Robinson graduated from Boston College High School and Northeastern University with a journalism degree. In the 1960s, he interrupted his college studies to join the Army. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in January 1968. After two years in Hawaii, Robinson served as an intelligence officer with the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971. During his Globe career, he was a local, state, and national political reporter. Robinson has covered and written extensively about the World War II-era looting of thousands of pieces of cultural artworks from German institutions. He covered the presidential elections of 1984, 1988, 1992, and 2000. Robinson covered the White House for the Globe during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. In 1990 and 1991, he was the Globes Middle East Bureau Chief, and covered the first Persian Gulf War.
