We mourn the loss of a crusader for truth. The following excerpts are from the Associated Press – JS
Author David Halberstam Dies in Crash
By Lisa Leff
Associated Press
April 23, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who chronicled the Vietnam War generation, civil rights and the world of sports, was killed in a car crash Monday, his wife and local authorities said. He was 73.
Halberstam, of New York, was a passenger in a car that was broadsided by another vehicle in Menlo Park, south of San Francisco, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said. The cause of death appeared to be internal injuries, he said.
The accident occurred around 10:30 a.m., and Halberstam was declared dead at the scene, Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said.
The driver of the car carrying Halberstam and the person driving the car that crashed into his were injured, but not seriously…
In an interview earlier this month with The Associated Press, Halberstam recalled the zeal with which he and his colleagues covered Vietnam.
“Maybe we were 28, 29, 26 and we had a great story, which we knew and we had a lock on the truth because we had such great sources. When for a variety of reasons – a flawed, deeply flawed policy – the government starts lying, that is when independent journalism really matters,” he said.
Such reporting, he said, is a key component of democracy.
“The idea that somewhere before it is a big story that there is some young person… putting themselves on the line morally, ethically, journalistically, that is a great thing,” Halberstam said. “I mean, that is what a free society is about.”