Biography

Biography of Robert Stinnett

Robert B. Stinnett's interest in news-making history began when he was
growing up in his birth city, Oakland, California.  He was the oldest of four
children born to Curtis and Margaret Stinnett.

 A favorite activity of Robert while still a youngster was listening on the
family radio to news reports from Europe by radio newscasters Hans V.
Kaltenborn, Edward R. Murrow, and William L. Shirer.  His interest in news
and how it is processed formed his ambition to become a journalist.

By age 16 Robert was shooting photographs and selling them to The Oakland
Tribune.  On the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941, he was a
student at Fremont High School.  He graduated in 1942, enlisted in the US
Navy and was assigned to the same aerial photo school as former President
George H. W. Bush.  They served together on the USS San Jacinto of the
Pacific Fleet from late 1943 to November 1944.  For naval service in the
Pacific and Atlantic in World War II, Stinnett was awarded 10 Navy Battle
Citations.

His experiences with the US Navy's Fast Carrier operations in the Pacific
Theater led to an 18-year research project that resulted in his book, Day of
Deceit, now in its 6th printing by Simon & Schuster.  Other editions of the
book are published in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy.  Publication is
pending in Germany, France, and Norway.

After the war, he joined The Oakland Tribune as a photo-journalist, and in
1986 retired to research and write books.  He is married to Peggy McBride
Stinnett, associate editor and columnist for The Oakland Tribune.  They have
two children, Colleen Badagliacco of San Jose, and James Stinnett of San
Francisco, two grandchildren, and a great grandchild.  Robert and Peggy live
in Oakland.