Jim Donley ‘58 has led a peripatetic life, traveling to 100 countries and circling the world aboard Air Force Two.

The economics major traveled as press secretary to John Connelly, under President Nixon. He also traveled with George Schultz as press secretary, opened his own communications firm, and worked for economic development in underdeveloped countries.

In an article in the Coastal Star, Donley is quoted, “Note that you will see no museums, castles or cathedrals,” he explains. “I am self-indulgent and, like Forrest Gump, my face keeps popping up in the photos of unlikely places.”

“I went to military police school and was assigned to a psychological warfare unit,” he says. As he sailed out of New York Harbor, he saw the Queen Mary cruise in.

“We were sent to Germany to keep an eye on Hungary, but I had my eye on plusher duty,” he says. “I talked my way into a desk job as editor of the 7th Army Sentinel Daily newspaper covering all of Europe. I used that position to come up with ideas for me to travel and cover events such as Grace Kelly’s wedding and the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’ Ampezzo, Italy (in 1956).”