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Introduction

James Cobb Burke (1915-1964) was a writer and photographer who published in diverse magazines and newspapers during his career. He wrote a book about his father, William Blount Burke who was a missionary in China for 50 years. James Cobb Burke was a photojournalist for LIFE Magazine (1951-1964) and was well known for his photographs and articles about the Himalayas and Alexander the Great. On assignment he covered the Vietnam War as well as notables such as Ernest Hemingway and Billy Graham. His photographs of the Communist takeover of Peking, China in 1949 are historic. Other photographs continue to be in demand including his work covering Australian writers George Johnson and Charmian Clift on Hydra, Greece.

His work as a photographer and writer were a window of an era before the internet when communication and dissemination of news and information was accomplished through magazines and newspapers. Thus a photographer for a major magazine or newspaper had enormous access to world leaders, well known artists and world events.

The work of James C. Burke, photojournalist is housed at the Rose Library of Rare Books, a part of Emory University in Atlanta Georgia. In addition his photographs are accessible on the internet at the Time LIFE archives and Getty Images.

Early Life

James Cobb Burke (1915-1964) was born in Shanghai, China, the son of well known missionary Dr. William Blount Burke who ran a school and orphanage in Sunkiang, China for 50 years. His mother was Leila Gerdine Burke of Macon, Georgia. James lived with his parents in Sunkiang for his first 13 years and became fluent in Chinese and developed his life long love and respect for Asia and its people.

