William Allen White
William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America.
For the award, see William Allen White Children's Book Award.
William Allen White
February 10, 1868
January 29, 1944 (aged 75)
Newspaper editor, author
Sallie Lindsay
2; including William
Allen, Mary Ann
At a 1937 banquet held in his honor by the Kansas Editorial Association, he was called "the most loved and most distinguished member" of the Kansas press.[1]: 39
Early life[edit]
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.[2][3] He attended the College of Emporia and the University of Kansas, and in 1889 started work at The Kansas City Star as an editorial writer.
Sponsoring painter John Steuart Curry[edit]
White was the leader in persuading Kansas newspaper editors and publishers to run a fund-raising campaign so as to invite Kansas's most famous artist, John Steuart Curry, to paint murals for Kansas. He got the support of Governor Walter Huxman and other politicians, and the result was the prestigious invitation to paint murals for the Kansas Capitol. The result was Tragic Prelude.[1] : 37–39
Sage of Emporia[edit]
The last quarter century of White's life was spent as an unofficial national spokesman for Middle America. This led President Franklin Roosevelt to ask White to help generate public support for the Allies before America's entry into World War II. In 1940 White was fundamental in the formation of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, sometimes known as the White Committee.[13] He resigned on January 3, 1941, writing to a newspaper columnist that "In our New York and Washington chapters we have a bunch of war mongers and under our organization we have no way to oust them and I just can't remain at the head of an organization that is being used by those chapters to ghost dance for war."[14]
Sometimes referred to as the Sage of Emporia, he continued to write editorials for the Gazette until his death in 1944. He was also a founding editor of the Book of the Month Club, along with longtime friend Dorothy Canfield.
Family[edit]
White married Sallie Lindsay in 1893. They had two children, William Lindsay, born in 1900, and Mary Katherine, born in 1904. Mary died in a 1921 horse-riding accident, prompting her father to publish a famous eulogy, "Mary White," on May 17, 1921.[15][16]
White visited six of the seven continents at least once in his long life. Due to his fame and success, he received 10 honorary degrees from universities, including one from Harvard.
White taught his son William L. the importance of journalism, and after his death, William L. took charge of the Gazette and continued its local success; after he died, his wife Kathrine ran it. Their daughter Barbara and her husband, David Walker, took it over much as William[17] had earlier, and today the paper remains family-run, currently headed by William Allen White's great-grandson, Christopher White Walker.
White and the two Roosevelts[edit]
White developed a friendship with President Theodore Roosevelt in the 1890s that lasted until Roosevelt's death in 1919. Roosevelt spent several nights at White's Wight and Wight-designed home, Red Rocks, during trips across the United States.[18] White was to say later, "Roosevelt bit me and I went mad."[19] Later, White supported much of the New Deal, but voted against Franklin D. Roosevelt every time.
