“Reading a Book is Like Life:
You Live it One Page at a Time.” (Ron Yates)
Receive Updates!
About Ronald E. Yates
Author, former foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, and Dean & Professor Emeritus of the College of Media at the University of Illinois, his acclaimed works are now available through this site.
The Latest From My Blog
A Retrospective on the Tiananmen Square Massacre Tomorrow
Considering the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) continued threats against Taiwan, its menacing alliance with Russia and Iran, its antagonistic presence in Venezuela, Brazil, and a few other Latin American nations, and the thousands of spies and military operatives China dispatched to our nation during the feckless Biden Administration, what happened …
An Invitation to Read (Gratis) Book #1 of the Award-Winning “Finding Billy Battles” Series
Dear Reader, As a Substack columnist, I have often wondered if the Substack platform might be a good place to introduce readers to my books. The thought occurred to me that perhaps serializing or posting a few chapters of the first book in my Finding Billy Battles series might be …
An Invitation to Read (at no cost) Book #1 of the Award-Winning “Finding Billy Battles” Series
One of the frustrations for many authors is finding a way to get their books in front of potential readers. Unless you have penned a blockbuster for one of the Big Five publishers and have benefited from one of their big-ticket publicity and marketing campaigns, your work might remain unread …
Was it an Oval Office Ambush or a Rare Opportunity to Watch How the Sausage is Made?
Like many Americans, I watched the extraordinary meeting between President Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last Wednesday. It was one of the most fascinating encounters I have ever witnessed. President Ramaphosa was in the Oval Office, hat in hand, seeking to restore more than $1 billion of U.S. …
Throw the Bums Out!
There are more than 1.1 million international students attending American universities—an all-time high, according to the Open Doors 2024 Report on International Educational Exchange. The Open Doors Report—the leading annual benchmark for international educational exchange in the United States—is published by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and …
Why Trump Wants to Cut Funding to NPR and PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are back in the news again, and the news isn’t good. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order slashing public subsidies to PBS and NPR and alleging “bias” in their programming and reporting. Trump’s order instructed the Corporation for Public …
An Incomplete Revolution: Viet Cong Founder Says Money Overshadows Ideals
In 1995, I returned to Vietnam for the 20th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. During that trip, I made it a point to interview as many people as possible about their country–including former Communist Viet Cong cadres. What I heard was surprising. They were not happy with this new …
After The Fall of Saigon: A Retrospective
(This is a follow-up to the story I posted yesterday on the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon in 1975. ) After several dozen others and I were evacuated on April 29th, 1975, from the hulking Military Assistance Command-Vietnam building at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut airbase, I filed my …
The 50th Anniversary of The Fall of Saigon: A Personal Remembrance
Fifty years ago today, I was scrambling aboard a U.S. Marine CH-53 Sea Stallion heavy helicopter along with some 70 or so other terrified people as we were evacuated from Saigon as it fell to invading Communist North Vietnamese troops. April 29, 1975, is a day I will never forget, …
Join me Tomorrow & Wednesday for my retrospective on the final 24 hours of Saigon
(NOTE: Tomorrow and Wednesday, I invite you to join me as I relive the last 24 frantic hours in Saigon as it fell to Communist North Vietnamese troops on April 29-30, 1975–an event I covered for the Chicago Tribune in 1975. I hope you’ll stop by. Fifty years ago, I …
The Left’s Embrace of Assassination Culture
Political violence in America, including assassination, is being applauded and embraced as virtuous activism by leftist Democrats, according to a recent academic study. The study, entitled “Assassination Culture: How Burning Teslas and Killing Billionaires Became a Meme Aesthetic for Political Violence,” was conducted jointly by Rutgers University and the Network …
Reflections on Newspapers, their Past & Future—and My Career at one of them
To say that the world of newspaper journalism has changed since I began my career at the Chicago Tribune last century would be a demonstrable understatement. Newspapers today are barely recognizable when contrasted to the five highly competitive and spirited dailies that covered Chicago 50 years ago. The Chicago Sun-Times, …
