Turner Catledge
William Turner Catledge (/ˈkætlᵻdʒ/; 1901–1983) was an American journalist, best known for his work at The New York Times. He was Managing Editor from 1952-1964, at which time he became the paper's first Executive Editor. After his retirement in 1968, he served briefly on the board of The New York Times company as a vice president. He published his autobiography, My Life and The Times, in 1971.
Early life
Catledge was born on March 17, 1901 to his parents, Lee Johnston Catledge and Willie Anna Turner, and older sister Bessie Lee Catledge, on his grandfather’s 900-acre (3.6 km2) farm in Ackerman, Mississippi. When he was three, his family moved to Philadelphia, Mississippi. After graduating from Philadelphia High School in 1918, he enrolled at Mississippi A&M with a science major.
Career in journalism
Catledge's first news job was at fourteen years old for the Neshoba Democrat, setting type. After college, the Democrat offered him another job but instead he became editor of the Tunica Times (Tunica, Mississippi) in 1922, and later managing editor and mechanical superintendent of the Tupelo Journal (Tupelo, Mississippi). At the Journal he campaigned against the Ku Klux Klan, who were most active during this time period; in response, the Klan burned down the newspaper plant.
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