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Title: John K. Cooley papers
Date (inclusive): 1952-2008
Collection Number: 63001
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
15 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box
(6.3 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Papers contain memoirs, other writings, notes, correspondence, memoranda, printed matter, and photographs, relating to the
Middle East in international affairs; international terrorism, especially in relation to Libya; the Algerian war for independence;
the Organisation Armée secrète; and international counterfeiting. Papers document in part the career of Cooley, an American
journalist; Christian Science Monitor Middle East correspondent, 1965-1978; and ABC News Middle East correspondent, 1981-1999.
Creator:
Cooley, John K., 1927-2008
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1963.
[Identification of item], John K. Cooley papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
| 1927, November 25 | Born, New York City |
| Undated | Graduated, Dartmouth College |
| 1946-1947, 1951-1953 | Military and U.S. government service, Vienna |
| 1954 | Editorial writer, New York Herald Tribune |
| 1957-1964 | Free lance journalist in North Africa |
| 1965 | Published Baal, Christ and Muhammed: Religion and Revolution in Africa(New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston) |
| 1965-1978 | Middle East staff correspondent, Christian Science Monitor |
| 1966 | Published East Wind Over Africa(New York: Walker and Co.) |
| 1973 | Published, Green March, Black September: The Story of Palestinian Arabs(London: Frank Cass) |
| 1978-1981 | Pentagon correspondent, Christian Science Monitor |
| 1981-1998 | Staff correspondent, London and the Middle East, ABC News |
| 1981 | Published, Libyan Sandstorm: The Story of Qaddafi's Revolution (New York: New Republic Books) |
| 1992 | Published, Payback: America's Long War in the Middle East (Brassey's) |
| 1995 | Received George Polk Memorial Career Award for Distinguished Reporting, Long Island University |
| 1999 | Published, Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America, and International Terrorism(London: Pluto Press, updated editions in 2001, 2002) |
| 2002 | Published, An Alliance Against Babylon: America, Israel and Iraq |
| 2008 | Published, Currency Wars |
| 2008, August 6 | Died, Athens, Greece |
Scope and Content of Collection
The John K. Cooley papers at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives began as a collection of miscellaneous documents created
and acquired by Cooley while reporting as a journalist from Algeria during that country's war for independence in the early
1960s. This material was donated by Cooley to the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1963, and includes propaganda leaflets,
interview transcripts, transcripts of Cooley's news dispatches and radio broadcasts, and other printed matter, especially
material relating to the French military revolt led by the Organisation Armée Secrète in Algiers in 1961.
The remaining papers in this collection were donated by Cooley's family shortly after his death in 2008, and chiefly document
his activities as a journalist and author from the 1970s onward, while he worked for the
Christian Science Monitoras well as ABC News, based alternately in Lebanon, Cyprus, and Greece. Although Cooley had maintained an extensive personal
archive throughout his career as a journalist in North Africa and the Middle East, much of it was lost in 1975, when he was
forced to flee his home in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.
The papers in his extant collection are divided in series by writings and speeches, research projects for ABC News, photographs,
personal papers, and collected miscellany. The writings contain material related to some of his earlier books, but the bulk
consists of typescript drafts and background materials for his last two books,
An Alliance against Babylon (2005) and
Currency Wars(2008). In addition, reprints of published articles and newspaper stories, as well as drafts of stories, texts of speeches
and conference papers, and proposed projects are also included. Many of the speeches and unpublished conference papers contain
autobiographical material about Cooley and his career as a journalist, and chapter drafts of his unfinished memoirs are also
included in this series. A separate series is provided for research material related to stories he was assigned with ABC News.
Of note in this series is the research he conducted while working on an Emmy Award-winning ABC News Primetime television special
on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. In addition to his work on the ABC project, Cooley also
planned to write a book about the bombing, and material on that can be found in the series on proposed projects. Rounding
out the collection are assorted photographs Cooley took or collected while on assignment in Algeria, Yemen, Western Sahara,
Morocco, and Lebanon; as well as reporters' notebooks containing notes from interviews and for stories he planned to write.
The collection is organized into 8 series, by format of material and then chronologically within the series and subseries.
Yves Jean Godard papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Alexander Harrison papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
André Figueras sound recordings, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Alfred M. Lilienthal papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Journalists
Journalism -- United States
Middle East -- Politics and government
Algeria -- History -- Revolution, 1954-1962
France -- History -- 1958-
Terrorism
Counterfeits and counterfeiting
Middle East -- Foreign relations
Libya -- History -- 1969-
Organisation Armée secrète