Stanley Washburn

Washburn with British officer John Hanbury-Williams in Russia, October 1914

Stanley Washburn (1878-1950) was an American war correspondent particularly associated with reporting on Russian operations. He covered the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War initially from the Russian side and then from the victorious Japanese side and was one of the first on the battlefield to learn that peace had been agreed. Washburn afterwards reported on the Russian Revolution of 1905. During World War One Washburn reported from the Eastern Front. His recommendations that the US make improvements to the Trans-Siberian Railway to support the Russian war effort led to a commission being sent under engineer John Frank Stevens. Washburn himself was part of a commission under Elihu Root sent to liaise with the Russian Provisional Government. Washburn advocated that the US government support the Don Republic during the Russian Civil War and, in 1941, ahead of the attack on Pearl Harbor sent a message warning the leadership of the US Navy not to underestimate the Japanese.