User:Karatoprak/Barry Zorthian
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Barry Zorthian (October 8, 1920 – January 6, 2011) was an American diplomat of Armenian descent who served in Vietnam. He is described by the New York Times as having "...orchestrated a psychological warfare campaign while serving as his country’s principal spokesman in Saigon, sparring with a new generation of skeptical journalists in briefings that came to be known as the 'five o’clock follies'".
Personal History
[edit]Mr. Zorthian's personal history (New York Times) "Baryoor Zorthian was born on Oct. 8, 1920, in Kutahya, Turkey, to an Armenian family. His father, a writer, was imprisoned by Turks at a time when Armenians were being massacred, but he escaped. His mother, refusing to give the authorities information about her husband, was jailed for a time along with the newborn Baryoor.
The family eventually reunited and fled to Greece and Italy. They settled in New Haven, where Mr. Zorthian’s father found work as a pants presser.
Mr. Zorthian went to Yale, where he was an editor of The Yale Daily News and a member of the secret campus society Skull and Bones. He was a Marine in the Pacific during World War II. After working for a Vermont newspaper, he joined CBS Radio and then the Voice of America. He earned a law degree by attending New York University at night. After 13 years at the Voice of America, he became a diplomat in India."
References
[edit]http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/world/asia/06zorthian.html?ref=obituaries
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_ZORTHIAN?SITE=NCWIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT