Durdin, Tillman

Biography

Frank Tillman Durdin was born on March 20, 1907, in Elkhart, Texas. He began his career in journalism during high school as editor of the weekly newspaper PECOS ENTERPRISE. During college Durdin worked intermittently for the SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS and the LOS ANGELES TIMES.

In 1930, Durdin entered the merchant marine and shipped out as a seaman to see the world and left ship in Shanghai, China, where he took up residence. He became a reporter for the English-language daily SHANGHAI EVENING POST, and later, the managing editor of the CHINA POST.

On August 20, 1937, Durdin joined the staff of the NEW YORK TIMES as a special correspondent and covered the Sino-Japanese War. He spent the next four years reporting and photographing events while accompanying Chinese troops. He was present during the siege of the Chinese capitol city of Nanking in December 1937, and reported one of the important stories of the war, usually referred to as the "Rape of Nanking." Later, Durdin lived in Chungking and came under daily Japanese aerial attack. In 1941, he was made bureau chief in China.

With the impending expansion of Japanese hostilities in East Asia, Durdin moved to Singapore in time to cover the invasion of Indochina, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies. He was evacuated shortly before Singapore fell. He continued to cover World War II in the Pacific and was the first NEW YORK TIMES correspondent on Guadalcanal after the Marines landed. Durdin later covered the China-Burma-India theater of operations.

After the war, Durdin re-established the NEW YORK TIMES China bureau in Nanking, served as its bureau chief and reported on the Communist takeover. During 1948-1949 Durdin spent a year at Harvard as a Neiman Fellow.

In the summer of 1949, Durdin returned to Southeast Asia hoping to re-enter mainland China as a correspondent. Unable to obtain an entry permit, he resigned himself to reporting the news of the region, moving between Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Rangoon, and Djakarta. Durdin spent much of the early 1950s reporting on the war in Indo-China, taking the opportunity to cover other places and stories when the rainy season dampened hostilities.

In 1961, Durdin returned to New York to become the Far East Specialist on the editorial board of the NEW YORK TIMES. He also worked as a consultant for the Institute for Defense Analyses researching the possible regional impacts of Communist China's development of an atomic bomb. In late 1963 he took a year's leave to work on a study project on Taiwan for the Council on Foreign Relations. Dissatisfied with his position on the editorial board, Durdin transferred back to the news department and accepted an assignment in Australia. He left in late 1965 for Sydney to become the first permanent NEW YORK TIMES correspondent in the South Pacific, where he established a bureau for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Durdin felt that Australia was out of the mainstream of world events. In 1967, he applied for a transfer to Asia to renew his focus on China and report on the region without the responsibilities of a bureau chief. Durdin loosely based himself at the Hong Kong office and followed important stories under direction from New York.

In April 1971, China issued an entry visa to Durdin to cover a British ping pong team touring the country. Durdin, the first American journalist granted a visa by the post-war Communist regime, travelled with a group of British journalists on a tour which focused more on the press than on the players.

From the guide to the Frank Tillman Durdin Papers, 1937 - 1974, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)