Bernard Weinraub

My family had no money, and if I didn't get into CCNY, I don't know what I would have done, but I had the grades from high school to get in. CCNY just broadened my world. It turned me into who I am today. It made me aware that what interested me - literature and writing - was somehow within my reach. I had some terrific teachers, and they simply gave me a degree of confidence that I didn’t have. As soon as I got out of CCNY, I was drafted into the Army. They put me on an Army newspaper. It was so fortunate. CCNY gave me the confidence to write. The Army turned me into a reporter for a division newspaper. After I was discharged I got a job with the New York Times as a copy boy, a low level job in the newsroom that served as a springboard to higher jobs. I became a reporter. I covered the police department, local politics, and wrote lots of feature stories. The New York Times turned into a long career that ranged from covering Vietnam during the war and then London, India, Washington DC, and finally Los Angeles, where I covered the movie business. My mentor was really Abe Rosenthal, who had also gone to CCNY years earlier and eventually served as executive editor. I’m still not sure if the CCNY connection actually helped me. The New York Times preferred Ivy Leaguers. No doubt about that. But once you began working at the newspaper, the college you went to was secondary to the skills and talent you had. I had a pretty terrific career at the New York Times. CCNY made me - a boy from the Bronx - realize that my aspirations were indeed possible. I will always be grateful. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way.