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Joseph Medill Patterson

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Joseph Medill Patterson (January 6, 1879 – May 26, 1946) was an American journalist , publisher and founder of the Daily News in New York . At the time of his death the Daily News maintained a Sunday circulation of 4.5 million copies, the largest circulation of any paper in the United States .

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50-547: Joseph Medill Patterson was born into a newspaper family. His mother, the former Elinor Medill, was a daughter of Joseph Medill , founder of the Chicago Tribune and a mayor of Chicago, Illinois . His father, Robert Wilson Patterson Jr. , was himself a journalist at the Tribune. As a scion of a millionaire family, Joseph received a top-flight education, attending Yale University . He briefly left school to report on

100-474: A Bachelor of Laws in 1911 from Harvard Law School . Biddle first worked as a private secretary to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. from 1911 to 1912. He spent the next 27 years by practicing law in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . In 1912, he supported the presidential candidacy of former US President Theodore Roosevelt 's renegade Bull Moose Party . He was a special assistant to

150-622: A Republican in 1903 and 1904, married and was the father of three daughters by 1906. The youngest, Alicia, explained, "He had wanted a boy, instead of three daughters in succession, and that meant one of the Patterson girls would have to be his substitute son." Nearly 20 years later, in 1923, after his three daughters had become young women, his mistress (and future wife) gave birth to his only son, James Joseph Patterson , in England. Joseph Medill Patterson feuded with his father and resigned from

200-630: A heart attack at his summer home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts , on Cape Cod , at the age of 82. Biddle was interred at the St. Thomas' Church Cemetery in Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania . Biddle's writing skills had long been in evidence prior to the release of his memoirs. In 1927, he wrote a novel about Philadelphia society, The Llanfear Pattern . In 1942, he wrote of his close association with Oliver Wendell Holmes 30 years earlier with

250-540: A City Council divided over his exercise of power and aspects of his agenda, but also resistance from citizens. Anton C. Hesing derided him as "Joseph I, Dictator ". The stress of the job of mayor impaired Medill's health. In August 1873, he appointed Lester L. Bond as Acting Mayor for the remaining 3½ months of his term, and went to Europe on a convalescent tour. Medill married Katherine "Kitty" Patrick on September 2, 1852, and they had three daughters, Katherine, Elinor and Josephine. Medill died on March 16, 1899, at

300-604: A biography of the jurist, Mr. Justice Holmes , which was adapted into a 1946 Broadway play and a 1950 film entitled The Magnificent Yankee . Democratic Thinking and the War was published in 1944. His 1949 book, The World's Best Hope , looked at the role of the United States in the post-war era. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1963. Biddle was portrayed by Len Cariou in

350-472: A civil rights case. At U.S. President Harry S. Truman 's request, Biddle resigned after Roosevelt's death. Shortly afterward, Truman appointed Biddle as a judge at the Nuremberg trials . Tom C. Clark , Biddle's successor, told the story that Biddle was the first government official whose resignation Truman sought and that it was quite a difficult task. Biddle was amused by Truman's stammering, but after it

400-737: A clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canton . He graduated from the Massillon Academy in 1843. He read law under Hiram Griswold and was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1846. After joining the bar, he started a law practice with George W. McIlvaine . They dissolved their practice after three years. In 1859 Medill purchased the Coshocton Democratic Whig then renamed the paper as

450-542: A law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School of the Biddle family . He was also a great-great-grandson of Edmund Randolph (1753–1813) the seventh Governor of Virginia , the second United States Secretary of State , and the first United States Attorney General . He graduated from Groton School , where he participated in boxing. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1909 from Harvard College and

500-461: A position that he held for three years. One decade later, he wrote two volumes of memoirs: A Casual Past in 1961 and In Brief Authority in 1962. His final position came as chairman of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Commission from which he resigned in 1965. On April 27, 1918, Biddle was married to the poet Katherine Garrison Chapin . They had two sons: Biddle died on October 4, 1968, of

550-580: A technical, grotesque and violent style of storytelling. Milton Caniff credited Patterson for suggesting a comic strip about the Orient, which led to the creation of Caniff's 1934 strip, Terry and the Pirates . Caniff recounted Patterson's role in creating Terry in a Time profile, "Escape Artist" (Monday, January 13, 1947): Another item of Patterson comic strip lore is that he rejected Dale Messick's strip Brenda Starr in 1940 because he "had tried

