Press: A Power Shift Within the Kingdom

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Every reporter at the New York Times, newspaper wags like to say, remembers two birthdays: his own and Abe Rosenthal's. Next May 2 the Times's powerful executive editor reaches the paper's mandatory retirement age of 65, and speculation about who will succeed him at the helm of the nation's most influential newspaper has been intense. Now, more than six months before Rosenthal must step down, the long-anticipated transition is at hand. On Nov. 1, the newspaper announced in its Sunday issue, Rosenthal will be replaced by Max Frankel, 56, editor of the Times's editorial page.

After 17 years of determining "all the news that's fit to print," Rosenthal will begin writing a twice-weekly column, ending an era in which the Times reached new heights of success and prestige. Under Rosenthal, the Times won nearly two dozen Pulitzer Prizes, introduced new sections and a more contemporary look, and reversed its financial fortunes to become one of the nation's most lucrative newspapers. "The Times changed more under Abe than under any editor in its history," says Benjamin Bradlee, executive editor of the Washington Post. "It burst full-blown into the 20th century."

Frankel's selection came as no surprise to insiders. In breaking the news to his editorial-board colleagues last Friday, Frankel joked, "Let me be the last to tell you. The rumors are true." A 34-year veteran of the newspaper, Frankel is well regarded by newsmen and is close to Publisher Arthur Ochs ("Punch") Sulzberger, 60. He is described as a cautious editor unlikely to make drastic changes in the newspaper. His two chief deputies will be holdovers from the Rosenthal era: Deputy Managing Editor Arthur Gelb, 62, who is being promoted to managing editor, and Assistant Managing Editor James Greenfield, 62. Deputy Editorial Page Editor Jack Rosenthal, 51 (no relation to Abe), will replace Frankel as chief of the editorial page. His new deputy will be Leslie Gelb, 49, the Times's widely respected national-security correspondent.

Rosenthal's retirement closes a chapter in one of the most extraordinary success stories in American journalism. The son of a Belorussian-born house painter, Abraham M. Rosenthal grew up in the Bronx and attended City College of New York. He started working for the Times as a $12-a-week campus stringer in 1943 and went on to become one of the paper's most celebrated foreign correspondents. His sensitive, flavorful dispatches from India, Poland and Japan made A.M. Rosenthal a familiar byline and won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1960.

In 1963 Rosenthal returned to New York City as metropolitan editor and moved to overcome the long-standing criticism that the Times slighted local news for national and international affairs. Says Gay Talese, a former Times reporter who chronicled the newspaper in his book The Kingdom and the Power: "He brought prestige back to the New York staff."

Rosenthal climbed quickly: to assistant managing editor in 1967, the top job of managing editor in 1969 and the newly created post of executive editor in 1977. At the helm of the newspaper, he stressed good writing, brought such fiefs as the Washington bureau and the Sunday staff under his control and, in landmark cases like the 1971 publication of the Pentagon papers, became a strong crusader for the press's First Amendment rights.