Haynes Johnson, a long-time Washington Post journalist who won a Pultizer Prize for his coverage of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, died Friday at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. He was 81.
More on his life from the Post:
Mr. Johnson was a Washington reporter for more than 50 years, beginning at the old Washington Evening Star, where he won a Pulitzer in 1966 for covering the civil rights struggle in Selma, Ala.
After joining The Post in 1969, Mr. Johnson one of the most incisive and best-connected reporters in Washington. He and his longtime Post colleague, David Broder, helped transform the coverage of politics with their patient, behind-the-scenes reporting that provided a portrait of the nation, as well as an assessment of the political contests.
“Haynes was a pioneer in looking at the mood of the country to understand a political race,” former Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie said in an interview. “Haynes was going around the country talking to people, doing portraits and finding out what was on people’s minds. He was a kind of profiler of the country.”
