Roy Rowan knew he wanted to be a journalist when he was 12. He just didn't know whether he could do it. In the early 1940s, making a living as a journalist was iffy. So in his junior year at Dartmouth, with his family encouraging him to get a "practical degree," he applied to Tuck.
"I doubt I ever would have followed a traditional business career," he admits, but he came close right after World War II. His commanding officer—an executive at Remington Rand—offered him a job in the company's advertising department. "I looked all over New York City for a journalist job," Rowan recalls, "but there were so many war correspondents coming back." As his start date at Remington Rand approached, Rowan read that the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was recruiting people for China. "An Army buddy and I were celebrating every night," he says, "so that night I sent a telegram to see if I had any chance of being hired. I remember waking up the next morning and thinking 'I've done something important, but I'm not quite sure what.'" With exquisite timing, a message arrived that day asking him to come for an interview. "I promptly resigned from Remington Rand without ever having gone to work. That was the end of my business career!"
And the beginning of an illustrious career as a journalist. Rowan arrived in China in 1946 at the height of its civil war. His freelance reportage and photos of the war found their way to LIFE magazine. In short order, he was hired as the magazine's correspondent for China and Southeast Asia—the beginning of a 23-year relationship and a life of vivid memories. "During the Korean War," he recalls, "we were sleeping in mountain bags right on the cliff overlooking the Yalu River, with the Chinese in view on the other side in Manchuria. When we woke, there were just footprints in the snow on the frozen river. The Chinese had crossed silently behind us during the night and gone down to take on the Marines. We had a terrific time getting out of there."
In 1961, after serving as bureau chief in Hong Kong, Rome, Tokyo, Bonn, and Chicago (when he traveled three weeks with Jimmy Hoffa for an exclusive story), Rowan settled in as LIFE's assistant managing editor in charge of worldwide news coverage. A decade later, he spent two years founding and successfully selling a magazine publishing business, after which Time Inc. offered him a position as bureau chief in Hong Kong—a beat that included Saigon. It was from there, in 1975, that he was evacuated on one of the last helicopters. "We watched the building right next to ours get blown up," he recalls. "Those were interesting days."
Rowan served as senior writer for Fortune from 1977 to 1985, when he retired to devote himself to writing books and freelance magazine articles. In 2006, he was awarded Time Inc.'s Henry R. Luce Award for lifetime achievement. (See the photo essay in this issue.) Now, at 87, he is actively promoting his eighth book, Throwing Bullets: A Tale of Two Pitchers Chasing the Dream. "I've been lucky all my life. My advice to my four sons is to make a career out of what you like, regardless of how much it pays. You'll end up being good at it and the money will come."
To see more of Rowan's work, follow these links:
Photo Essay: The Other Side of the Lens »
Roy Rowan Author-Journalist »
