In 1962, Barrett seized the opportunity to fill an opening in the Washington bureau and moved to DC. He wrote news stories or op-eds on events such as the Cuban missile crisis, the growing US involvement in Vietnam and the Kennedy assassination. He traveled with Barry Goldwater during the 1964 primaries, was in Saigon when the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred, and in the White House when LBJ staged a surprise press conference right after Kennedy’s assassination.
When Time magazine wanted a writer in its Nation section with Washington experience, Barrett was hired. He spent the next three decades in a variety of Time assignments, as a writer, senior editor and then regional bureau chief in New York and back in DC, where he became deputy bureau chief. Throughout this period he covered national politics, presidential campaigns and the White House. He wrote Gambling with History in 1983 while he was chief White House correspondent; he conducted many interviews with President Reagan and others in his circle.
In the mid-1990s, as Barrett gradually phased out of full time work for the magazine, he taught journalism at American University and later worked as a public relations consultant, then returned to journalism, contributing to several outlets, including the Washington Post. Most recently, he has reviewed books for Moment, a magazine focusing on Jewish culture, religious doctrine, and public affairs.
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