As a columnist, I usually plan in advance for the subjects that I wish to address. It is often an unassuming process of reading, talking and listening until something strikes. That process was unceremoniously interrupted when I learned of the death of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam.
One of the true nonfiction literary giants of the last half of the 20th century, Halberstam covered some of the country's most pivotal events, such as the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam. Thus, it was nothing short of shock and disbelief to lose a voice that had such an influence on my formative intellectual development.
His writing possessed the uncanny ability to take subjects many thought they were familiar with and provide an illumination that presented them as fresh and new.
Halberstam's "The Best and Brightest," a stinging critique on the early years of the Vietnam War, was required reading for most political science students in the late 1970s and early '80s. Subsequently, "The Best and the Brightest" has entered the American lexicon as synonymous with failed possibility, arrogance and hubris.
Years before people took to the streets in protest, Halberstam was one of the few reporters telling a very different story about Vietnam than the one widely portrayed by the government and media at-large. Ted Koppel, speaking on National Public Radio, suggested we're still hearing the echoes of Vietnam work whenever Iraq is referred to as a "quagmire." "They are reflecting the title of a famous book that David wrote (in 1965) called: 'The Making of a Quagmire,'" Koppel said.
Speaking to a journalism conference last year in Tennessee, Halberstam observed that government criticism of news reporters in Iraq was reminiscent of the way he was treated while covering the war in Vietnam. "The crueler the war gets, the crueler the attacks get on anybody who doesn't salute or play the game," he said. "And then one day, the people who are doing the attacking look around and they've used up their credibility."
I happened to go on ESPN's Web site the other day and read, to my surprise, "Famed Sports Writer David Halberstam Dies." What? But after taking a moment to reflect, that was absolutely right. Halberstam did not limit his brilliance to a single genre.
Ironically, when he died, he was on his way to interview Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle for a book about the 1958 NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants.
He wrote about anything that was of interest to him.
Whether it was weighty complex matters like his book, "The Fifties," where he challenged us to rethink our preconceived notions about a decade that has too often been dismissed as docile and uneventful, or his chronicle of the epic pennant race between the Yankees and the Red Sox in 1949, Halberstam applied the same virtuosity, nuance and research to provide an insight that we might otherwise miss.
Gifted with an abundance of intellectual curiosity, Halberstam became the gold standard for uncovering facts -- giving little weight to where those facts may ultimately lead. In his post-9/11 analysis, which he referred to as a "spasm of almost self-conscious patriotism," he went on to query, "will that still be there in a year, two, three, four, five years from now, when, in fact, the struggle is likely to go on?"
The obvious answer, which I suspect Halberstam knew before asking the question, is no. At critical junctures in our history we chose to appreciate Halberstam's analysis more ex post facto. It was ignored in 1965 when he wrote about the impending quagmire in Vietnam just as it was ignored in the run up to the war in Iraq. In both cases, blood and treasure might have been saved.
In addition to Halberstam, we have recently lost Kurt Vonnegut and Arthur Schlesinger. Each in their own unique way had something profound to say to their generation. Fortunately, their words and thoughts will live on.
As for Halberstam, he can be summed up by his own words -- he was truly one of the best and brightest.
Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com or leave a message at (510) 208-6417. Send a letter to soundoff@angnewspapers.com.