William Allen White
Encyclopedia
William Allen White was a renowned American
newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death White became the iconic spokesman for middle America.
, White moved to El Dorado
with his parents, Allen and Mary Ann Hatten White, where he spent the majority of his childhood. He loved animals and reading various books. He attended the College of Emporia
and University of Kansas
and in 1892 started work at The Kansas City Star
as an editorial writer.
for $3000 and became its editor.
In 1896 White attracted national attention with a scathing attack on William Jennings Bryan
, the Democrats, and the Populists titled "What's the Matter With Kansas?" 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. The Republicans sent out hundreds of thousands of copies of the editorial in support of William McKinley
during the United States presidential election, 1896
.
With his warm sense of humor, articulate editorial pen, and commonsense approach to life, he soon became known throughout the country. His Gazette editorials were widely reprinted; he wrote syndicated stories on politics; and he published many books, including biographies of Woodrow Wilson
and Calvin Coolidge
. This editorial and "Mary White" — a beautiful tribute to his 16-year-old daughter on her death in 1921, portraying her as an anti-flapper
— were his best-known writings. Locally he was known as the greatest booster for Emporia.
He won a 1923 Pulitzer Prize
for his editorial "To an Anxious Friend," published July 27, 1922, after being arrested in a dispute over free speech following objections to the way the state of Kansas handled the men who participated in the Great Railroad Strike of 1922
.
shook his faith in a cooperative, selfless, middle-class America. Like most old Progressives his attitude toward the New Deal was ambivalent: President Franklin D. Roosevelt
cared for the country and was personally attractive, but White considered his solutions haphazard. White seemed to see the country uniting behind old ideals by 1940 in the face of foreign threats.
in 1912 in opposition to the conservative forces surrounding incumbent Republican president William Howard Taft
.
White was a reporter at the Versailles Conference
in 1919 and a strong supporter of Woodrow Wilson
's proposal for the League of Nations
. The League went into operation but the U.S. never joined. During the 1920s, he was critical of both the isolationism and the conservatism of the Republican Party.
In 1924, angered by the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan
in the state, he made an unsuccessful run for Kansas Governor.
In the 1930s he was an early supporter of the Republican presidential nominees, Alf Landon
of Kansas in 1936, and Wendell Willkie
in 1940. However, White was on the liberal wing of the Republican Party
and wrote many editorials praising the New Deal
of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
before America's entrance into World War II
. White was fundamental in the formation of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
, sometimes known as the White Committee. White spent much of his last three years involved with this committee.
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 for the Book of the Month Club
along with long time friend Dorothy Canfield.
, born in 1900, and a daughter Mary, born in 1904. Mary died in a 1921 horse-riding accident, leading White to write a famous eulogy "Mary White" on August 17, 1921.
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 Bill the importance of journalism and after his death Bill took charge of the Gazette and continued its local success. Bill's wife Katherine ran it after Bill died. Their daughter Barbara and her husband David took it over much as Bill had earlier, and today the paper is family run still, at the present being headed by Christopher White Walker, WAW's great-grandson.
in the 1890s 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. White was to say later, "Roosevelt bit me and I went mad." Later, White supported much of the New Deal
, but voted against Franklin D. Roosevelt
every time. In 1940-41 he headed the interventionist Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
, fighting the isolationists who wanted to distance the U.S. from the war in Europe..
His autobiography, which was published posthumously, won a 1947 Pulitzer Prize
.
Life
described him:
The University of Kansas
Journalism School is named for him. There are also two awards the William Allen White Foundation has created: The William Allen White Award for outstanding Journalistic merit and the Children's Book Award
.
The city of Emporia raised $25,000 in war bonds duringWorld War II
and were granted naming rights for a B-29 bomber in early 1945. They unsurprisingly choose to name it after their most famous citizen William Allen White. This bomber was sent with a crew of men to the island of Tinian
in the South Pacific and was part of the same bomber squadron which the Enola Gay
was in.
During WWII a Liberty
ship was named for White.
In 1948 a 3¢ stamp was made in his honor by the U.S. Postal Service.
White's image is used by the band They Might Be Giants
in stagecraft and early music videos.
From editorial Student Riots, The Emporia (Kansas) Gazette, April 8, 1932:
From 1933 editorial about the futility of war (referring to World War I
):
From an editorial published in February 1943, shortly after President Franklin D. Roosevelt returned from the Casablanca Conference with Winston Churchill
:
From a March 20 1899 editorial, The Emporia Gazette:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death White became the iconic spokesman for middle America.