Writer

War Correspondent

Freelance Photojournalist

LIFE Magazine

Family

References

Links

James C. Burke – bio ---

James Cobb Burke (1915-1964) was a writer and photographer who travelled around the world writing for Time magazine and taking photos for Life magazine. He faced danger in every armed conflict from World War II to Vietnam. He died at age 49 in October, 1964, while travelling in the foothills of the Himalayas on assignment for Life magazine --- he was on a narrow mountain path in the North East Frontier region of India. He moved closer to the edge of the path to get a good vantage point for a photo and the ground collapsed beneath his feet, sending him down 800 feet into a gorge. It was the premature end of an exciting life that began in Song Jiang, China, a small town about 20 miles from Shanghai. He was born there on July 10, 1915, in a church-school mission compound that had been established by his father, William Blount Burke, a Methodist minister from Macon. Georgia, who spent 50 years as a missionary in China, starting in 1887. James spent the first 13 years of his life in Song Jiang, learned to speak Mandarin and the Shanghai dialect before he spoke English, and always loved China. In 1928 he returned to the US to finish his education in secondary school in his family’s home town of Macon, Georgia. He eventually graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1937. He also took graduate courses at Princeton University. After graduation he worked as a reporter for the Macon Telegraph and Richmond Times-Dispatch newspapers and also worked on an outline and draft of a book about his father, titled My Father in China. In the Fall of 1940 he left the staff or the Richmond newspaper and travelled to China, primarily to do research on the book and interview his father, who was still in Song Jiang at his mission. To finance the trip, he worked as a free-lance writer for the North American Newspaper Alliance and the Times-Dispatch. He had already interested a US publisher, Farrar & Rhinehart of New York. The publisher cabled him an advance payment on the book, and, in August 1941, with a draft of the book almost completed, Burke travelled back to the US on a ship, the President Coolidge. In San Francisco, he sent one large suitcase containing numerous photos and the half-completed book manuscript overland by mail (on a bus) and then continued on to Macon, Georgia, to visit his mother and wait for the suitcase to be delivered. But the suitcase, which also contained personal effects, valuable notes, photos, and books never arrived. Days later, a bus company official handed Burke this telegram: “Baggage destroyed by fire in total loss of the bus near Wiley, Texas, September 2.” Burke immediately left for New York to discuss the loss with his publisher. An editor with Farrar & Rhinehart said his company was still interested in the book. Could Burke still finish the book? The young journalist sat down and spent months re-writing the manuscript, using notes and other research material that were still available. That book, My Father in China, was published in 1942. Of course World War 2 had begun and interrupted everything. He was called to Washington, D.C., to join the overseas branch of the Office of War Information (OWI). For most of the war, dad worked with the OWI’s intelligence operation and spent several years behind the Japanese lines in western China operating a listening post in Kunming which intercepted Japanese communications. Part of the job was also to develop good relations with the local people and their leaders. There were several such posts in western China doing the same thing and also rescuing downed American pilots flying in the China and Burma theaters who were instructed that if their plane was hit and couldn’t get back to base, to fly as far into western China as possible before parachuting to the ground. The pilots all had Chinese characters on the back of their flight suits that asked any Chinese in the area to inform the nearest listening post of the location of the pilot. After the war, Burke worked as a journalist in China for several news organizations including Time magazine. In 1946, now married (to Josephine Griffin, who he met while working at the Richmond newspaper) and the father of a bouncing baby boy, James Gerdine Burke, he brought his young family to China. They lived in Beijing and in 1947 welcomed a new addition to the family, daughter Rosemary who was born in Beijing. She was the little sister and was thus nicknamed Mei Mei --- that name was hers from then on. Even if another little sister was born in 1951, Rosemary was always called Mei Mei. To this day family members and friends refer to her by the nickname. It was at this time that Burke began taking photos to illustrate his articles and started to experiment with photography to learn the craft. So many of his basic photography skills were self-taught. Of course whenever he met a professional photographer he would pepper the man (they were almost all men then) with questions about photo techniques. During this period, among much other work, he did photo essays on a famous Chinese artist and a Chinese warlord. The essay on the warlord ran in Life. Then the communist forces of Mao tse-tung conquered China. The Burkes were still in Beijing when the Communists marched in and Burke captured their entry into the city on film. Those photos appeared in many magazines and newspapers. In fact the photos were used to illustrate articles and books for many years after that. Some months later the Burke family boarded a steamer to the U.S. The family ended up in Georgia. Burke deposited his family in a beach house on St. Simons Island, Georgia, and was eager to get back to Asia. In 1949 the family boarded a freighter in Savannah, Georgia, bound for Asia and got off the ship in Bombay. He didn’t have a job but had some sort of part-time arrangement with Time Inc. He began freelance work and within a year was hired full-time by Time magazine. He soon became the Time Bureau Chief in Delhi. Since there were no Life photographers close to India, Burke doubled as a Life photographer on many assignments. He covered religious events, tiger hunts, and breaking news stories like Khrushchev’s visit to India and an earthquake in Assam. He did a beautiful photo essay on a white tiger that was captured by a maharajah and kept in a large outdoor enclosure. Another memorable set of his photos that Life published was of a Jain religious ceremony in southern India where buckets of milk are poured over a giant statue of the Jain Guru (the white marble statue was perhaps 30 feet tall). He was the first newsman to interview Tenzing after the conquest of Mt. Everest (Edmund Hillary had an agreement with The Times of London so was unavailable to journalists from other organizations). Youngest daughter, Jean, was born in India in 1951 – Going through just one file of business-related cables from 1950 to 1951, one can see Burke basically performed triple duty as Time Bureau Chief, Time and Life photographer, and business negotiator, communicating with New York HQ and various individuals in India about prices to pay for pictures and then making an offer to an individual. Finally he made the agreed-upon payment. As an example, in 1951 he covered the arrival of the Dalai Lama in India from Tibet. But the person who went on the entire trek and took lots of pictures was Heinrich Harrer, the Austrian sportsman/adventurer who