Terps Writer’s Corner: John A. Jenkins ’72 Shares his Front-Row Seat to History

On Aug. 31, 2026, John A. Jenkins ’72 gave a book talk at the Boston Athenaeum to a sellout crowd, with a waiting list. Reporters for C-SPAN recorded the event and as it ended, attendees lined up to speak with Jenkins about his newest book, “Summer of '71: Five Months That Changed America.”

“People come up to me and they want to talk about their experiences in '71,” Jenkins says. “That's been very gratifying.”

It’s been a common occurrence on Jenkins’ nationwide tour for the book, which released June 30, 2026. His email account has been busy with questions and stories, and Jenkins has responded to each and every one.

Some people want to ask about the Pentagon Papers, which Jenkins dove into via primary sources from the archives at the Library of Congress, New York Public Library and more. Some want to talk about their personal connections to the political chaos of the time.

The book covers the events that defined the American experience during the five-month period spanning May to September 1971. It was a time close to Jenkins’ heart, before he won awards as a journalist, founded companies, and published four books and countless articles.

Then, Jenkins was a student at the University of Maryland. He played saxophone in an R&B band to help pay for his tuition and an apartment in College Park. Jenkins transferred to UMD as a sophomore, eager to dive into the journalism program.

“I always had this great interest in journalism and writing and telling stories,” he says. “It turned out to be, early in my career, the best thing that could possibly have happened to me.”

Jenkins met two professors, Earl Newsom and Richard Lee, who mentored him and got him his first interview in the journalism world at the Bureau of National Affairs, a company later bought by Bloomberg.

The internship changed his life. Jenkins was able to afford a weekly dinner at Ledo’s. He met his wife of 40 years and counting, Susan Jenkins (she sat across from him in the newsroom and they shared a phone extension). And he got his first taste of real-world reporting.

“Now suddenly I'm thrown into this whole maelstrom in '71,” he recalls. “I'm a spare guy that can go out and cover all this. It's like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time and seeing it in real life instead of just reading about it or seeing it on television.”

Jenkins hasn’t stopped writing in 55 years, even as his career has evolved. His business acumen — skills he credits the journalism program at Maryland for developing — led him to expand into the startup world. Most recently, he co-founded and co-leads the predictive-AI startup PoliScio Analytics.

As a member of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism Board of Visitors, Jenkins hopes to instill that entrepreneurial spirit in current Maryland students. 

“We need to be preparing students not just for the mainstream media,” he explains. “We can also let them create their own blogs, their own podcasts, their own means of serving a particular niche and building their own opportunities.”

To support future generations of journalists, Jenkins and his wife named The Earl Newsom and Richard Lee Career Services Center room in Knight Hall in honor of the professors that gave Jenkins his start. 

“I've always felt that it would really take me the rest of my life to repay these two great guys for the work that they first gave me,“ he says. “And it’s a way to continue to do good work for our students.”