Charles Merz

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Charles Merz (born February 23, 1893 in Sandusky , Ohio , † September 1, 1977 in New York City ) was an American journalist and from 1938 to 1961 editorial director (about: Editor-in-Chief ) of the New York Times .

Life

Charles Merz was the son of Sakie Prout and Charles Hope Merz (1861-1947), a doctor and publisher of a Masonic magazine who wrote books on Freemasonry . He attended Sandusky High School, where he edited a school newspaper. During the holidays he worked for the local newspapers The Register and The Star Journal . He studied English history and economics at Yale University , where he graduated in 1915. He then became an editor at Harper's Weekly and in the first year managing editor of the news magazine, the last issue of which appeared on May 13, 1916. From 1916 to 1918 he was a correspondent for The New Republic in Washington, DC, founded by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann

After the entry of the United States in the first World War Merz was in the American Expeditionary Forces as a lieutenant for department was Military Intelligence Division moved into France. He was assistant to the US commission for the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 . From 1919 to 1921 he was part of the publishing management of The New Republic .

With Walter Lippmann, with whom he was in the news service in France, he published the study A Test of the News on August 4, 1920 on the objectivity and neutrality of press coverage using the example of the New York Times coverage of the Russian Revolution . From 1921 to 1923 Merz was employed as a correspondent for New York World in Europe and Asia. From 1924 to 1931 he was editor of the New York World . In 1931, the day before the last edition of World appeared , he moved to the editorial staff of The New York Times .

In November 1938 Arthur Hays Sulzberger , the publisher of the New York Times, appointed Merz to the daily newspaper's editorial director . In his editorials he was, among other things, a passionate advocate for the introduction of conscription at the beginning of World War II. In the early 1950s, the NYT opinion pages were extremely critical of Joseph McCarthy , but these editorials were mostly from Merz 'collaborator John Oakes. In 1961 Merz retired and from then on spent a substantial part of his time on Cape Cod .

Since June 1924 Merz was married to Evelyn Scott from Bennington (Vermont) . He received doctorate degrees from Yale University , Columbia University, and Colgate University , and was a curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation.

Publications

  • 1924: Centerville, USA Books for Libraries Press, ISBN 978-0-8369-3922-4 (portrait of a small American town and its inhabitants, based primarily on Merz's background in Sandusky.).
  • 1928: The Great American Band Wagon
  • 1931: The Dry Decade about the time of Prohibition .
  • 1933: The United States in World Affairs in 1932
  • 1941: Days of Decision

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c John T. McQuiston: Charles Merz, a Former Times Editor, Is Dead at 84 . In: The New York Times . September 1, 1977, p. 40 (English, documentcloud.org ).
  2. ↑ leaflet writer for the propaganda unit of the Army Expeditionary Force in France, Army's fledgling psychological warfare unit in France
  3. ↑ a b Laurel Leff: Buried by the Times . 2005, ISBN 978-0-521-60782-7 , pp. 31 (English): “[Charles] Merz followed [Walter] Lippmann to Pulitzer's New York World, where Lippmann headed the editorial page and Merz was one of the page's staff writers. [...] Seven years later, in November 1938, Sulzberger named Merz editorial director. "
  4. ^ Gay Talese : The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at The New York Times: The Institution That Influences the World . 1969, ISBN 978-0-8129-7768-4 , pp. 185 (English): "... and in 1931, a day before the World folded, Merz was hired by The Times ..."
  5. ^ Gay Talese : The Kingdom and the Power: Behind the Scenes at The New York Times: The Institution That Influences the World . 1969, ISBN 978-0-8129-7768-4 , pp. 241 : “Oakes, though a member of the Editorial Board, was years away from replacing Charles Merz as the editor of the editorial page; still Oakes had written most of the anti-McCarthyism editorials ”
  6. ↑ Munzinger Archive , [1]
  7. ↑ The New York Times , September 1, 1977, [2]
personal data
SURNAME Merz, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist, editor-in-chief and author
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Sandusky , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 1977
Place of death New York City