   #copyright

John Seigenthaler, Sr.

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Writers and critics

   John Lawrence Seigenthaler ( IPA pronunciation: [ˈsigɛnˌθɔlɚ]; born
   July 27, 1927) is an American journalist, writer, and political figure.

   Seigenthaler joined The Tennessean in 1949 and became editor in 1962,
   publisher in 1973, and chairman in 1982 before retiring as chairman
   emeritus in 1991. Seigenthaler was also founding editorial director of
   USA Today from 1982 to 1991. During this period he served on the board
   of directors for the American Society of Newspaper Editors and from
   1988 to 1989 was its president.

   While covering a story in the mid-1950s, Seigenthaler met singer
   Dolores Watson. Giving up dreams of a musical career, Watson married
   Seigenthaler in 1955, and later gave birth to the couple's only child,
   John Seigenthaler, Jr., currently an anchor with NBC News. The elder
   Seigenthaler's brother, Thomas Seigenthaler, was the founder of
   Seigenthaler Public Relations.

Early years

   Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Seigenthaler is the oldest of eight
   siblings. He attended Father Ryan High School and served in the U.S.
   Air Force from 1946 to 1949. After leaving the service, Seigenthaler
   was hired at The Tennessean as a reporter after his uncle encouraged an
   editor about his talent. Those skills weren't immediately evident after
   he was lectured by an editor about his first article, but he was able
   to establish himself on the staff among heavy competition that included
   future standout journalists David Halberstam and Tom Wicker.

   While working at The Tennessean, Seigenthaler took courses in sociology
   and literature at Peabody College, now part of Vanderbilt University.
   He also attended the American Press Institute for Reporters at Columbia
   University.

Beginnings as a reporter

   Seigenthaler began his career in journalism as a police beat reporter
   in The Tennessean city room. He first gained prominence in November
   1953 when he tracked down the former Thomas C. Buntin and his wife. The
   bizarre case involved the son of a wealthy Nashville business owner who
   had disappeared in September 1931, followed six weeks later by the
   disappearance of his secretary. Seigenthaler was sent to Texas by The
   Tennessean after reports surfaced that Buntin (now known as Thomas D.
   Palmer) was living somewhere in the Lone Star state. After a series of
   dead-ends, Seigenthaler struck pay dirt in Orange, Texas, where he saw
   an elderly man step off a bus. Noting the man's distinctive left ear,
   Seigenthaler followed him home. After three further days of
   investigation, he went back to the home, where he confirmed the
   identities of Buntin/Palmer, his wife, the former Betty McCuddy, and
   their six children. Seigenthaler won a National Headliner Award for the
   story.

   Less than a year later, on October 5, 1954, Seigenthaler once again
   made national news for his efforts in saving a suicidal man from
   jumping off the Shelby Street Bridge in Nashville. Gene Bradford
   Williams had called The Tennessean saying he would jump and for the
   newspaper to "send a reporter and photographer if you want a story."
   After talking to Williams at the bridge for 40 minutes, Seigenthaler
   watched the man begin to attempt his 100-foot plunge off the bridge
   railing. Grabbing hold of his collar, Seigenthaler and police saved the
   man from falling into the Cumberland River. Williams muttered "I'll
   never forgive you" to Seigenthaler.

   In July 1957, Seigenthaler began a battle to eliminate corruption
   within the local branch of the Teamsters, noting the criminal
   backgrounds of key employees, along with the uses of intimidation in
   keeping news of certain union activities quiet. During this period, he
   contacted Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa, both top Teamsters officials, but
   the two men ignored Seigenthaler's queries. His series of articles
   resulted in the impeachment of Chattanooga Criminal Court Judge Ralston
   Schoolfield.

   Seigenthaler took a one-year sabbatical from The Tennessean in 1958 to
   participate in Harvard University's prestigious Nieman Fellowship
   program. Upon returning to The Tennessean, Seigenthaler became an
   assistant city editor and special assignment reporter.

Association with Robert F. Kennedy

   Frustrated by the leadership of Tennessean publisher Silliman Evans,
   Jr., Seigenthaler resigned in 1960 to serve as an administrative
   assistant to incoming Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. On April 21,
   1961, Seigenthaler was the only other Justice Department figure to
   witness a meeting between Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

   During the Freedom Rides of 1961, Seigenthaler was sent to be chief
   negotiator for the government, in its attempts to work with Alabama
   Governor John Malcolm Patterson. After several days of refusing to
   return calls, Patterson finally agreed to protect the Riders, but their
   state trooper escort disappeared as soon as they arrived in Montgomery
   on May 20, 1961, leaving them unprotected before the waiting white mob.

   Seigenthaler was a block away when he rushed to help Susan Wilbur, a
   Freedom Rider who was being chased by the angry mob. Seigenthaler
   shoved her into his car before being hit behind the left ear with a
   pipe. Knocked unconscious, he was not picked up until police arrived 10
   minutes later, with Montgomery Police Commissioner Lester B. Sullivan
   noting, "We have no intention of standing police guard for a bunch of
   troublemakers coming into our city."