Early life
Born in Emporia, KansasEmporia, Kansas
Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 24,916. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 and 35 on the Kansas Turnpike...
, White moved to El Dorado
El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado is a city situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County, located in south-central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Butler County...
with his parents, Allen and Mary Ann Hatten White, where he spent the majority of his childhood. He loved animals and reading various books. He attended the College of Emporia
College of Emporia
The College of Emporia was established in 1882 in Emporia, Kansas, and was associated with the Presbyterian church. The college officially closed in 1974. The college campus was purchased by The Way International for $694,000 and was operated as the Way College of Emporia from 1975 until 1989...
and University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
and in 1892 started work at The Kansas City Star
The Kansas City Star
The Kansas City Star is a McClatchy newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes...
as an editorial writer.
Emporia Gazette
In 1895 White bought the Emporia GazetteEmporia Gazette
The Emporia Gazette is a daily newspaper in Emporia, Kansas.The newspaper rose to national attention after William Allen White bought the newspaper for $3,000 in 1895. The paper rose to national prominence and influence in the Republican Party following a White editorial in 1896, "What's the...
for $3000 and became its editor.
In 1896 White attracted national attention with a scathing attack on William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, the Democrats, and the Populists titled "What's the Matter With Kansas?" 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. The Republicans sent out hundreds of thousands of copies of the editorial in support of William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
during the United States presidential election, 1896
United States presidential election, 1896
The United States presidential election held on November 3, 1896, saw Republican William McKinley defeat Democrat William Jennings Bryan in a campaign considered by political scientists to be one of the most dramatic and complex in American history....
.
With his warm sense of humor, articulate editorial pen, and commonsense approach to life, he soon became known throughout the country. His Gazette editorials were widely reprinted; he wrote syndicated stories on politics; and he published many books, including biographies of Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
. This editorial and "Mary White" — a beautiful tribute to his 16-year-old daughter on her death in 1921, portraying her as an anti-flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
— were his best-known writings. Locally he was known as the greatest booster for Emporia.
He won a 1923 Pulitzer Prize
1923 Pulitzer Prize
-Journalism awards:*Public Service:**Memphis Commercial Appeal, for its courageous attitude in the publication of cartoons and the handling of news in reference to the operations of the Ku Klux Klan.*Reporting:...
for his editorial "To an Anxious Friend," published July 27, 1922, after being arrested in a dispute over free speech following objections to the way the state of Kansas handled the men who participated in the Great Railroad Strike of 1922
Great Railroad Strike of 1922
The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 was a nationwide railroad shop workers strike in the United States. The action began on July 1 and was the largest railroad work stoppage since 1894.-History:...
.
Small-town ideals
In his novels and short stories, White developed his idea of the small town as a metaphor for understanding social change and for preaching the necessity of community. While he expressed his views in terms of the small town, he tailored his rhetoric to the needs and values of emerging urban America. The cynicism of the post-World War I world stilled his imaginary literature, but for the remainder of his life he continued to propagate his vision of small-town community. He opposed chain stores and mail order firms as a threat to the business owner on Main Street. The Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
shook his faith in a cooperative, selfless, middle-class America. Like most old Progressives his attitude toward the New Deal was ambivalent: President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
cared for the country and was personally attractive, but White considered his solutions haphazard. White seemed to see the country uniting behind old ideals by 1940 in the face of foreign threats.
Fighting corruption
White sought to encourage a viable moral order that would provide the nation with a sense of community. White recognized the powerful forces of corruption but called for slow, remedial change having its origin in the middle class. In his novel In the Heart of a Fool (1918), White fully developed the idea that reform remained the soundest ally of property rights. He felt that the Spanish American War fostered political unity, and believed that a moral victory and an advance in civilization would be compensation for the devastation of World War I. White concluded that democracy in the New Era inevitably lacked direction, and the New Deal found him a baffled spectator. Nevertheless, he clung to his vision of a cooperative society until his death in 1944.Politics
White became a leader of the Progressive movement in Kansas, forming the Kansas Republican League in 1912 to oppose railroads. White helped Roosevelt form the Progressive (Bull-Moose) PartyProgressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
in 1912 in opposition to the conservative forces surrounding incumbent Republican president William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
.
