Newspapers: Reston Takes Charge

• Share

In the 25 years that he has worked in Washington, New York Timesman James ("Scotty") Reston, 58, has become the city's closest equivalent to an oracle. In his thrice-weekly column, he likes to size up the direction in which the U.S. is heading. And if he often finds it is downhill, he usually supplies his own prescription for applying the brakes—or decides that perhaps it will come out all right in the end after all. Whatever he has to say, the nation's leaders are in the habit of listening to and heeding him. With this kind of prestige, it seemed inevitable that one day Reston would succeed to the editorship of the Times. Last week he did.

Starting this summer, Reston will replace Turner Catledge, 67, as executive editor. That means becoming boss of the entire news operation, daily and Sunday. Catledge, meanwhile, becomes a vice president and director and will involve himself in "broad areas of corporate policy." Not since 1942, when he served briefly as an assistant to then publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger, has Reston been stationed in New York.

He hopes to continue writing his column; in fact, he gave up his post of Washington bureau chief four years ago in order to devote full time to it.

He recognizes, however, that his heavy administrative chores may consume most of his time. In addition to coping with all the news that's fit to print, he has a lot of personnel problems to sort out—the running status struggle, for instance, between the New York office and the Washington bureau that culminated in the abrupt appointment of James Greenfield as Washington bureau chief last February and his equally abrupt dismissal when Washington, led by Reston, protested. "I've had a wonderful life out of this paper for 29 years," says Reston. "I've been asked to do the most important news job on the paper. It's my duty, and a great challenge."