Joseph Polakoff
Biographical Sketch
Joseph Polakoff (1908-1996) was born in Russia on October 20, 1908. Polakoff moved to Scranton Pennsylvania. In 1925 as a high school senior, he began work as a messenger and copy-boy at the Scranton Republican, later the Scranton Tribune. Polakoff attended St. Thomas College , now the University of Scranton, and graduated in 1932. While in college Polakoff wrote sports articles for the college newspaper, The Aquinas. At the Tribune he started as a reporter, became sports editor for four years and contributed a weekly column called Polly’s Chatter. Finally, he served as city editor and taught economics at St. Thomas. Polakoff noted that he was "the first Jew to hold those jobs" at the Tribune.
During 1939 and 1940, Polakoff worked briefly at a number of New York papers serving as an "observer." In 1942, he was invited to join the staff of the newly formed Office of War Information. Polakoff was sent to London and remained there until 1949, writing the Potomac Cable for the State Department. He met his wife Dorothy in London in 1948. He was transferred to Washington to work for the State Department’s Information Service late in 1949. In 1953, Polakoff was transferred to the newly created United States Information Agency and in 1954 he was transferred to Yugoslavia for a more than a year before returning to Washington.
In 1960 President Eisenhower appointed Polakoff as information specialist for a State Department South and Central American assistance program. Polakoff was based in Lima Peru until President Kennedy terminated the program in 1961. Polakoff transferred to the United Nations where he served as policy guidance officer. The Kennedy administration selected Polakoff in 1962 to serve as special information officer for the Central American Common Market. Polakoff was based in Guatemala for seven years and wrote a report on the Common Market which was published as a Congressional document.
In 1969 he returned to Washington to work with USIA but retired from the State Department in 1970 after 28 years of service. After a four month break, Polakoff started a new career as Washington bureau chief for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He accompanied President Nixon to the USSR, Poland and Iran. In 1979 Polakoff accompanied President Carter to Cairo and Jerusalem to witness the signing of the Begin-Sadat peace accord. Polakoff traveled widely and wrote regularly for the JTA.
In 1981 he retired from the JTA and became the Washington bureau chief for the Intermountain Jewish News. Polakoff continued to write nearly until his death on April 12, 1996 at age 87.
Polakoff was known for his tough and persistent style of questioning. Jim Deaken wrote in Straight Stuff—The Reporters, the White House and the Truth, "No press secretary has ever matched Polakoff’s knowledge of the Middle East." In 1984 the American Jewish Press Association established an annual Joseph Polakoff Award for integrity and outstanding journalism.
Polakoff died in 1996 from lung cancer.
Scope and Content Note
The Joseph Polakoff Collection documents Polakoff’s career as a State Department employee and journalist. Documents from Polakoff’s early journalistic career are limited to four scrapbooks of Scranton Tribune clippings of his articles titled “Polly’s Chatter.” There is material from his USIA career, notably a scrapbook from a traveling “Atoms for Peace” exhibit and correspondence from London and correspondence and publications Central and South America.
A substantial portion of the collection is from Polakoff’s journalistic career. He retained a considerable amount of material that may have been used for research. A wide variety of newsletters, magazines, interview and speech transcripts, press kits, newspaper clippings, and “junk” mail was present in the collection. Most of the newspaper clippings and common magazines have been appraised out of the collection. The interview and speech transcripts, press kits, and extended runs of newsletters are being retained.
The bulk of the collection contains material relevant to Jewish culture and Middle Eastern politics primarily during the period 1970-1996.
Polakoff served as Washington bureau chief for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) from 1970-1981. Consequently, the collection contains a substantial—but not complete—run of the JTA Daily Bulletin from 1970 To 1996. There is also a collection of the JTA Weekly Report with substantial gaps. There are copies from 1972-1980, 1982, and 1994-1997. The JTA Community Reporter is present from 1970-1997 with substantial gaps including the period from 1984-1989.
There is one processed set of Polakoff’s articles. The set contains typescript articles from 1970 to 1996. The typescript articles are arranged by month and year. His articles also exist in currently unprocessed collections in the form of acidic teletype print-outs and acidic newspaper clippings.
Polakoff collected transcripts from television news interview and debate shows like Meet the Press. There is a substantial amount of these transcripts from the 1970s to the 1990s. Another series contains speech and interview transcripts of government and political figures. Television news shows are arranged by show. Government speech and interview transcripts are arranged by office or department.
Polakoff was on the mailing list of Jonathan Pollard, the convicted Israeli spy. Pollard sent photocopies of articles about his case, with annotations, to Polakoff and other journalists. Along with these mailings, Polakoff retained articles about the Pollard case as well as related court documents. This series is also in a preliminary stage of arrangement.
Polakoff’s correspondence, mostly incoming, is arranged chronologically.
A number of individuals have contributed to the processing of the collection and the creation of this finding aid. Carolyn Barry, Jennifer Page, and Kristina Brown contributed initial processing and list creation. Debbie Zenzal has contributed substantially to refine and reorganize the arrangement of the material and improve the inventory.
Telephone: (570) 941-6341
Fax: (570) 941-7817
Email: Michael Knies, Special Collections Librarian