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600-705: A woman cartoonist once... and wanted no more of them." Patterson's assistant, Mollie Slott —later the vice president of the syndicate—saw the discarded samples, and encouraged Messick to change Brenda from a "girl bandit" to a reporter. Patterson grudgingly accepted the strip, but ran it in the Chicago Tribune's Sunday comic section, rather than the daily paper. He refused to run it in the Daily News , which finally carried Brenda Starr, Reporter in 1948, two years after Patterson's death. His son, James , would serve as vice president and assistant managing editor of

650-623: A young adult, he asked his father if he could go to China to cover the Boxer Rebellion . Granted permission, he went as a correspondent for William Randolph Hearst but did not arrive in time. He attended Yale University , where he was a member of Scroll and Key . Upon graduation, he returned to Chicago, and covered the police beat for the Chicago Tribune . Patterson served in the Illinois House of Representatives as

700-671: Is necessary is dangerous and repugnant to the principles of our government." Roosevelt resisted, however, and the camps would not be closed for another year. In a postwar memoir, Biddle wrote that "American citizens of Japanese origin were not even handled like aliens of the other enemy nationalities—Germans and Italians—on a selective basis, but as untouchables, a group who could not be trusted and had to be shut up only because they were of Japanese descent." Biddle strengthened his department's efforts on behalf of African-American civil rights by instructing United States attorneys to direct their prosecutions against forced labor in

750-551: The Chicago Tribune , and he was Mayor of Chicago from after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 until 1873. Joseph Medill was born April 6, 1823, in Saint John , New Brunswick , British North America , to Margaret and William Medill. His parents were Scots-Irish . In 1832, the family moved to Massillon, Ohio . He grew up on a farm and was taught English grammar, Latin, logic and philosophy from Reverend Hawkins,

800-605: The New York Tribune . In 1855, Medill sold his interest in the Leader to Cowles and bought the Tribune in partnership with Dr. Ray and Alfred Cowles (Edwin's brother). Under Medill's management, the Tribune flourished, becoming one of the largest newspapers in Chicago. Medill served as its managing editor until 1864, when Horace White became editor-in-chief. At that time Medill left day-to-day operations of

850-585: The American Civil War , feeling that the government was demanding too many troops to be drafted out of Cook County . On February 23, 1865, they met with President Lincoln. On February 27, they had a meeting with both Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton . Stanton rejected their concerns. Lincoln castigated them, particularly chewing-out Medill. Lincoln argued that Chicagoans and Medill's newspaper had been most uncompromising in their opposition to

900-609: The Boxer Rebellion in China as a foreign correspondent for the Tribune, returning in time to complete his studies and graduate from Yale in 1901. Patterson became one of the most significant newspaper publishers in the United States , founding New York's Daily News and introducing the tabloid . He was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his famous grandfather. His mother, Elinor ("Nellie"), and his aunt, Kate, both named their firstborn sons after their famous father. As

950-492: The Daily News . One of Patterson's grandsons, Joseph Albright , was married to future US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for about 23 years. Patterson is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Joseph Medill Joseph Medill (April 6, 1823 – March 16, 1899) was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, and Republican Party politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of

1000-635: The Democratic Whig. In 1853, Medill and Edwin Cowles started the Leader , a newspaper in Cleveland , Ohio . (It was later absorbed by The Plain Dealer . ) In 1854, the Tribune ' s part-owner, Captain J. D. Webster, asked Medill to become the paper's managing editor. Medill was further encouraged to come to Chicago by Dr. Charles H. Ray of Galena, Illinois , and editor Horace Greeley of

1050-675: The Democrats . Medill was among Chicago's Protestant elites (see, WASP ). His rabid anti-Irish sentiment was published daily in The Chicago Tribune. He regularly dismissed the Irish as lazy and shiftless. “Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?” This came even as Irish laborers worked feverishly to complete Chicago's stately St. Patrick's church at Adams and Desplaines Streets in

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1100-611: The Espionage Act of 1917 to attempt to shut down "vermin publications", which included Father Coughlin 's publication entitled Social Justice . Biddle prosecuted several prominent left-wing individuals and organizations under the Smith Act . In 1941, he authorized the prosecution of 29 Socialist Workers Party members in a move that was criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union . Under

1150-597: The South away from the usual practice of charging " peonage ", which required them to find an element of debt, toward bringing charges of " slavery " and " involuntary servitude " against employers and local officials. On February 10, 1942, Biddle ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to probe into the lynching of Cleo Wright in Sikeston , Missouri , which was the United States' first federal investigation of

1200-446: The Tribune for political activities. But White clashed with Medill over the presidential election of 1872 . So, in 1873 Medill bought additional equity from Cowles and from White, becoming majority owner. In 1874, he replaced White as editor-in-chief. Medill served as editor-in-chief until his death. Medill was a leading Republican in Chicago. Under Medill, the Tribune became the leading Republican newspaper in Chicago. Medill