joined the German army during the war, was captured and became a POW in India and eventually escaped and went to Tibet. There he tutored the young Dalai Lama and lived in Tibet for seven years. He later wrote the book, Seven Years in Tibet. Life purchased several photos from Harrer. He also became a great friend of Burke and, in later years, he visited the family in Greece and the Burkes went to his house in Kitzbuhel, Austria. Just a short list of some cables mentioning articles and pictures show the frenetic pace of Burke’s life in the early 1950s. In 1950 he went all over India researching, interviewing, and writing reports to his editors concerning a Time cover story on Nehru. He was in Bombay to cover the first days of the installation of prohibition in that city. He spent several weeks, perhaps a month travelling to Darjeeling to meet and interview a man named Frank Bessac, an American Fulbright scholar in anthropology who was trapped in western China with a US consular official (it later turned out the man was in the CIA). The men decided to escape from China by travelling west into Tibet and then India. The consular man was killed on the way but Bessac made it to Darjeeling, India, where Burke met him. Burke negotiated and paid for Bessac’s photos and the interview was published in Life. At the end of September, 1950, Burke went to Assam and Burma to cover the result of a devastating earthquake. For some reason, Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark was in West Bengal and had photos of the earthquake. Burke worked out some financial arrangement with the prince to allow Time and Life to use the pictures. He often took his own photos for articles and eventually, in 1956, he was transferred over to the Life photo staff and was sent to New York to learn Life’s photo procedures and get some advanced photography training as well as more cameras and other photography equipment. From the beginning he always used Leica cameras for his normal work. The family moved to the New York area (they lived in Connecticut) and stayed for the 1956-57 school year while Burke learned more about photography. He also was given photo assignments. In the summer of 1957, after a vacation in Georgia, he was assigned to Hong Kong and the family moved with him. Why Hong Kong? At that time there was a chance that China was going to allow some westerners, including news representatives, to obtain visas and travel in the country. Since Burke spoke the language and could take pictures and write he was selected to represent Time Inc. His selection for this assignment may have been planned for a while and may have been one reason he was given the opportunity to become a Life photographer. Burke had met Henry Luce, founder of Time Inc., long ago. Maybe in China? They both were sons of western missionaries who grew up in China. Also, Burke had been lobbying to be a full-time Life photographer for a while. Later, after his death, a family friend said he had chafed under the rigid Time magazine editorial production system where correspondents around the world sent stories and reports to “Time production central” as it was called. This input was then put together and re-written (a better word was re-organized) by senior editors. Actually, much of a correspondent’s original writing was copied and placed in a larger article. No bylines were given. In fact, Time magazine didn’t give its correspondents bylines until sometime in the 1980s. This friend said that Burke was tired of his writing being “sliced and diced,” and said, “With a photo, I can produce an image that is framed in such a way that no editor can crop it without destroying the meaning of the photo.” Over the next year, Burke spent a lot of time in the Chinese consulate in Hong Kong trying to cultivate relationships with people in the office, telling them of his love of China and desire to go back to the land of his birth. Eventually, the Chinese government decided not to issue visas to any westerner. During this time, Burke also was assigned to stories in Asia. He took beautiful photos of a jewelry exhibit in Taiwan and spent some time covering the beginnings of American involvement in Vietnam. There was already a Life photographer based in Hong Kong and eventually Life searched for another spot for Burke to be based. That turned out to be Athens. It was far enough away from Paris, where another Life photographer was based, to give Burke his own “arena.” He covered the Middle East, Iran, Turkey, and Northern Africa. Of course Life photographers could be assigned anywhere if needed and it was from Athens that dad travelled to Spain to take memorable photos of bullfighters. He took photos of the Greek royal family in 1959. In 1960 he spent months in Egypt taking pictures of the Egyptian tombs and other antiquities at Abu Simbal that there soon to be put under water. This work included pictures of archaeological efforts to save as much of the history as possible. In May 1960 there was a coup d’état in Turkey and, after a lot of effort, Time Inc. received permission to allow Burke to go to the prison on the island of Yassrada in the Sea of Marmara to cover the trial of the individuals who were deposed, including Celal Bayar, former President, who was executed, former Premier Adnan Menderes, also executed. In 1961, Burke was transferred back to India. The Burkes lived in New Delhi and Jim Burke’s life became more hectic than ever. In addition to many short assignments plus more trips to South Vietnam to cover that conflict, he was constantly researching possible photo essays. After much research, he would write long letters to his editors in New York, trying to convince them to let him do the essay. Burke was fascinated by history and spent much time developing a plan to tell the story of Alexander the Great through photos. About the time he was transferred back to India, his editors agreed to let him turn his research on Alexander the Great into reality. Burke spent several months travelling the entire conquest route of Alexander, from the Mediterranean Sea to Pakistan. The result was a beautiful photo essay that took up 12 pages in Life magazine. In searching through Burke’s files and papers, it is clear that, during his last posting in India, the old China hand had a real desire to get back into China. Wherever he travelled in Asia, he always made efforts to get to know the Chinese Consul or Ambassador in any country he visited. Unfortunately, Burke’s time ran out before he had a chance to return to the land of his birth. It was not until the early 1970s that a LIFE photographer finally was able to set foot in China. Another story he spent time planning, from the time he covered the Dalai Lama’s journey from Tibet into India and later the conquest of Mt. Everest by Hillary and Tenzing, was a photo essay on the Himalaya mountains. Over the years, during vacations and whenever he found time, he took photos of those majestic mountains and the people who lived near them. He sent long letters to his editors and, when he visited New York, he made sure he had photos to show. Finally, in 1963, he got the OK to pursue that photo essay. In the next year Burke took numerous trips into the Himalayas until, on that fateful day in October 1964, he stepped out to the edge of that narrow mountain path to compose one more photo of the mountains. Less than a month after Burke’s death, LIFE displayed the photographer’s last photo essay over five pages of glorious color.

