John Thompson Whitaker (January 25, 1906 – September 11, 1946) was an American writer and journalist who served as a correspondent for several prominent newspapers in different parts of the world.

He was trained as a journalist at the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee, and began his career as a reporter at the Chattanooga News.

He had a brother named Spires Whitaker who worked as a doctor for the army during World War II.

The government of Benito Mussolini awarded him the Croce di Guerra ("War Cross") for his reporting on the Italian conquest of Ethiopia.

"[5][6] He moved back to Europe in mid-1939, in connection with World War II, working for the Chicago Daily News and the New York Post.