1250-573: The Tribune. Patterson moved to a farm in the country, wrote a socialist novel, A Little Brother of the Rich (1908), and published a muckraking article in Collier's magazine . Patterson returned to work at the Tribune by 1910. During World War I he went to Europe with Tribune cameraman Edwin F. Weigle to film the newsreel that would be used in the World War I propaganda film The German Side of

1300-702: The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1922 to 1926. During World War I he served as Private in the United States Army from October 23 to November 30, 1918. After he enlisted, he was detailed to the Field Artillery Central Officer's training school at Camp Taylor, Kentucky but the war ended during his training and he was discharged. In the 1930s, Biddle

1350-584: The Chicago Daily Tribune. He took a hands-on approach to managing the Chicago Tribune Syndicate , distributor for his papers' comic strips . In 1921, he suggested the lead character of Gasoline Alley adopt a foundling child who became Skeezix, a central character in the strip. Patterson influenced Chester Gould 's 1931 strip Dick Tracy , changing the title from Plainclothes Tracy , and he supported Gould's vision of

1400-597: The Germans in military tribunals by citing Ex parte Milligan (1866), a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not establish military tribunals to try civilians in areas that civilian courts were functioning, even during wartime. Biddle responded that the Germans were not entitled to have access to civilian courts because of their status as unlawful combatants . The US Supreme Court upheld that decision in Ex parte Quirin (1942) by ruling that

1450-452: The Navy but was turned down. Although Patterson, along with his sister Cissy Patterson , supported the president's reelection in 1940, Joe and Cissy had a falling out with Roosevelt because of their opposition to Lend-Lease and other aspects of the administration's foreign policy. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Patterson immediately came to the oval office and offered his full support to

1500-424: The War . Screenings of The German Side of the War sold out at theaters. It was one of the only American propaganda films to show the war from Germany's perspective . After his father died, Patterson took over the management of the Tribune . He had a dispute about how to run the Tribune with his cousin, Robert R. McCormick . After World War I ended, he visited London and observed a newspaper in tabloid form for

1550-493: The act, he also tried unsuccessfully to have trade unionist Harry Bridges deported. In 1942, Biddle became involved in a case in which a military tribunal appointed by Roosevelt tried eight captured Nazi agents for espionage and for planning sabotage in the United States as part of the German Operation Pastorius . Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Royall challenged Roosevelt's decision to prosecute

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1600-693: The age of 75 in San Antonio, Texas. He was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. During World War II, the Liberty ship SS  Joseph M. Medill was built in Panama City , and named in his honor. The Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University is also named in his honor. The family tree omits Medill's third daughter, Josephine, who died in 1892. Francis Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968)

1650-482: The bill passed on March 9, 1872. It went into effect July 1, 1872, and provided the mayor with the new authority to, In his first year as mayor, Medill received very little legislative resistance from the Chicago City Council. While he vetoed what was an unprecedented eleven City Council ordinances that year, most narrowly were involved with specific financial practices considered wasteful and none of

1700-679: The first time. Patterson moved to New York City and founded the New York Daily News as a tabloid on June 26, 1919, with McCormick as co-editor and publisher. However, the two were unable to resolve their dispute, so in 1925 Patterson ceded full authority over the Tribune to McCormick in return for full control of the Daily News. During the 1930s, the Daily News under Patterson's leadership strongly supported Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. Both men counted each other as not only political allies but good friends. In May 1940, Roosevelt even asked Patterson to be his Secretary of

1750-627: The mayor's office, created Chicago's first public library, enforced blue laws , and reformed the police and fire departments. During his mayoralty, Medill worked successfully to have the Illinois General Assembly modify the city charter to increase mayoral authority. As mayor-elect, on December 4, 1871, he tapped Judge Murray F. Tuley to draft a "Mayor's Bill" to be submitted to the General Assembly in its next session. After successful lobbying by Medill and Tuley,

1800-526: The mid-1850s. In 1864, Medill left the Tribune editorship for political activity, which occupied him for the next ten years. He was appointed by President Grant to the first Civil Service Commission . In 1870, he was elected as a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional convention . Medill joined with Samuel Snowden Hayes and Rosell Hough (prominent Chicago Democrats ) in order to oppose conditions of military draft laws during

1850-553: The military commission that was set up to try the Germans was lawful. On August 3, 1942, all eight were found guilty and sentenced to death. Five days later, six of the eight were executed in the electric chair on the third floor of the District of Columbia jail. The other two were given prison terms since they had willingly turned their comrades over to the FBI . In 1948, both men were released from prison and returned to Germany. Biddle

