For more than three decades, James Mandalian was a dominant name in the Armenian American press as the founding editor of two longstanding publications, Hairenik Weekly and The Armenian Review. James Mandalian was the first editor of Hairenik Weekly, a position that he maintained for thirty-six years until his retirement in 1970. He also was was the first Executive Secretary of the Armenian Youth Federation (originally known as A.R.F. Tzeghagron until 1941) and authored its booklet Highlights of Armenian History (1938).