John Bertram Oakes
John Bertram Oakes (April 23, 1913 – April 5, 2001) was an iconoclastic and influential U.S. journalist known for his early commitment to the environment, civil rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War.
John Bertram Oakes
Background[edit]
John Bertram Oakes was born on April 23, 1913, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, the second son of George Washington Ochs Oakes and Bertie Gans. He is regarded as the creator of the modern op-ed page and was editor of the New York Times editorial page from 1961 to 1976. His uncle was New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs. Oakes attended the Collegiate School and later Princeton University (A.B., 1934), where he was valedictorian of his class and graduated magna cum laude. He then became a Rhodes Scholar (A.B., A.M., Queens College, Oxford, 1936).
Awards[edit]
In 1976, Oakes received the National Audubon Society's highest honor, the Audubon Medal.[5] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1986.[6]
Two weeks before Oakes’ death in 2001 he was awarded a second George Polk Award, for his "lifetime achievements."[4]
Legacy[edit]
The John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism was established in 1994 by the Natural Resources Defense Council as an annual prize for print journalists; it is now administered by the Columbia University School of Journalism.[7]