John R. MacArthur

John R. "Rick" MacArthur (June 4, 1956, New York City) is an American journalist and author of books about US politics. He is the president of Harper's Magazine.

Biography

MacArthur is the son of J. Roderick MacArthur and Christiane L’Entendart, and the grandson of billionaire John D. MacArthur. He grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, graduating from North Shore Country Day School in 1974. He graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in history in 1978. He lives with his wife and two daughters in New York City.

Career

MacArthur writes a monthly column for the Providence Journal and, in French, for Le Devoir on a wide range of topics from politics to culture.

Though John D. MacArthur disinherited his son J. Roderick MacArthur, the latter served on the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation until his death in 1984. In 1980, John R. MacArthur persuaded the foundation to partner in creating and funding a Harper's Magazine Foundation to acquire and operate the magazine of the same name. This new entity acquired Harper's Magazine (which was then losing nearly $2 million per year and was on the verge of ceasing publication) for $250,000. He became president and publisher of Harper's Magazine in 1983.

John R.

John R. (born John Richbourg, August 20, 1910, Manning, South Carolina; died February 15, 1986, Nashville, Tennessee) was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame in the 1950s and 1960s for playing rhythm and blues music on Nashville radio station WLAC. He was also a notable record producer and artist manager.

Richbourg was arguably the most popular and charismatic of the four announcers at WLAC who showcased popular African-American music in nightly programs from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. (The other three were Gene Nobles, Herman Grizzard, and Bill "Hoss" Allen.) Later rock music disc jockeys such as Alan Freed, Wolfman Jack, and others mimicked Richbourg's practice of using speech that simulated African-American street language of the mid-twentieth century.

Richbourg's highly stylized approach to on-air presentation of both music and advertising earned him popularity, but it also created identity confusion. Because Richbourg and fellow disc jockey Allen used African-American speech patterns, many listeners thought that both announcers were actually African-Americans. The disc jockeys used the mystique to their commercial and personal advantages until the mid-1960s, when their racial identities as Euro-Americans became public knowledge.