   Seigenthaler's brief career in government would conclude as a result of
   Evans' death from a heart attack on July 29, 1961. A brief transition
   period followed, during which long-time Tennessean reporter John Nye
   served as publisher. On March 20, 1962, the newspaper made the
   announcement that Evans' brother, Amon Carter Evans, would be the new
   publisher.

   One of the new Evans' first duties would be to bring back Seigenthaler
   as editor. The two had worked together before at the paper, when
   Seigenthaler served as assistant city editor and Evans was an aspiring
   journalist. On one occasion during that era, the two nearly came to
   blows over Seigenthaler's assignment of Evans to a story.

   Evans named Seigenthaler editor of The Tennessean on March 21, 1962.
   With this new team in place, The Tennessean quickly regained its
   hard-hitting reputation. One example of the paper's resurgence came
   following a Democratic primary in August 1962, when The Tennessean
   found documented evidence of voter fraud based on absentee ballots in
   the city's second ward.

   Seigenthaler's friendship with Kennedy became one of the focal points
   of Jimmy Hoffa's bid to shift his jury tampering trial from Nashville.
   Citing "one-sided, defamatory" coverage from the newspaper, Hoffa's
   lawyers were able to get Seigenthaler to admit he personally wanted
   Hoffa convicted. However, the journalist noted that he hadn't conveyed
   those sentiments to his reporters. Hoffa's lawyers gained a minor
   victory when the trial was moved to Chattanooga in a change of venue,
   but Hoffa was nonetheless convicted in 1964 after a 45-day trial.

   The following year, Seigenthaler led a fight for access to the
   Tennessee state senate chamber in Nashville after a resolution was
   passed revoking the floor privileges of Tennessean reporter Bill
   Kovach. The action came after Kovach had refused to leave a committee
   hearing following a call for executive session.

   In December 1966, Seigenthaler and Richard Goodwin represented the
   Kennedy family when controversy developed about historian William
   Manchester's book about the John F. Kennedy assassination, Death of a
   President. Seigenthaler had read an early version of the book, which
   led to Jacqueline Kennedy threatening a lawsuit over inaccurate and
   private statements in the publication.

   Seigenthaler then took a temporary leave from his duties at the
   newspaper to work on Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign.
   During this period, the journalist was described by the New York Times
   as, "one of a handful of advisers in whom [Kennedy] has absolute
   confidence." Moments after a victory in the California primary, Kennedy
   was shot by an assassin and died on June 6, 1968. Seigenthaler would
   serve as one of the pallbearers at his funeral, and later co-edited the
   book An Honorable Profession: A Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy.

   Remaining focused on the cause of civil rights, Seigenthaler then
   supported Tennessee Bishop Joseph Aloysius Durick in 1969 during the
   latter's contentious fight to end segregation, a stance that outraged
   many in the community who still believed in the concept.

Time as publisher

   On February 8, 1973, Seigenthaler was promoted to publisher of the
   Tennessean, after Amon Carter Evans was named president of Tennessean
   Newspaper, Inc.

   As the publisher, Seigenthaler worked with Al Gore, then a reporter, on
   investigative stories about Nashville city council corruption in the
   early 1970s. In February 1976, Seigenthaler contacted Gore at home to
   inform him that U.S. Representative Joe L. Evins was not running for
   re-election. Gore decided to resign from the paper and drop out of
   Vanderbilt University Law School, beginning his political career by
   entering the race for Tennessee's 4th congressional district, a seat
   previously held by Albert Gore, Sr., his father.

   On May 5, 1976, Seigenthaler dismissed Jacque Srouji, a copy editor at
   The Tennessean, after finding that she had served as an informant for
   the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for much of the previous
   decade. The controversy came to light after Srouji testified before the
   Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Small
   Business and Entrepreneurship, which was investigating nuclear safety.
   Srouji, who was writing a book critical of Karen Silkwood, had perused
   more than 1000 pages of FBI documents pertaining to the nuclear power
   critic. In followup testimony, FBI agent Lawrence J. Olson, Sr.
   acknowledged that the bureau had a "special relationship" with Srouji.
   Tennessean reporters had been suspicious of Srouji's reporting coups,
   coming just months after she had joined the paper. These included such
   things as a late-night FBI raid on illegal gambling establishments, as
   well as one on a local business suspected of fraud.

   Afterwards the FBI appears to have collected rumors about Seigenthaler.
   FBI Deputy Assistant Director Homer Boynton told an editor of the New
   York Times to "look into Seigenthaler," whom he called "not entirely
   pure." After hearing this, Seigenthaler tried for a year to get his own
   FBI dossier, and finally received some highly expurgated material
   including these words: "Allegations of Seigenthaler having illicit
   relations with young girls, which information source obtained from an
   unnamed source." He had previously promised to publish whatever the FBI
   gave him, and did so. He flatly stated that the charges were false. The
   attorney general issued an apology, the allegations were removed from
   Seigenthaler's file, and he received the 1976 Sidney Hillman Prize for
   "courage in publishing".

