William L. White
Known for WritingBorn 1900-06-17 — died 1973-07-26Emporia, Kansas, USA
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William Lindsay White (June 17, 1900 – July 26, 1973) was American journalist, foreign correspondent, and writer. He succeeded his father, William Allen White, as editor and publisher of the Emporia Gazette in 1944. Among White's most noteworthy books are They Were Expendable and Lost Boundaries. He served as associate publisher of the Gazette in the early 1930s. White worked for the Washington Post in 1935 and for Fortune magazine in 1937. In 1939 he became a war correspondent for the Columbia Broadcasting System and a consortium of 40 newspaper. The National Headliners Club awarded him its prize for best European broadcast of the year for his editorial "The Last Christmas Tree" from the Mannerheim Line in Finland in 1940. He reported from London i1n 1940-41 for the North American Newspaper Association and Readers Digest. In 1942 he became Roving Editor for Readers Digest.
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As editor and publisher of the Emporia Gazette beginning in 1944, White fought many battles with the city. When the old courthouse needed repairs, the city decided to build a new one instead. White led a campaign to repair the old courthouse and lost. He later angered the local chamber of commerce by opposing tax breaks for companies that relocated to Emporia. He opposed urban renewal schemes that benefited real estate interests and merchants in downtown Emporia rather than the poor in need of housing.
White was also a radio correspondent for CBS News, sometimes filling in for Edward R. Murrow. For most of his later career, William Lindsay White was Roving Editor for Reader's Digest and published numerous articles in that magazine.
White was also actively involved in politics. He served in the Kansas House of Representatives in 1931-32. White also drummed up support for Dwight D. Eisenhower's run for the Presidency in 1952 and supported his friend Richard Nixon's presidential campaign. When Bob Dole first ran for the United States Senate, White threw a dinner party at the Broadview Hotel and invited most of the Eastern Kansas Republican leaders. The dinner was pivotal to the success of Dole's first campaign.
He wrote 14 books during the course of his career, beginning in 1938 with What People Said (1938), which examined the Kansas bond scandal. In 1944, the New York Times described three of his earliest titles as best-sellers: They Were Expendable, Queens Die Proudly, and Journey for Margaret. All were based on his experience as a war correspondent. Three of his books were adapted into feature Hollywood films: They Were Expendable, Journey for Margaret, and Lost Boundaries. They Were Expendable was a Book of the Month Club selection, as well.
He served for a time as an overseer of Harvard. He was elected to the board of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1950. He became an officer of a group formed to aid Russian refugees in 1951, the American Committee for Freedom for the Peoples of the U.S.S.R.