1900-656: The new powers given to the mayor. At the first 1873 meeting of the City Council, Medill announced that he would be using the power to select the chairmen of members of the council committees. He appointed his loyalists to lead most important committees, while aldermen of wards consisting of immigrant populations received lesser consideration for appointments. In the first three months of 1873 alone, Medill practiced his veto power on five City Council ordinances. Medill and his police superintendent Elmer Washburn cracked down on gambling . Medill met not only resistance from

1950-412: The passage of a tariff rebate that would help increase the supply of inexpensive material for the reconstruction of the city. Despite strong opposition from lumber interests, the legislation succeeded in passing. Medill also convinced President Grant to give a personal $ 1,000 contribution to aid the city's reconstruction. More than $ 5 million in gifts and loans were collected from people and cities across

2000-686: The role before resigning on January 22, 1940, to become the United States Solicitor General . This also turned out to be a short-lived position when Roosevelt nominated him to the position of Attorney General of the United States in 1941. During this time he also served as chief counsel to the Special Congressional Committee to Investigate the Tennessee Valley Authority from 1938 to 1939. During World War II , Biddle used

2050-480: The south's stance on slavery, and therefore should muster the men demanded of them to supply the Union with troops. In 1871 , after the Great Chicago Fire , Medill was elected mayor of Chicago as the candidate of the emergency fusion "Union Fireproof" party, defeating Charles C. P. Holden , and served as mayor for two years. Medill was sworn in as mayor on December 4, 1871. As mayor, Medill gained more power for

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2100-577: The state capitol of Springfield, Illinois . While, at the time, state law prohibited the direct appropriation of state funds to the city, Medill was able to get the legislature to pass a special act reimbursing the city for $ 2.9 million the city had expended on the state-owned Illinois and Michigan Canal . Medill also sought federal financial help. Medill took advantage of his connections in Washington, D.C. , to seek such aid. In his third month in office, he wrote Vice President Schuyler Colfax to urge

2150-450: The vetoes were overridden. He used his new powers to appoint the members of the newly constituted Chicago Board of Education and the commissioners of its constituted public library . His appointments were approved unanimously by the City Council. Medill sought funding for the recovery of Chicago. Medill had strongly lobbied on behalf of the city to receive state financial aid, taking advantage of his connections with state legislators in

2200-553: The war effort but Roosevelt rebuffed him. “Roosevelt could easily have converted both Pattersons to his cause,” writes Cissy’s biographer, Ralph G. Martin. “Instead, he created two bitter and powerful enemies.” In addition, as he had since early in 1941, Roosevelt repeatedly pressured Attorney General Francis Biddle and other officials to investigate and prosecute both of the Pattersons along with their cousin Robert R. McCormick of

2250-521: The world. Taking Medill's lead, on February 12, 1872, the City Council approved 26-6 an ordinance that prohibited the construction of wood frame buildings in city limits. Medill was a strong Republican loyalist who supported President Grant for re-election in 1872. This caused a breach with Tribune editor, Horace White after White supported the breakaway Liberal Republicans , reformists who nominated Horace Greeley for president. In his second year as mayor, tensions arose as he began to further utilize

2300-691: Was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II . He also served as the primary American judge during Nuremberg trials following World War II and a United States circuit judge of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit . Biddle was born in Paris , France, while his family was living abroad. He was one of four sons of Frances Brown (née Robinson) and Algernon Sydney Biddle ,

2350-623: Was appointed to a number of important governmental roles. In 1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him to become Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board . On February 9, 1939, Roosevelt nominated Biddle to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit , to a seat vacated by Joseph Buffington . The United States Senate confirmed Biddle on February 28, 1939, and he received his commission on March 4, 1939. He served only one year in

2400-399: Was one of the few top officials, along with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes , who opposed the wartime internment of Japanese Americans from the start. In 1943, after the internment had already taken place, he asked Roosevelt for the camps to be closed: "The present practice of keeping loyal American citizens in concentration camps for longer than

2450-708: Was over, he threw his arm around the President and said, "See, Harry, now that wasn't so hard." In 1947, he was nominated by Truman as the US representative on the United Nations Economic and Social Council . However, after the Republican Party refused to act on the nomination, Biddle asked Truman to withdraw his name. In 1950, he was named as chairman of the Americans for Democratic Action ,

2500-635: Was strongly anti-slavery, supporting both the Free-Soil cause and Abolitionism . Medill was a major supporter of Abraham Lincoln in the 1850s. Medill and the Tribune were instrumental in Lincoln's presidential nomination, and were equally supportive of the Union cause during the American Civil War . The Tribune ' s chief adversary through this period was the Chicago Times , which supported

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