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Title: John K. Cooley papers
Dates: 1952-2008
Collection Number: 63001
Creator: Cooley, John K., 1927-2008
Collection Size:
15 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box
(6.3 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
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.
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
English
French
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copiesof audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], John K. Cooley papers, [Box number], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1963.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
Yves Jean Godard papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Alexander Harrison papers, Hoover Institution Archives
André Figueras sound recordings, Hoover Institution Archives
Alfred M. Lilienthal papers, Hoover Institution Archives
| 1927, November 25 | Born, New York City |
| 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 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 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.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Middle East--Foreign relations.
Middle East--Politics and government.
Terrorism.
Counterfeits and counterfeiting.
Organisation Armée secrète.
Algeria--History--Revolution, 1954-1962.
France--History--1958-
Libya--History--1969-
Journalism--United States.
Journalism.