William N. Oatis
| William N. Oatis | |
|---|---|
Oatis in 1953
|
|
| Born |
William Nathan Oatis January 4, 1914 Marion, Indiana |
| Died | September 16, 1997 (aged 83) Brooklyn, New York |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Associated Press bureau chief in Prague |
| Notable credit(s) |
George Polk Award (1952) President, UN Correspondents Association, (1970) Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame (1992) |
| Spouse(s) | Laurabelle Zack Oatis |
| Children | Jonathan Oatis, Jeremy Oatis |
William Nathan Oatis (January 4, 1914 – September 16, 1997) was an American journalist who gained international attention when he was charged with espionage by the Czechoslovak government in 1951. He was subsequently jailed until 1953.
Born in Marion, Indiana, Oatis began his journalism career with his high school newspaper, studied at DePauw University for one year and in 1933 returned to Marion, where he worked for the Leader-Tribune. In 1937, he started working for the Associated Press in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Oatis served in the U.S Army during World War II, studying Japanese at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In 1950, he married Laurabelle Zack, who worked in the AP's reference library in New York. The marriage took place in London.
Oatis was working as the AP bureau chief in Prague, Czechoslovakia when he was arrested on April 23, 1951. Deprived of sleep and subjected to continuous interrogation for 42 hours, Oatis signed a statement confessing to the charge of espionage. The case made international headlines, as well as leading to trade and travel embargos against Czechoslovakia. On July 4, 1951, a Czechoslovak court sentenced Oatis to ten years in prison. He was released May 16, 1953, shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin and after an angry letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Czechoslovak government. The Czechoslovak government said it had been moved to pardon Oatis by a poignant plea from Oatis' wife, Laurabelle. A Czechoslovak court cleared him of all charges in 1959, but the decision was reversed in 1968 after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1990, after Czechoslovakia's "Velvet Revolution" the previous year, he was cleared again.
...
Wikipedia