The Last Spitfire Pilot

Jack Kneece, a native of Columbia, S.C. and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, is a veteran journalist and author of four books: "Family Treason: The Walker Spy Case; Ghost Army of World War II; Blood Red Spot, and Faces in the Storm." Kneece began his career with United Press International in Atlanta and subsequently was a reporter for The New Orleans Times- Picayune, the Associated Press in Washington, where he covered Capitol Hill; the Washington Star, where he also covered the U.S. House and Senate; the Oakland Tribune, and was the national editor of the Washington Times. He also was editor-in-chief of the Northern Virginia Sun and the Daily News-Miner in Fairbanks, Alaska. 


While with the Oakland Tribune, Kneece was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize. He also taught journalism at the University of South Carolina in 2001 and 2002. In addition he had two overseas assignments, in Pakistan and Singapore. He was one of a group of American editors who helped start a new newsopaper in Singapore for the Straits Times organization. 


He now lives and writes in Peak, S.C. While a senior at the Univeristy, Kneece was editor of the literary magazine, "The Sandlapper," and was on the Dean's list and President's list. During his career, Kneece interviewed many nationally known figures, including President John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, and sold an interview with British Historian Arnold Toynbee to Playboy Magazine. He did the first investigative stories on wrongdoing by Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew, which led to his resignation. He also got the first indepth interview with Bobby Baker, secretary to the Senate Majority, during the height of that scandal, which ran on the front page of the Wasghington Post and two full inside pages.