He was sent to London in 1940 to cover the Blitz and remained there as news editor until early 1944 when he was assigned to the Southwest Pacific.
He flew with MacArthur from Okinawa to Tokyo to witness the surrender of Japan aboard the USS Missouri in 1945.
Under his editorial management the newspaper won Pulitzer Prizes in 1964 and 1965.
Dickinson was well known for his opposition to attempts by courts to limit reporting of pretrial news.
In 1963 he risked a contempt sentence and jail for refusing to divulge a reporter's news sources.