Wicker began working in professional journalism in 1949, as editor of the small-town "Sandhill Citizen" in Aberdeen, North Carolina. By the early 1960s, he had joined "The New York Times". At the "Times", he became well known as a political reporter; among other accomplishments, he wrote the paper's November 23, 1963 lead story of the assassination of President Kennedy, having ridden in a press bus in the Dallas motorcade that accompanied Kennedy. Wicker was a shrewd observer of the Washington, D.C. scene. In that capacity, his influential "In The Nation" column ran in the "Times" from 1966 through 1992. In an exit-interview Q &amp; A with fellow "Times" reporter R. W. Apple, he reflected on one primary lesson of his years in the capital. Apple asked whether Wicker had "any heroes" in political life.