Charles Trueheart

Charles Trueheart (born September 5, 1951, died September 15, 2026) was an American writer and former newspaper correspondent and non-profit executive. He was a reporter for The Washington Post from 1986 to 2000 and director of the American Library in Paris from 2007 to 2017. His book on Vietnam during the Kennedy years, Diplomats at War, was published in early 2024.

Life and career

Trueheart was born in Washington, D.C. in 1951. His father, William Trueheart, was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department, and he grew up overseas, in Paris, Ankara, London, and Saigon. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1969 and from Amherst College in 1973.

He began his journalism career during his time at Exeter, where he was a prolific contributor to the twice-weekly school paper, The Exonian. After college, he worked as an editorial writer and book reviewer at the Greensboro Daily News in North Carolina from 1973 until 1978, then as an editorial page editor for the Baltimore News-American from 1978 to 1981. From 1981 to 1983 he was the West Coast correspondent for Publishers Weekly magazine, and from 1982 to 1986 he was a columnist for the newspaper USA Today. From 1983 to 1986, Trueheart served as associate director of the Harvard Institute of Politics, where he directed the Public Affairs Forum at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and oversaw the training programs for newly elected American mayors and members of the US Congress.