   In May 1982, Seigenthaler was named the first editorial director of USA
   Today. In announcing the appointment, Gannett president Allen Neuharth
   said Seigenthaler was "one of the most thoughtful and respected editors
   in America." During Seigenthaler's tenure at USA Today, he frequently
   commuted between Nashville and Washington to fulfill his duties at both
   newspapers.

   The publication of author Peter Maas' 1983 book, Marie: A True Story,
   again put Seigenthaler under scrutiny over the investigation of a
   pardon scandal involving former Tennessee governor Ray Blanton. Marie
   Ragghianti was the head of the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles
   before being fired after refusing to release prisoners who had bribed
   Blanton's aides. Since the Tennessean had supported Blanton, the
   newspaper's initial reluctance in investigating the charges was called
   into question. However, editors and reporters had believed that
   Ragghianti's alleged broken affair with Blanton's chief counsel, T.
   Edward Sisk, was the motivation for her claims.

Later life

   Seigenthaler continues to make frequent public speaking engagements.
   Enlarge
   Seigenthaler continues to make frequent public speaking engagements.

   In 1986, Middle Tennessee State University established the John
   Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, honoring
   Seigenthaler's "lifelong commitment to free expression values".

   However, three years later, Seigenthaler again became embroiled in
   controversy with the FBI when he was tipped off by Circuit Court Judge
   Gilbert S. Merritt that Nashville-Davidson County Sheriff Lafayette
   "Fate" Thomas, his friend since childhood, was the target of a FBI
   government corruption sting. Although Seigenthaler was never charged
   with any crime, Thomas later pled guilty to mail fraud, theft of
   government property, and tax conspiracy and was sentenced to five years
   in prison. Despite the conviction, the FBI claimed that Thomas'
   knowledge of the plan ruined countless hours of investigative work.

   Seigenthaler announced his retirement in December 1991 from The
   Tennessean, just months after he made a similar announcement concerning
   his tenure at USA Today.

   On December 15, 1991, Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Centre
   at Vanderbilt University, saying, "It is my hope that this center at
   Vanderbilt University... will help promote appreciation and
   understanding for those values so vital in a democratic society." The
   centre serves as a forum for dialog about First Amendment issues,
   including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of
   religion.

   Over the next few years, Seigenthaler's prominent status became the
   focus of two arrests. During the case of white supremacist Jonathan
   David Brown, a federal witness testified that Seigenthaler was among
   the potential murder targets of Brown. The witness stated that he and
   Brown had attended a reception that Seigenthaler was at, "for future
   reference." Then, just days after the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995,
   two brothers facing weapons charges, Sean and Brian Bottoms, had
   reportedly acknowledged that they were considering kidnapping
   Seigenthaler. That turned out to be incorrect, when it was revealed
   Seigenthaler's son, John Jr., was one of the intended targets.

   In 2001, Seigenthaler was appointed to the National Commission on
   Federal Election Reform that followed the 2000 presidential election.
   He is also a member of the Constitution Project on Liberty and
   Security.

   In 2002, when it was discovered that USA Today reporter Jack Kelley had
   fabricated some of his stories, USA Today turned to Seigenthaler, along
   with veteran editors Bill Hilliard and Bill Kovach, to monitor the
   investigation.

   In 2002, Vanderbilt renamed the 57,000-square-foot (5,300 m²) building
   that houses the Freedom Forum, First Amendment Center, and Diversity
   Institute the John Seigenthaler Centre. At one point, USA Today and
   Freedom Forum founder Allen Neuharth called Seigenthaler "the best
   champion of the First Amendment."

   Seigenthaler currently hosts a book review program on Nashville public
   television station WNPT, called A Word on Words, and chairs the
   selection committees for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation's
   Profiles in Courage Award and the RFK Memorial's Robert F. Kennedy Book
   Award.

Wikipedia controversy

   In May 2005, an anonymous user (later identified as Brian Chase)
   created a five-sentence Wikipedia article about Seigenthaler which
   contained defamatory content. The article remained largely unchanged
   for four months, until it was brought to Seigenthaler's attention.

   Seigenthaler contacted Wikipedia in September, and the content was
   deleted. He later wrote an op-ed on the experience for USA Today on
   November 29, in which he wrote "Wikipedia is a flawed and irresponsible
   research tool." The op-ed prompted many commentators to write about the
   issue and the reliability of open editing models in the following
   weeks.

Publications

     * Seigenthaler, John (2004). James K. Polk: 1845-1849: The American
       Presidents Series. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-6942-9.
     * Seigenthaler, John (1974). The Year of the Scandal Called
       Watergate. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-914636-01-4.
     * Seigenthaler, John (1971). A Search for Justice. Aurora Publishers.
       ISBN 0-87695-003-9.

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