George Milton

January 19, 1894 (age 60)

Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States

Milton began his journalistic career as a studentworking for Marvin H. McIntyre, city editor of the Washington (D. C. ) Times and later Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary. After serving as a first lieutenant with the Rainbow Division in France, part of the time as aide-de-camp to General George C. Gatley, Milton became managing editor of his father's paper, the Chattanooga News, in 1919. Representing the Southern, dry, liberal wing, he was friendly with William Jennings Bryan, whom he sought to aid during the Scopes trial by establishing a news bureau in Dayton, Tenn. He supported the 1924 presidential candidacy of William Gibbs McAdoo and handled publicity during McAdoo's unsuccessful campaign for the nomination. Maintaining that his opposition in 1928 to Alfred E. Smith was due not to religion but to prohibition, Milton attempted to secure Catholic support for McAdoo and the drys. These efforts failed, however, and in September 1927 McAdoo wrote Milton a public letter announcing his withdrawal. In 1924, Milton's father died. Inheriting 31 percent of the paper's stock, he took over the presidency and editorship of the Chattanooga News. But the elder Milton had willed the majority of the shares to his second wife and her daughters, and the arrangement weakened the paper. Attempts to buy out the remaining shares failed, and financial problems arose after the establishment in 1936 of a rival daily, the Chattanooga Free Press. In the 1930's, Milton became an enthusiastic supporter of the New Deal. The Chattanooga News championed administration policies, especially the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority, a stand that earned it the bitter hostility of the power companies. President Roosevelt appreciated Milton's services. In 1936, he was appointed a member of the United States delegation to the Inter-American Conference at Buenos Aires. In 1937 he became special assistant in the State Department's Trade Agreements Division, and in 1938, he served as a member of Industry Commission Number 1 under the Fair Labor Standards Act. During World War II he worked in the Bureau of the Budget and several other federal agencies. In the meantime, the financial problems of the Chattanooga News had become insurmountable. In December 1939, the paper suspended publication, a development Milton blamed on the "determination of certain interests that the News must not go on. " Expressing satisfaction that public power had won, he charged that the News had had to pay the price for the TVA. The ensuing controversy had special significance because of the connection of Wendell L. Willkie, the Republican presidential candidate, with the Tennessee power companies. Milton attempted to found a new daily, the Chattanooga Evening Tribune, in March 1940. Although he had Roosevelt's special blessing for the venture, it failed before the end of the year. In 1944 and 1945, he was an editorial writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and from 1945 to 1950 for the Buffalo Evening News. Milton was a frequent speaker at meetings of learned societies and public forums. Considered a major spokesman of the liberal South in 1930, he became chairman of the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching he had a definite impact on American history. He died in Washington, D. C.

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Works

book

Abraham Lincoln and the Fifth Column

(An informative book on the Fifth Column during the Civil ...)

The use of presidential power, 1789-1943,

(How did the powers of the President of the United States ...)

Eve of Conflict: Stephen A. Douglas and the Needless War

(100% Satisfaction is Guaranteed! There are no problems in...)

The Duties of an Educated Southerner: Sewanee Review, January, 1930

The age of hate;: Andrew Johnson and the radicals,

(G/-, 788 PAGES)

Constitution of Tennessee: considered with reference to the constitutions of other states : important matters that would come before a constitutional convention.

( The Making of the Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-192...)

George Fort Milton

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historian journalist

Background

George Fort Milton was born on November 19, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was the son of George Fort Milton, a newspaper publisher, and Caroline Weaver McCall Milton.

Education

Milton was educated at the Baker-Himel School in Knoxville, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Virginia, from which he received the A. B. in 1916.

Career

Milton began his journalistic career as a studentworking for Marvin H. McIntyre, city editor of the Washington (D. C. ) Times and later Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary. After serving as a first lieutenant with the Rainbow Division in France, part of the time as aide-de-camp to General George C. Gatley, Milton became managing editor of his father's paper, the Chattanooga News, in 1919. Representing the Southern, dry, liberal wing, he was friendly with William Jennings Bryan, whom he sought to aid during the Scopes trial by establishing a news bureau in Dayton, Tenn. He supported the 1924 presidential candidacy of William Gibbs McAdoo and handled publicity during McAdoo's unsuccessful campaign for the nomination. Maintaining that his opposition in 1928 to Alfred E. Smith was due not to religion but to prohibition, Milton attempted to secure Catholic support for McAdoo and the drys. These efforts failed, however, and in September 1927 McAdoo wrote Milton a public letter announcing his withdrawal. In 1924, Milton's father died. Inheriting 31 percent of the paper's stock, he took over the presidency and editorship of the Chattanooga News. But the elder Milton had willed the majority of the shares to his second wife and her daughters, and the arrangement weakened the paper. Attempts to buy out the remaining shares failed, and financial problems arose after the establishment in 1936 of a rival daily, the Chattanooga Free Press. In the 1930's, Milton became an enthusiastic supporter of the New Deal. The Chattanooga News championed administration policies, especially the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority, a stand that earned it the bitter hostility of the power companies. President Roosevelt appreciated Milton's services. In 1936, he was appointed a member of the United States delegation to the Inter-American Conference at Buenos Aires. In 1937 he became special assistant in the State Department's Trade Agreements Division, and in 1938, he served as a member of Industry Commission Number 1 under the Fair Labor Standards Act. During World War II he worked in the Bureau of the Budget and several other federal agencies. In the meantime, the financial problems of the Chattanooga News had become insurmountable.

In December 1939, the paper suspended publication, a development Milton blamed on the "determination of certain interests that the News must not go on. " Expressing satisfaction that public power had won, he charged that the News had had to pay the price for the TVA. The ensuing controversy had special significance because of the connection of Wendell L. Willkie, the Republican presidential candidate, with the Tennessee power companies. Milton attempted to found a new daily, the Chattanooga Evening Tribune, in March 1940. Although he had Roosevelt's special blessing for the venture, it failed before the end of the year. In 1944 and 1945, he was an editorial writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and from 1945 to 1950 for the Buffalo Evening News. Milton was a frequent speaker at meetings of learned societies and public forums. Considered a major spokesman of the liberal South in 1930, he became chairman of the Southern Commission on the Study of Lynching he had a definite impact on American history. He died in Washington, D. C.

Achievements

Milton's most important contribution was in the field of American history. His special area of competence was the Civil War and Reconstruction, a subject he approached from a conservative point of view.