. They said he would "prod his players... pleading, yelling, cajoling." In the 1976 movie based on the book, actor Jack Warden played Harry Rosenfeld.

Later Career and Books

Harry Rosenfeld left The Washington Post in 1978. He moved to Albany, New York. There, he became the editor of the Times Union. He retired in 1996 but continued to write weekly columns for the paper.

In 2013, Rosenfeld wrote a book called From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaper Man. This book shared details about his childhood in Berlin during the 1930s. It also covered his career from the New York Herald-Tribune to The Washington Post. Six years later, he wrote a second book, Battling Editor: The Albany Years. This book described his time as a newspaper editor in Albany and his involvement in the community.

Personal Life

Harry Rosenfeld married Anne Hahn in 1953. They were married for 68 years. They had three children: Susan, Amy, and Stefanie.

Harry Rosenfeld passed away at his home in Slingerlands, New York, on July 16, 2021. He was 91 years old. He had health issues related to COVID-19 before he died.