Howell Raines

February 25, 1996 - 12:00pm
A Conversation with Howell Raines

About Howell Raines

Howell Raines will become executive editor of The New York Times in September 2001, after having served as its editorial page editor since 1993. During his tenure Raines has served as the Washington, London, and Atlanta bureau chief. He joined The New York Times in 1978 as a national correspondent in Atlanta before serving as White House correspondent and covering the national political desk.

Before joining The New York Times, Mr. Raines was political editor at The St. Petersburg Times (Fla.) from 1976 until 1978. Earlier, he was political editor for The Atlanta Constitution Journal, which he joined in 1971 after a year as a reporter at The Birmingham News. His journalistic career began in 1964 with The Birmingham Post-Herald.

Raines won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1992 for “Grady’s Gift,”a personal reflection that appeared in The New York Times Magazine. Raines is the author of “Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis,” the “Whiskey Man,” and “My Soul is Rested,” an oral history of the civil rights movement.

Raines received a B.A. in 1964 from Birmingham-Southern College and a M.A. in English from the University of Alabama.