James Burke – bibliography: note starred items (*) are in Burke Archives •	1945 Describes experience of setting up and operating a branch of the OWI (Office of War Information) in Kunming, China.
 * Washington Warrior in China, Saturday Evening Post, July 21, 1945, pp. 34, 69.

•	1948 Photographs portray a Chinese Warlord at a time of conflict between communists and nationalists in China.
 * Chinese Warlord, LIFE Magazine, November 1, 1948, pp. 58,60.

•	1949 Photographs portray celebrations in Peiping as the communists enter the city.
 * The Communists Occupy Peiping. LIFE Magazine, February 28, 1949, pp 24, 25

Report of events in China after communist take-over including distancing from foreign journalists and use of U.S. military equipment taken from nationalists.
 * The Commies Don’t Even Say “Thanks”, The Saturday Evening Post, October 22, 1949, pp. 25, 113-116.

•	1950 Wedding in Rajaland, LIFE Magazine, May 22, 1950, pp. 48, 49, 50. Photographs of an opulent royal wedding hosted by the Maharaja of Jodphur in Rajasthan, India.

•	1951 Photographs portray life of a Maharaja in India and his rare white tiger cub who he is trying to sell to a U.S. zoo.
 * White Tiger, LIFE Magazine, October 15, 1951, pp. 69, 71-72.

•	1953 Out of Burma to Join Chiang – Nationalists agree to quit jungle, LIFE Magazine, December 7, 1953, pp. 60-66. Photographs of part of the Chinese Nationalist army leaving Burma to join Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan.

•	1955 Russians Woo Biggest Neutral - The Happiness Boys in the “Road to India”, LIFE Magazine, December 5, 1955, pp. 43, 44, 45-49. Photographic essay of Russian state visit to India by Soviet Premier, Nikolai Bulganin and Communist Party Chief, Nikita Khruchev.

•	1958 Photographs that portray Dutch residents of Indonesia being expelled from Jakarta after independence of Indonesia from former Dutch colonial administration.
 * The Poignant Figures of a Modern Exodus, LIFE Magazine, January 6, 1958, pp. 8-9, 12-13.

Photographs portray former Dutch colonial residents who are being driven from Indonesia after its independence.
 * A Tragic Modern Exodus and its Poignant Figures, LIFE International, March 3, 1958, pp. 20-21, 24-25.

Photographs portray revolt by Indonesian anti-communists.
 * Behind Rebel Lines in Sumatra, LIFE Magazine, March 3, 1958, pp. 24-29.

Photographs portray the building of Bhakra Dam.
 * High Dam Goes Up in India’s Himalaya, LIFE International, November 24, 1958, pp. 32,33.

