Charles Steinman Foltz, Jr. Papers

Charles Steinman Foltz, Jr., was born on May 16, 1910, in Lancaster, PA. The son of Charles S. Foltz, editor and publisher of the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer Journal, and Josephine Kieffer Foltz, an artist. After graduating from the Franklin and Marshall Academy, a boys preparatory school, in 1927, he entered Hamilton College. After his freshman year, he transferred to Franklin & Marshall College, where he graduated with honors in 1931. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature by F & M in 1952, and later served on Franklin & Marshall's board of trustees from 1968-1973. He was the younger brother of Frederick S. Foltz, F & M trustee 1957-69. After graduating from F & M in 1931, Foltz began his distinguished career in journalism as a cub reporter for the New York Herald Tribune. Hungering for an overseas post, he joined the Associated Press (AP) in 1933. The next year, he moved to Paris, where he covered the events leading up to World War II, including Germany's occupation of the Rhineland. Named chief AP correspondent at the League of Nations in Geneva in 1937, he was later on hand for the Munich conference. He also traveled to Spain and filed dispatches on the civil war there. He established AP's bureau in Bern, Switzerland, in 1939, a listening post and transportation hub that enabled him to keep up with developments in the Balkans as well as in Berlin and Rome. He filed reports from Bern for NBC Radio as well as for AP. From neutral Spain he continued to serve as a correspondent during the Second World War and concluded his career with the AP as its bureau chief in Madrid (1941-45). Out of that experience came his book, The Masquerade in Spain (1948), which was highly critical of the regime of General Francisco Franco. In 1946, Charles Foltz joined the newly launched World Report (which later became U.S. News & World Report) as its European editor. While at the magazine, Mr. Foltz wrote a groundbreaking series on life in the Soviet outback, talking to ordinary residents and students as he traveled deep into the heartland. He would remain European editor until 1956. While residing in Washington, DC, he continued to travel and report extensively from abroad. Named associate editor of the news magazine's world staff (1956-65) and subsequently directing editor of its international staff (1965-78), he logged interviews with heads of state from Tokyo to Cairo. From the magazine's Washington headquarters, Mr. Foltz served as president of the Overseas Writers Association (1957-59) and was a member of the National Press Club, the Sigma Delta Chi journalism fraternity and the Cosmos Club. Throughout his career, Mr. Foltz received numerous awards, including the 1965 National Headliners Club Award for his U.S. News & World Report feature "Big Changes Inside Russia." His first marriage to Frances R. Ireland (1932-69) ended in divorce. His second marriage to Ann Dolan Williamson (1972-93) ended with her death in 1993. Mr. Foltz married for a third time to Susan H. Baker in 1997. After retiring from U.S. News in 1975, Mr. Foltz led an unsuccessful effort by fellow former employees to sue the new management for additional pension benefits. On May 14, 2005, Charles Steinman Foltz Jr. died of cardiac arrest at his Washington D.C. home, two days short of his 95th birthday. At the time of his death, Mr. Foltz was survived by his wife of eight years, Susan Baker Foltz of Washington; two children from his first marriage, Charles Ireland Foltz of Catonsville, MD, and Nancy Foltz Vest of Memphis, TN; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. -- -- Composed with excerpts from the Washington Post May 27, 2005 and the Hamilton College Alumni Review.