- Harry Ashmore
Harry Scott Ashmore (
July 28 ,1916 ,Greenville, South Carolina –January 20 ,1998 ,Santa Barbara, California ) was an American journalist who won aPulitzer Prize for his editorials in 1957 on the school integration conflict in Little Rock,Arkansas .Ashmore was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on
July 28 1916 . He attended Greenville High School and Clemson Agricultural College where he graduated with a degree in general science in 1937. He showed an early ability injournalism , having served as editor of thestudent newspaper s at both Greenville High School and Clemson College. After graduation from Clemson, Ashmore worked as anewspaper reporter , first at the "Greenville Piedmont", and then at the "Greenville News". In 1940 Ashmore married Barbara Edith Laier, a physical education teacher atFurman University . Ashmore was accepted for aNeiman Fellowship atHarvard University in 1941. When the United States enteredWorld War II in December 1941, Ashmore left Harvard to join theUnited States Army , and served as an operations officer (reaching the rank ofLieutenant Colonel ) with the Ninety-fifth Infantry Division, part of theUnited States Third Army . After the war, Harry Ashmore became theeditorial writer at the "Charlotte News" (in Charlotte,North Carolina ).cite web|last=Sawyer|first=Nathania|title=Harry Scott Ashmore (1916–1998)| url = http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1579 | publisher=The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture|accessdate=2006-07-09] [cite journal|first=Martin | last=Ochs| url=http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1995/spring/ochs-search-racial-justice/ |title=Search for Racial Justice| journal =The Virginia Quarterly Review | volume=71 | year=1995 |issue=2|id= ISSN|0042-675X|accessdate=2006-07-11]"Arkansas Gazette"
In 1947 Ashmore was recruited to be the editorial writer at the "Arkansas Gazette" in Little Rock, Arkansas. He soon became the executive editor at the paper, and gained a reputation as a moderate-to-liberal thinker. In 1951
Governor Sid McMath of Arkansas invited Ashmore to address the Southern Governors' Conference when it met at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Ashmore spoke to the governors oncivil rights , a contentious subject in southern states, and newspapers around the United States reprinted the speech or excerpts from it.Ashmore wrote the first of his eleven books in 1954. "The Negro and the Schools" was a report of a
Ford Foundation study of segregated education in the South. It was published shortly before theUnited States Supreme Court handed down its decision ending school segregation inBrown v. Board of Education . Chief JusticeEarl Warren later told Ashmore that the book was used as a source while drafting the 1955 implementation ruling known as Brown II.Also in 1954, Ashmore came to the aid of
Orval Faubus , who was running for Governor of Arkansas.Francis Cherry , the incumbent, had tried to smear Faubus by revealing that he had attended Commonwealth College, a socialist school in Arkansas. Faubus at first tried to deny the charge, but Cherry produced documentary evidence. Unhappy with Cherry's tactics, Ashmore ghostwrote a speech for Faubus to respond to the charges. The speech was successful, and is credited with saving Faubus's political career. In 1955 Ashmore took a leave of absence for a year to work onAdlai Stevenson 's presidential campaign.In 1957 the Federal courts ordered integration of the schools in the
Little Rock School District , starting theLittle Rock Crisis . Governor Faubus defied the court order, while Ashmore editorialized for compliance with the law. This ended the friendship between the two. Ashmore became a rallying point for moderates and liberals in Arkansas, and a figure of hatred for segregationists, who labeled him acarpetbagger . In 1958 the "Arkansas Gazette" won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, "For demonstrating the highest qualities of civic leadership, journalistic responsibility and moral courage in the face of great public tension during the school integration crisis of 1957. The newspaper's fearless and completely objective news coverage, plus its reasoned and moderate policy, did much to restore calmness and order to an overwrought community, reflecting great credit on its editors and its management." In the same year Harry Ashmore won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, "For the forcefulness, dispassionate analysis and clarity of his editorials on the school integration conflict in Little Rock." [cite web|title=The Pulitzer Prize Winners 1958|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?914,23|publisher=the Pulitzer Board|accessdate=2006-07-11] In 1959 theArkansas General Assembly passed a resolution to rename Toad Suck Ferry to Ashmore Landing. Governor Faubus vetoed the resolution on the grounds that the name change would defame a well known landing.Later life
In 1959 Ashmore left the "Arkansas Gazette" and moved to Santa Barbara,
California , where he joined theCenter for the Study of Democratic Institutions . He served as President of the Center from 1969 to 1974. [cite news |first = Claude |last = Sitton |url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE0DF163BF933A15755C0A964948260 |title = Our Record on Racism |publisher = TheNew York Times |pages = 2 |date =1982-06-20 |accessdate = 2006-07-09] He also served as the editor-in-chief of theEncyclopaedia Britannica from 1960 until 1963, and afterwards as Director of Editorial Research. [cite web|last=Ashmore|first=Harry | url=http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/99-4_00-1NR/Ashmore_Custodians.html| title= Custodians of the City| year = 1966| month = March | work = The Niemans Reports | publisher= The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University| accessdate = 2006-07-09] Ashmore received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Lifetime Achievement Award for 1995-1996. [cite web|url=http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/16th/| title=16th Annual RFK Book Award (1995-1996)|publisher=Robert F. Kennedy Memorial|accessdate=2006-07-11]In 1967 and 1968 Harry Ashmore traveled to
North Vietnam withBill Baggs (editor ofThe Miami News ) on a private peace mission. While there, they interviewedHo Chi Minh about what conditions would be necessary to end theVietnam War . [cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb/v/13137.htm| title=Marigold, Sunflower, and the Continuing Search for Peace, January-February|work= Foreign Relations, 1964-1968, Volume V, Vietnam 1967|date=1967-01-01 |publisher=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=2005-06-25] He speaks about his experiences in the 1968 documentary film "In the Year of the Pig ".Harry Ashmore died in Santa Barbara, California on
January 20 ,1998 .References
External links
* [http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/central/wgaz04.html The Crisis Mr. Faubus Made ("Gazette" editorial about Little Rock's desegregation crisis by Henry Ashmore)]
Persondata
NAME=Ashmore, Harry Scott
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Ashmore, Harry
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American journalist and newspaper editor, recipient of the 1957 Pulitzer price
DATE OF BIRTH=July 28 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH=Greenville, South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH=January 20 1998
PLACE OF DEATH=Santa Barbara, California
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