•	1959 Historic Duel between world’s two top Matadors, LIFE Magazine, September 7, 1959, pp.22-31. Photographic essay, by James Burke and Larry Burrows, depicting a competition between two of the top bullfighters of the time (Ordonez and Dominguez) which was witnessed by Ernest Hemmingway.

•	1960 Photographic essay of Reverend Billy Graham’s visit to Africa.
 * Billy’s Bountiful African Harvest, LIFE Magazine, March 21, 1960, pp. 24-29.

Photographs evidence of Greece’s struggle for democracy in the heart of democracy’s birthplace.
 * Embattled Democracy, LIFE International, June 6, 1960, pp. 53-63.

Photographic essay on dangers to women wearing very high heels such as getting stuck on escalators and in soft foundations.
 * The Perils for Spike-heeled Girls, LIFE Magazine, October 10, 1960.

•	1961 Photographs of an International symposium of Christian leaders.
 * A Historic Gathering of World Churchmen, LIFE International, January 1, 1962, pp. 8-13.

Photographs of exquisite jewelry art from Turkey.
 * World’s Fanciest Pearl – A glittering wonder from the ancient Turks, LIFE Magazine, January 26, 1962, pp. 47, 50.

Photographs of Shang bronze artifacts to illustrate historical portrait of this ancient Chinese civilization.
 * Robust Life of the Shang, LIFE Magazine, September 29, 1961, pp. 82-92.

•	1963 Photographic Essay with text about the conflict in Afghanistan of that time.
 * Fight for the Land of Hindu Kush, LIFE Magazine, August 9, 1963, pp. 18-27.

Fotografias para LIFE de James Burke.
 * Alejandro Magro – Camino de Afghanistan surge el Desierto de la Muerte- Dura Marcha a Oriente, LIFE en Espanol, 30 de Septiembre de 1963, pp. 28-35.

Photographic Essay concerning the part of the campaign of Alexander the Great in Afghanistan. Depiction of the difficult terrain and weather that has defeated many armies since but not that of the charismatic Greek.
 * A Desert of Death lies across the trail – The hard way East, LIFE International, November 18, 1963, pp. 42 – 53. Also LIFE Magazine,  May 3, 1963, pp. 62-77

•	1964 James Burke 1915-1964, LIFE Magazine, October 16, 1964 Obituary of James Burke, who died on assignment, by George P. Hunt, Managing Director of LIFE Magazine.

•	1965 The Himalayas, LIFE Magazine, May 28, 1963 pp. 56-68. Photographic essay of the grandeur and wide expanse of the Himalaya range. The last story by James Burke which was printed posthumously.

Non Fiction Work by Others about James Cobb Burke or Works of Fiction based on life of James Cobb Burke

Cartload of Clay, by George Johnson Fiction describing travels in Tibet based on an actual event by George Johnson and James Cobb Burke in 1945 when both were war correspondents in China.

Beyond Seven Years in Tibet, By Heinrich Harrer, Labyrynth Press, 2007 Autobiography of Heinrich Harrer, author of Seven Years in Tibet (1953). This book includes mention of relationship with James Cobb Burke and how they worked together to bring his story to the world through LIFE Magazine (April 23, 1951) in story Flight of the Dalai Lama.

Half a Perfect World by Paul Genomi and Tanya Daziel Biography of George Johnson during his time in Hydra, Greece (1950’s and 60’s) where he again met James Burke who was living in Greece (1958 – 1961). James Burke took pictures of George Johnson with family and other artists living on Hydra for an article in LIFE Magazine. These pictures were used extensively in the book.

Dear Papa, Dear Hotch: The Correspondence of Ernest Hemingway and A.E. Hotchner, edited by Albert DeFazio III, p.262

Great Photographers of LIFE Magazine

LIFE World Library INDIA, Time Incorporated 1961: photographs by James Cobb Burke including photograph on cover.

The World’s Great Religions

Ancient Civilizations

The Himalayas

Included in the Journalist Memorial Gallery of the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington D.C. 20001

Getty Images