. . . that’s the question our latest international exhibit answers! Like his father William Allen White, William Lindsay White (1900-1973) was an author as well as a world traveler. Unlike the elder White, whose works were mostly concerned with Midwestern life, “Bill” wrote a great deal about his experiences overseas. During World War II, he was a roving correspondent and reported on events throughout Europe, both in a syndicated column and on radio for CBS. His book Report on the Russians (1945) ignited a fierce controversy over his unfavorable portrayal of a country then allied with the U.S., and Report on the Germans (1947) examined conditions in postwar Germany. His final book, Report on the Asians (1969), discussed his travels across the continent at the height of the Vietnam War. In the 1940s, he also wrote several war-themed novels, including They Were Expendable and Journey for Margaret, both of which were adapted into films.
Special Collections and Archives 
Do you have any information about Mr. White being in Poltava (Ukraine) the night of June 22, 1944? I think my father may have shared a fox hole with him when the Luftwaffe bombed the airbase for two hours.
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What an interesting connection! WLW was on an overnight press trip to the U.S. airbase near Poltava at that time, and he gave a detailed account of the experience in chapter 9 of Report on the Russians, which you can interlibrary loan if your local library doesn’t have a copy.
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