Longtime AP Pentagon reporter Fred Hoffman, who was lauded for his Vietnam coverage, dies at 100

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fred S. Hoffman, a longtime Associated Press reporter who covered the Defense Department for more than two decades and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for an investigation into the black market in Vietnam has died. Hoffman was 100. Well known within the Pentagon, Hoffman was recalled as a tough, enterprising, ethical and tireless reporter who spent nearly 40 years in the news business, including 36 with the AP. He and Hugh Mulligan were named finalists for the Pulitzer for stories on profiteering and corruption in South Vietnam, revealing that hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars were going down the drain in theft, bribery, waste and money manipulation.