Newsmaker

March 1, 2016
The peripatetic life of a newspaper mogul. When Roy Wilson Howard (1883-1964), director of the huge Scripps-Howard publishing company, celebrated his 50th anniversary as a newsman, he was lauded by the Cincinnati Times-Star as "a phenomenon of his generation--a born reporter and a top-flight executive, who has never forgotten that the reporter is the core of any newspaper." Having risen from cub reporter to publisher on par with William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, he "was the ultimate example of the American success story." Drawing on extensive family archives, Beard (A Certain Summer, 2013, etc.) offers a richly detailed portrait of the man and his times. Howard was energetic and determined but also arrogant, vain, impatient, and exacting. "You are unduly opinionated and intolerant," he once admonished himself. "Cultivate a greater respect for the ideas and opinions of others even when these run counter to your own." Early in his career, as president of United Press, Howard extended its reach worldwide, serving nearly 800 papers, with 48,000 wires daily. His prowess made him an internationally prominent figure within news circles and beyond, and that importance was significantly enhanced by his position in the Scripps-Howard organization. He found easy access to politicians, among them, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight Eisenhower. An indefatigable traveler, Howard was given audiences by world leaders, as well: in 1936, he gained an interview with Hitler, who gave "nothing of the impression of a nut"; shortly afterward, he was in Moscow, shaking hands with Stalin. In 1939, in London, Howard met with Anthony Eden, lunched with Winston Churchill, and stopped at the American Embassy to see Joseph Kennedy. He lunched with Dag Hammarskjold and was friendly with Francisco Franco and Chiang Kai-shek and his wife. He also had a good eye for staff, hiring top-notch editors and reporters, such as Ernie Pyle, but he never relinquished his need to control his vast corporation. A lively history of one man's indelible imprint on American news.

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May 1, 2016

Veteran nonfiction author Beard (Blue Blood and Mutiny) presents a celebratory biography of Roy W. Howard (1883-1964), the ambitious journalist, demanding editor, and colorful "mastermind" behind the early 20th-century rise of the Scripps-Howard news empire. He accesses decades of diaries and personal correspondence to tell the story of Howard's ascent from a short-statured Midwestern cub reporter to the dominant cohead of what would become one of the largest and most influential U.S. newspaper conglomerates, all before he was 40 years old. An abundance of detail--historical, professional, and personal--gives the book an impressive credibility that will fascinate many readers, despite the facts alternately tending to weigh down the pace of some of the livelier chapters and anecdotes. Still, this volume succeeds overall in paying homage to Howard's influence on modern news: fast breaking, in-depth, and delivered with everyday people in mind. VERDICT This well-researched investigation into the life of a news baron is recommended for fans and students of the history of the newspaper industry.--Robin Chin Roemer, Univ. of Washington Lib., Seattle

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