Fred S. Hiatt '76, a former Crimson editor and Washington Post editorial writer, will serve as the paper's next editorial page editor, the Post announced September 7.

Hiatt will take the reins of the editorial page in several months when interim editor Stephen S. Rosenfeld '53 retires. Meg Greenfield, who edited the page for 20 years, died in May.

" I want to continue Meg's tradition of a page that tries to be independent in the sense of looking at issues on their own merit," Hiatt said. "It should be a place where the readers feel as though there is real conversation going on and not just the newspaper preaching at them."

In addition to tackling issues of national and global significance, he said the page will increase coverage of Washington, D.C.-area issues like school vouchers and charter schools.

"In some ways, the most interesting issues are those where [the]values that are core to our page come into conflict," he said, specifying civil liberties and the separation of church and state.

Hiatt began his career in journalism with the Atlanta Journal in 1979, and went on to cover military affairs for the Post. He later led the paper's foreign desks in Japan and in Moscow.

A finalist this year for a Pulitzer Prize, Hiatt has also written three books: a novel called The Secret Sun and two children's books.

Rosenfeld described Hiatt as a "very smart, sensible, intense, but not fanatic person."

"He loves journalism," Rosenfeld said. "And [he] throws himself at stories and ideas."