Rowan was friends with President Gerald Ford and in 1975 interviewed the then-sitting President for his book on the Mayaguez crisis. In 1977 Rowan returned to the U.S. to take a job as one of Fortune magazine's senior writers, penning some sixty five major articles, which included an exclusive 15-page exposé on the top fifty Mafia leaders in America, before resigning in 1980 to freelance write and author books. In 1990, he disguised himself as a homeless man and spent two weeks on the streets of New York for a ten-page article in People magazine.