White was a reporter at the Versailles Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
in 1919 and a strong supporter of Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
's proposal for the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
. The League went into operation but the U.S. never joined. During the 1920s, he was critical of both the isolationism and the conservatism of the Republican Party.
In 1924, angered by the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
in the state, he made an unsuccessful run for Kansas Governor.
In the 1930s he was an early supporter of the Republican presidential nominees, Alf Landon
Alf Landon
Alfred Mossman "Alf" Landon was an American Republican politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Kansas from 1933–1937. He was best known for being the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States, defeated in a landslide by Franklin D...
of Kansas in 1936, and Wendell Willkie
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
in 1940. However, White was on the liberal wing of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and wrote many editorials praising the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
.
Sage of Emporia
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 AlliesAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
before America's entrance into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. White was fundamental in the formation of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
The Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies was an American political action group formed in May 1940.The group advocated American military materiel support for Britain as the best way to keep the United States out of the conflict then raging in Europe...
, sometimes known as the White Committee. White spent much of his last three years involved with this committee.
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 for the Book of the Month Club
Book of the Month Club
The Book of the Month Club is a United States mail-order book sales club that offers a new book each month to customers.The Book of the Month Club is part of a larger company that runs many book clubs in the United States and Canada. It was formerly the flagship club of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc...
along with long time friend Dorothy Canfield.
Family
White married Sallie Lindsay in 1893. They had two children, William LindsayWilliam Lindsay White
William Lindsay White , American journalist, was the son of newspaper editor William Allen White. White grew up in Emporia, Kansas, went to the nearby University of Kansas, and then transferred to and graduated from Harvard College. After completing his course of studies at Harvard, he succeeded...
, born in 1900, and a daughter Mary, born in 1904. Mary died in a 1921 horse-riding accident, leading White to write a famous eulogy "Mary White" on August 17, 1921.
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 Bill the importance of journalism and after his death Bill took charge of the Gazette and continued its local success. Bill's wife Katherine ran it after Bill died. Their daughter Barbara and her husband David took it over much as Bill had earlier, and today the paper is family run still, at the present being headed by Christopher White Walker, WAW's great-grandson.
Famous visitors to Red Rocks
- Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
- Herbert HooverHerbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
- Calvin CoolidgeCalvin CoolidgeJohn Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
- Edna FerberEdna FerberEdna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
- Henry J. AllenHenry Justin AllenHenry Justin Allen was the 21st Governor of Kansas and U.S. Senator from Kansas .Allen was born in Warren County, Pennsylvania to John and Rebecca Elizabeth Allen...
- Frances Louise Tracy and Anne Morgan; wife and daughter of J.P. Morgan
- Douglas FairbanksDouglas FairbanksDouglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
- Dorothy Canfield
White and the Two Roosevelts
White developed a friendship with President Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
in the 1890s until Roosevelt's death in 1919. Roosevelt spent several nights at White's Wight and Wight
Wight and Wight
Wight and Wight, known also as Wight & Wight, was an architecture firm in Kansas City, Missouri consisting of the brothers Thomas Wight and William Wight who designed several landmark buildings in Missouri and Kansas....
-designed home, Red Rocks, during trips across the United States. White was to say later, "Roosevelt bit me and I went mad." Later, White supported much of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, but voted against Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
every time. In 1940-41 he headed the interventionist Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
The Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies was an American political action group formed in May 1940.The group advocated American military materiel support for Britain as the best way to keep the United States out of the conflict then raging in Europe...
, fighting the isolationists who wanted to distance the U.S. from the war in Europe..
Posthumous honors
The town of Emporia honors him to this day with city limits signs on I-35 announcing "Home of William Allen White."His autobiography, which was published posthumously, won a 1947 Pulitzer Prize
1947 Pulitzer Prize
-Journalism awards:*Public Service:** The Baltimore Sun for its series of articles by Howard M. Norton dealing with the administration of unemployment compensation in Maryland, resulting in convictions and pleas of guilty in criminal court of 93 persons....
.
Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
described him:
The University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
Journalism School is named for him. There are also two awards the William Allen White Foundation has created: The William Allen White Award for outstanding Journalistic merit and the Children's Book Award
William Allen White Children's Book Award
The William Allen White Children's Book Award is an annual book award chosen by Kansas students. It was established by Ruth Garver Gagliardo in 1952, in memory of William Allen White and is administered by Emporia State University. It was the first statewide readers' choice book award in the United...
.
