1950–
An archival journalist who reconstructed the Cold War's most dangerous crises
He recast the Cuban Missile Crisis not as a summit-room myth, but as an hour-by-hour crisis compounded by accidents.
Michael Dobbs is a British-born journalist and nonfiction author who reported from the front lines of the Cold War's end and other international conflicts. As a Washington Post correspondent and bureau chief in Eastern Europe, Paris, and Moscow, he chronicled the collapse of the socialist bloc and its international consequences. One Minute to Midnight cross-checked American, Soviet, and Cuban sources to reconstruct the Cuban Missile Crisis hour by hour, showing that the danger of nuclear war was far greater than familiar summit-room myths suggested. His method shifts attention from great-power leaders alone to commanders, civilians, and accidents that could magnify a crisis.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1950Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland
- 1972BA in Economics and Economic History, University of York
- 1974–1975Reuters correspondent in Rome
- 1977–1980Special correspondent in Belgrade, covering Tito's death and regional affairs
- 1980–1981Washington Post Eastern Europe bureau chief, reporting from the Gdańsk shipyard
- 1982–1986Washington Post Paris bureau chief
- 1988–1993Washington Post Moscow bureau chief
- 2008Published One Minute to Midnight
Related historical events
- 1962The Cuban Missile Crisisauthor of the archival accountHis 2008 book reconstructed the crisis hour by hour from archives, correcting myths like 'eyeball-to-eyeball.'
- 1980–1981Solidarity and Martial Law in PolandWitness to the Gdańsk shipyard strikeIn August 1980, he visited the Gdańsk Lenin Shipyard and witnessed the workers' revolt first-hand.
- 1986The Chernobyl DisasterReporter covering the Chernobyl disasterHe covered the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.
- 1991The August Coup and the Collapse of the USSRWitness to resistance against the coupIn August 1991, he was present when Yeltsin climbed onto a tank to face down Communist hardliners.
Correspondent in Eastern Europe and the USSR: reporting the collapse of the socialist bloc, 1980-1993
After a stint as a Reuters correspondent in Rome (1974-1975) and freelance work in Africa (1976), Dobbs reported from Belgrade (1977-1980) during the twilight years of Marshal Tito's Yugoslavia. He joined The Washington Post in 1980 as its eastern Europe bureau chief based in Warsaw (1980-1981), later served as Paris bureau chief (1982-1986), and was Moscow bureau chief from 1988 to 1993. He has stated that he was the first Western reporter to visit the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk in August 1980, and he witnessed at first hand the spectacle of workers rebelling against the 'workers' state.' He went on to cover the imposition of martial law in Poland, the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, Gorbachev-Reagan summits, the 1989 Tiananmen uprising, and the 1989 revolution in Romania. During his Moscow posting, in August 1991, he was present when Boris Yeltsin climbed onto a tank to face down Communist hardliners. He worked for the Post for more than 25 years, and his correspondent's vantage point fed into Down with Big Brother: The Fall of the Soviet Empire (1998).