Jim Becker of AP Passes Away at 98 from Old Age
Joined AP in 1946 and Was Dispatched to Korea
Jim Becker, an AP reporter who worked as a correspondent in Korea during the 1950s and covered the Korean War, passed away on the 7th (local time) at the age of 98.
On the 9th, Yonhap News quoted AP reporting that Becker died of old age at a hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii. Having served as the AP bureau chief and correspondent in New Delhi, India, Manila, Philippines, and Hawaii, he spent his later years residing in Hawaii.
Jim Becker, former AP reporter, is responding to an interview at his home in Hawaii, USA, last May, holding a photo from the debut game of Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in Major League Baseball (MLB), whom he covered in his younger days. Photo by AP Yonhap News
Becker joined AP in 1946, the year after World War II ended, and was dispatched to Korea in 1950 when the Korean War broke out to cover the battlefield. Initially, Becker reported as part of the U.S. Marine Corps. His articles were placed in the pockets of wounded soldiers who were being evacuated and sent to field hospitals, from where they were transmitted to AP headquarters.
Later, Becker recalled that the articles were passed on to AP offices in Tokyo, Honolulu, and Washington, enabling all of them to be published. He shared behind-the-scenes details, saying, “I attached a note on top of the manuscript saying, ‘Please contact the nearest AP office’ so that hospital doctors or nurses could see it.”
Becker is also known to have roamed around Seoul with the U.S. 3rd Division during the Allied forces’ recapture of Seoul on September 28, 1950.
He was present at the scene of the Allied forces’ recapture of Seoul. On September 28, 1950, when the South Korean and United Nations forces reclaimed Seoul, which had been taken by North Korean troops early in the war, Becker recalled, “I remember crossing the Han River on a boat with about seven or eight people, including U.S. soldiers and other war correspondents, and then touring the city.”
One famous anecdote from his early days as a reporter in 1947 is his coverage of Jackie Robinson’s (1919?1972) Major League debut game. Robinson, the first Black player in Major League history, joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and endured severe racial discrimination, including ostracism by white teammates, yet persevered in his career, becoming a milestone figure in American civil rights history.
Jim Becker, former AP reporter, is seen reading a book about the achievements of war correspondents at his home in Hawaii, USA, last May. Photo by AP Yonhap News
At the time, half of Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers teammates opposed playing alongside Black players. However, the spectators cheered for Robinson. Becker said that since half of Brooklyn’s players were Jewish and understood what prejudice was, they seemed to support Robinson.
In 1959, while Becker was working as a correspondent in India, the Dalai Lama (born 1935), the spiritual leader of Tibet, fled to neighboring India to escape Chinese government oppression. There was fierce competition between AP and rival UPI for coverage. After UPI published photos of the Dalai Lama first, AP barely managed to send their own photos.
The issue was that “the Dalai Lama in the UPI photos had a full head of hair, but our Dalai Lama photos showed no hair at all.” Later, Becker explained, “A rival correspondent mistakenly photographed the face of an Indian interpreter standing next to the Dalai Lama, not knowing what the Dalai Lama looked like, and sent that as the Dalai Lama’s photo, which almost got me reprimanded, but I narrowly escaped the crisis.”
Additionally, Becker wrote about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a freelance journalist. The story he considered his best was about an underdog football team at a high school in Hawaii. The team, unknown and poorly supported, won the league championship in 1965, and Becker said, “That is the most important story I ever wrote.”
Becker’s wife, Betty Hanson Becker, passed away in 2008. He is survived by three daughters whom he adopted as his own.
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