David Lawrence (publisher)

David Lawrence
Lawrence in 1920
Born(1888-12-25)December 25, 1888
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedFebruary 11, 1973(1973-02-11) (aged 84)
Sarasota, Florida, U.S.
Alma materPrinceton University
Known forFounder, U.S. News & World Report

David Lawrence[1] (December 25, 1888 – February 11, 1973) was an American conservative newspaperman.

Early life and education

Lawrence attended Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, and graduated as part of the Class of 1910.[2] While at Princeton University, he was a student of Woodrow Wilson.

Career

In 1916, Lawrence became the Washington, D.C. correspondent of New York Evening Post, which was then the since discontinued evening edition of the New York Post.

After Woodrow Wilson's re-election as U.S. president, Wilson fired his Irish-American White House secretary (chief of staff) Joseph Patrick Tumulty in 1916 to placate anti-Catholic sentiment, which was being espoused from his wife and Colonel Edward M. House, his advisor. Lawrence then successfully interceded on Tumulty's behalf to remain.

Political views

During the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, Lawrence criticised the New Deal in his 1934 book Beyond the New Deal.[3] His observation of economic activity led him to distinguish between free enterprise and corporatism, and he wrote, "Theoretically, a corporation is a creature of a state."[4]

He sharply criticized the use of the atomic bomb against Japan, comparing it to the gas chambers of Nazi concentration camps, and he maintained that the United States had become guilty and needed to apologize to the world.[5]

He was a critic of the 1963 March on Washington, calling it "the mess in Washington."[6]

Publisher

Lawrence (third from right) accepts the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Richard Nixon on April 22, 1970

In 1926, Lawrence founded United States Daily, a weekly newspaper devoted to covering government. Seven years later, he shut it down to start United States News for an audience of community leaders, businessmen, and politicians.[7] In 1948, United States News merged with Lawrence's two-year-old weekly magazine, World Report, to form the news magazine U.S. News & World Report. At the time of his death, the magazine had a circulation of two million.

Awards

On April 22, 1970, Lawrence was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon.[8]

Personal life

Lawrence married Ellanor (Campbell Hayes Daly) Lawrence on July 17, 1918,[9] and they had three children: David Jr., Mark, and Nancy. A foster daughter, Etienne, was married in 1927 to Herbert Sturhahn, a former college football player for Yale University.[10] Ellanor died June 13, 1969.[11] In 1971, to honor her memory, Lawrence gave Fairfax County, Virginia, the land that became Ellanor C. Lawrence Park in Chantilly, Virginia.

Death

On February 11, 1973, Lawrence died of an apparent heart attack at his Sarasota, Florida home.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Draft Registration Card". Selective Service System. April 1942. Retrieved August 21, 2023 – via fold3.com.
  2. ^ David Lawrence Papers, Princeton University Library.
  3. ^ Lawrence, David (1934). Beyond The New Deal. McGraw-Hill Book Company. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Lawrence, David (1934). Beyond The New Deal. McGraw-Hill Book Company. p. 212. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ 'America's Reaction to the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki' by Diana Steele
  6. ^ Lawrence, David (September 2, 1963). "Did March on Washington Prove Anything; Is Mob Needed to Pass Laws on Civil Rights?". The Chronicle (Pascagoula, MS).
  7. ^ David Lawrence: A Profile
  8. ^ Nixon, Richard (April 22, 1970). "Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Eight Journalists". Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
  9. ^ "Society (column)". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. July 18, 1918. p. 8. Retrieved August 21, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "News In Brief". Evening Express. Evening Express (Portland, Maine). AP. June 25, 1927. p. 8. Retrieved August 21, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "David Lawrence, Journalist, Dies". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. AP. February 12, 1973. p. 8. Retrieved August 21, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "David Lawrence, Columnist, Magazine Founder Dies". Eugene Register-Guard. February 12, 1973. p. 3. Retrieved June 13, 2024 – via Google News Archive.

Further reading