Louis Heren

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Louis Philip Heren (6 February 1919 - 26 January 1995) was an English journalist and writer.

Born in the East End of London, Heren left school aged 14 and commenced his media career as a messenger for The Times in 1933. He joined the British Army as a private soldier in 1939, and served in France, the Western Desert, Burma and the Netherlands East Indies. After being demobbed as a major in 1946, he was employed by The Times as a foreign correspondent. He made his mark covering Indian independence in 1947, creating a furore in Britain and India with graphic eyewitness accounts of communal massacres in the Punjab. Subsequently he was posted to Israel, Korea, Singapore, India and Germany. In 1961 he became chief Washington correspondent (later American editor) of The Times. He developed a profound understanding of and sympathy for the United States. He was the first to alert the world that President John F Kennedy had sent US combat troops to Vietnam. He accompanied Rev Martin Luther King on several of his Freedom Rides. His friendship with President Lyndon Johnson gave him a unique insight into the developing tragedy of US involvement in Vietnam. By-lined in The Times from 1965, he became an influential and popular commentator on American affairs in Britain. In 1970 he returned to The Times as deputy editor under William Rees-Mogg. Despite the difficulties of running a newspaper in the 1970s, he nurtured many notable talents, including Robert Fisk and Peter Hennessy. When Rupert Murdoch acquired the paper Heren was the staff choice as Rees-Mogg's successor, but was passed over in favour of Harold Evans. He retired in 1981 after 48 years with The Times. "I loved my paper as a soldier loves his regiment," he declared. He wrote many books and articles. Heren was a fierce defender of the independence of the press, and was unafraid of authority. He is remembered by journalists for many sayings and stories, but the one that persists is: "When a politician tells you something in confidence, always ask yourself Why is this lying bastard lying to me?" Heren married Patricia Regan.^[1]. They had one son, Patrick, and three daughters, Sarah, Kate and Elizabeth.