Hired by the Washington Post

This chapter details how, in July of 1970, the author received a letter from Washington Post foreign editor John Anderson inviting him to Washington for interviews and a tryout at the newspaper's expense. Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee had been transforming the Post from a second-tier newspaper into a rival to the New York Times, and had been attracting “great talent” by paying them good salaries and giving them a lot of editorial freedom. The author worked at his tryout tasks for three days, mostly shaping wire service and other copy from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The job offer arrived in late September of 1970. The chapter then looks at the author's first few days at the Washington Post, where he was assigned to the foreign desk and given responsibility for the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the Communist world.