William allen white biography

William Allen White was a journalist, author, and one of the best-known men in Kansas during his lifetime.

White was born in Emporia, Kansas, on February 10, , to Dr. Allen and Mary Hatton)White. In , Dr. White moved to Eldorado, Kansas, where William was raised. After graduating from high school, he went to work for the Butler County Democrat, andin, he began his real newspaper career as a reporter and city circulator for the Eldorado Republican. Next, he learned to set type, run a job press, and write items for a country newspaper. In the fall, he went to Lawrence to attend the state university but returned to work on the paper at the close of the school year. During and , he again attended the university and, in the summer of , worked on the Lawrence Journal as a reporter.

In , he left college without completing his courses and returned to work on the Eldorado Republican. From Eldorado, he went to Kansas City as a correspondent and editorial writer on the Kansas City Journal and, subsequently, on its rival, the Kansas City Star. In , he borrowed money and bought the Emporia Gazette to have a paper he could run to suit himself. The paper was on the downgrade when he purchased it, but within three years, he had paid for it and expended $1, on improvements. White ran the Gazette as a Republican journal in an independent fashion and became unrivaled in the city for newspaper publishing.

In , he married Sallie Lindsay of Kansas City, Kansas; the couple had one child. During the campaign of , he wrote an article called What&#;s the Matter with Kansas, which the national press quickly picked up. The Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mark Hanna, made the statement that this editorial &#;was more widely circulated by the Republican National Committee than any other document sent out by it.&#; White was regarded as an asset by both the Republicans and Democrats. He was described as

American newspaper editor and Progressive leader (–)

For the award, see William Allen White Children's Book Award.

Not to be confused with the psychiatrist William Alanson White.

William Allen White (February 10, – January 29, ) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America.

At a banquet held in his honor by the Kansas Editorial Association, he was called "the most loved and most distinguished member" of the Kansas press.

Early life

White was born in Emporia, Kansas and moved to El Dorado, Kansas, with his parents, Allen and Mary Ann Hatten White, where he spent the majority of his childhood. He loved animals and reading books. He attended the College of Emporia and the University of Kansas, and in started work at The Kansas City Star as an editorial writer.

The Emporia Gazette

In , White bought the Emporia Gazette for $3, from William Yoast Morgan and became its editor.

What's the matter with Kansas? –

White was a political conservative at this early stage of his career. In a White editorial titled "What's the Matter With Kansas?" attracted national attention with a scathing attack on William Jennings Bryan, the Democrats, and the Populists. White sharply ridiculed Populist leaders for letting Kansas slip into economic stagnation and not keeping up economically with neighboring states because their anti-business policies frightened away economic capital from the state. White wrote:

"There are

Abridged and edited for the modern reader and available in paperback for the first time ever, this second edition brings back into print a classic autobiography of Middle America&#;an immensely readable document that enriches our understanding of Progressivism and politics, journalism, and the social history of small-town America from Reconstruction into the Roaring Twenties.

At the time of his death in , William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, was a national celebrity, proclaimed one of the truly great Americans of his age. Life magazine called him &#;a living symbol of small-town simplicity and kindliness and common sense.&#;

During his career White had managed to expand his circle of influence far beyond Emporia Kansas to include most of the nation. By the end of his life he had become a nationally acclaimed journalist and author of biographies, novels, and short stories. He was also widely known for his shrewd commentary on contemporary events in the national media. An influential Republican political leader, he founded the Progressive party and was a longtime advocate of social reform and individual rights. But what endeared him most to his contemporaries was that, in spite of national fame, he remained first and foremost a small-town newspaperman.

First published posthumously in , White&#;s Autobiography was immediately hailed as a classic portrait, not simply of White himself, but of the men and women who transformed America from an agrarian society to a powerful industrial nation in the years before World War I. A bestselling Book-of-the-Month Club selection, the Autobiography was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in

This new edition, edited to eliminate repetitions and digressions, features an introduction by Sally Foreman Griffith, author of a recent biography of White. Griffith explores the background of the Autobiography and illuminates its place in the development of the autobiographical genre.