John D. Ewing
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John Dunbrack Ewing, Sr. (February 13, 1892-May 18, 1952), was a Louisiana journalist who served as editor and publisher of both the Shreveport Times and the Monroe New-Star-World from 1931 until his death. He was also affiliated with the KWKH radio station in Shreveport.
Ewing was born in New Orleans to Robert W. Ewing and the former May Dunbrack, originally from Nova Scotia, Canada. Ewing's mother died in 1906, when he was fourteen. He was educated at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, from which he obtained his bachelor's degree in 1913. He was a captain in the 32nd Division (Red Arrow) in France during World War I. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Star and the Purple Heart.
After two years as the circulation manager of the former New Orleans Daily States, he moved to Shreveport in 1915 to become associate publisher of the Shreveport Times. When his father died in 1931, Ewing became publisher of both The Times and the two Monroe newspapers. The three newspapers were known for their conservative-leaning editorials. Ewing was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940, which nominated U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for a third term. The Shreveport and Monroe newspapers are now Gannett publications. Only the morning News-Star, a former afternoon daily, remains in publication in Monroe.
From 1938-1939, Ewing was president of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. He headed the International Broadcasting Corp., the owners and operators of KWKH. He was a director of the Kansas City Southern and the Louisiana and Arkansas railroads.
In the spring of 1948, publisher Ewing joined eighteen colleagues, including Roy W. Howard of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain and Norman Chandler of the Los Angeles Times, in a trip to the former Union of South Africa, known for its rigid segregation. The publishers met Prime Minister Jan Christian Smuts and other South African leaders and toured the country. The prophetic Smuts told the publishers: "Fifty years from now the world may be an entirely different place. . . . Are we going to submit and bow down to it, or are we going to stand up to it and meet its challenge on behalf of human dignity?"
Ewing married the former Helen Hamilton Gray on December 27, 1919. They had two children, John D. Ewing, Jr., and Helen May Ewing Clay.
[edit] References
"John Dunbrack Ewing", A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. 1 (1988), p. 292
"John D. Ewing Dies: Publisher in the South", New York Times, May 18, 1952, p. 92
Margaret Martin, "Colonel Robert Ewing: Louisiana Journalist and Politician", (Master's thesis, 1964, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge)
http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/ewing.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,804464,00.html
Categories: American journalists | 1892 births | 1952 deaths | People from Shreveport, Louisiana | American newspaper publishers (people) of the 20th century | American military personnel of World War I | Recipients of the Purple Heart medal | Virginia Military Institute alumni | American newspaper editors | Businesspeople | People from Louisiana
