User:Karatoprak/Barry Zorthian

Barry Zorthian (October 8, 1920 – January 6, 2011) was an American diplomat of Armenian descent who served in Vietnam. He is described by the New York Times as having "...orchestrated a psychological warfare campaign while serving as his country’s principal spokesman in Saigon, sparring with a new generation of skeptical journalists in briefings that came to be known as the 'five o’clock follies'".

Personal History
Mr. Zorthian's personal history (New York Times) "Baryoor Zorthian was born on Oct. 8, 1920, in Kutahya, Turkey, to an Armenian family. His father, a writer, was imprisoned by Turks at a time when Armenians were being massacred, but he escaped. His mother, refusing to give the authorities information about her husband, was jailed for a time along with the newborn Baryoor.

The family eventually reunited and fled to Greece and Italy. They settled in New Haven, where Mr. Zorthian’s father found work as a pants presser.

Mr. Zorthian went to Yale, where he was an editor of The Yale Daily News and a member of the secret campus society Skull and Bones. He was a Marine in the Pacific during World War II. After working for a Vermont newspaper, he joined CBS Radio and then the Voice of America. He earned a law degree by attending New York University at night. After 13 years at the Voice of America, he became a diplomat in India."