William Worthy, Defiant Global Correspondent, Dies at 92

A foreign correspondent who defied travel bans to Cold War adversaries of the United States has died. William Worthy was 92.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University announced Worthy died May 4 in Brewster, Massachusetts.

Worthy was a reporter for the Baltimore Afro-American and correspondent for CBS News when he defied travel restrictions by traveling to China in the 1950s.

The government refused to renew his passport, so he visited Cuba in the early 1960s without one. On his return, he was convicted of entering the country illegally. A federal court declared the law unconstitutional.

Folk singer Phil Ochs celebrated him in "The Ballad of William Worthy."

Worthy again challenged the U.S. government by reporting from Iran in the early 1980s after the Islamic revolution toppled the shah.