Don Oberdorfer is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and served as a United States Army lieutenant in Korea from 1953 to 1954. He began his journalistic career on the Charlotte Observer in 1955, becoming the paper’s Washington correspondent in 1958. He was a Washington editor at the Saturday Evening Post (1961-1965) and a national correspondent for the Knight Newspapers chain (1965-1968). During his twenty-five years at the Washington Post (1968-1993), he worked as a White House correspondent, Northeast Asia correspondent, and diplomatic correspondent.
Oberdorfer is the author of five books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles. His books include Tet! (Doubleday, 1971; Da Capo Press, 1984) and The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Addison-Wesley, 1997). As of 2004, Oberdorfer resides as Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C.
From the guide to the Don Oberdorfer's Mansfield Biography Research Papers, 1918-2003, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)