The city of Emporia raised $25,000 in war bonds duringWorld War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and were granted naming rights for a B-29 bomber in early 1945. They unsurprisingly choose to name it after their most famous citizen William Allen White. This bomber was sent with a crew of men to the island of Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
in the South Pacific and was part of the same bomber squadron which the Enola Gay
Enola Gay
Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel Paul Tibbets. On August 6, 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war...
was in.
During WWII a Liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
ship was named for White.
In 1948 a 3¢ stamp was made in his honor by the U.S. Postal Service.
White's image is used by the band They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
in stagecraft and early music videos.
Quotations
From editorial Mary White:From editorial Student Riots, The Emporia (Kansas) Gazette, April 8, 1932:
From 1933 editorial about the futility of war (referring to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
):
From an editorial published in February 1943, shortly after President Franklin D. Roosevelt returned from the Casablanca Conference with Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
:
From a March 20 1899 editorial, The Emporia Gazette:
Published works
White had 22 works published throughout his life. Many of these works were collections of short stories, magazine articles, or speeches he gave throughout his long career.Biographies
- Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, The Man, His Times, and His Tasks (1924) - Calvin CoolidgeCalvin CoolidgeJohn Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, The Man Who is President (1925) - Masks in a Pageant (1928); profiles presidents from McKinley to Wilson
- A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge (1938)
- The Autobiography of William Allen White (1946)
Fiction
- The Real Issue: A Book of Kansas Stories (1896)
- The Court of Boyville (1899)
- Stratagems and Spoils: Stories of Love and Politics (1901)
- In Our Town (1906)
- A Certain Rich Man (1909)
- God's Puppets (1916)
- The Martial Adventures of Henry & Me (1918)
- In the Heart of a Fool (1918)
Political and social commentary
- The Old Order Changeth: A View of American Democracy (1910)
- Politics: The Citizen's Business (1924)
- Some Cycles of Cathay (1925)
- Boys-Then and Now (1926)
- What It's All About: Being A Reporter's Story of the Early Campaign of 1936United States presidential election, 1936The United States presidential election of 1936 was the most lopsided presidential election in the history of the United States in terms of electoral votes. In terms of the popular vote, it was the third biggest victory since the election of 1820, which was not seriously contested.The election took...
(1936) - Forty Years on Main Street (1937)
- The Changing West: An Economic Theory About Our Golden Age (1939)
See also
- Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
- Progressive Party (United States, 1912)Progressive Party (United States, 1912)The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
- William Lindsay WhiteWilliam Lindsay WhiteWilliam Lindsay White , American journalist, was the son of newspaper editor William Allen White. White grew up in Emporia, Kansas, went to the nearby University of Kansas, and then transferred to and graduated from Harvard College. After completing his course of studies at Harvard, he succeeded...
- Emporia GazetteEmporia GazetteThe Emporia Gazette is a daily newspaper in Emporia, Kansas.The newspaper rose to national attention after William Allen White bought the newspaper for $3,000 in 1895. The paper rose to national prominence and influence in the Republican Party following a White editorial in 1896, "What's the...
- Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
- Great Railroad Strike of 1922Great Railroad Strike of 1922The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 was a nationwide railroad shop workers strike in the United States. The action began on July 1 and was the largest railroad work stoppage since 1894.-History:...
- William Allen White CabinsWilliam Allen White CabinsThe William Allen White Cabins are chiefly associated with newspaper editor William Allen White, who adopted what would become Rocky Mountain National Park as his summer residence from 1912 to his death in 1944. White had visited Estes Park, Colorado while in college, and had previously summered...
, the Whites' summer retreat, now in Rocky Mountain National ParkRocky Mountain National ParkRocky Mountain National Park is a national park located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado.It features majestic mountain views, a variety of wildlife, varied climates and environments—from wooded forests to mountain tundra—and easy access to back-country trails...
and listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
Further reading
- Agran, Edward Gale. "Too Good a Town": William Allen White, Community, and the Emerging Rhetoric of Middle America. (1998) 240 pp.
- Hinshaw, David. A Man from Kansas: The Story of William Allen White (2005) 332 pp excerpt and text search
- Johnson, Walter F. William Allen White's America (1947)
- McKee, John DeWitt. William Allen White: Maverick on Main Street (1975) 264 pages
- Griffith, Sally Foreman. Home Town News: William Allen White and the Emporia Gazette (1989) online edition
- Buller, Beverley Olson. "From Emporia: William Allen White". Kansas City Star Books. (2007)