After graduation from Trinity, Jaffe began his career as a staff member, for just six weeks, with the
Durham Sun, before joining the
Richmond Times-Dispatch. While at the
Times-Dispatch, he worked as a political writer and as an assistant city editor, leaving, at the age of 29, to join the military during
World War I. Jaffe enlisted in United States Army, and trained at a first officers training camp, then serving in
France, with the
American Expeditionary Forces (1918–1919). Jaffe spent three months on an inspection trip to the
Balkan Peninsula, before serving as the director the American Red Cross News Service, headquartered in Paris. Following his military service, in 1919, Jaffe accepted an offer to become editor of the
Virginian-Pilot. winning national recognition for his campaign for civil rights and against lynching, as well as the 1929 Pulitzer prize. As recently as 2019, Jaffe's work to call attention to the victims of lynching, was remembered in
The Virginian-Pilot. In an article published by the editorial board, on October 25, "Editorial: From the past, condemnation of lynching," they wrote: The editorial board reprinted Jaffe's Pulitzer prize-winning story, "
An Unspeakable Act of Savagery," saying that it was "for those who need a reminder of a history that no one – including the president of the United States – should whitewash," an obvious reference to
Donald Trump. In 1930, the editorial jury wanted to award Jaffe a second Pulitzer, for his article, "Not Heresy but Hunger," however, the rules were not clear on awarding the prize to the same individual, working with the same newspaper, two years in succession. ==Personal==