John Sanford Cohen was an American newspaper editor and United States senator from Georgia.
Background
John Sanford Cohen was born on February 26, 1870 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. He was the second son of Philip Lawrence and Ellen Gobert (Wright) Cohen. He had one sister, Caroline. His father (1845 - 1882), member of a Portuguese Jewish family that settled in Savannah, Georgia, early in its history, was a private banker and broker, who entered the Confederate army when he was sixteen years old, serving throughout the war and surrendering with Lee at Appomattox. His mother was the daughter of Major-General Ambrose Ransom Wright, a distinguished commander in the Confederate army and a lieutenant-governor of Georgia, who was elected to Congress in 1872 but died too soon thereafter to take his seat; he was also editor of the Augusta Chronicle. General Wright's wife was Mary Hubbell Savage, a descendant of Thomas Savage (1594 - 1627), who came from England and settled in Virginia in 1607.
Education
John Sanford Cohen attended Richmond Academy, Augusta, Bellevue High School, Bellevue; Maupin's School for Boys, Ellicott City and Shenandoah Valley Academy. In 1885, at the age of fifteen, he entered the United States Naval Academy. His brother, Ambrose Ransom Wright Cohen, two years his senior, had died the year before while a student there.
Career
Resigning in 1886, however, John returned to Augusta to serve an apprenticeship on the Augusta Chronicle, one of the South's oldest newspapers, which for decades had been the property of his mother's family, and of which his grandfather and his mother's brother, Henry Gregg Wright, had been editors. During his earlier years on the Chronicle he gained experience in every kind of work from type-setting and proof-reading to reporting and editorial writing. After a year in Mexico as secretary to Capt. William G. Raoul, builder of the Mexican National Railroad, he entered the New York field of journalism in 1889, becoming at the age of nineteen a reporter on the New York World. In 1890 he joined the staff of the Atlanta Journal, with which newspaper he was connected until his death, save for a period of service with the army during the Spanish-American War. On the day war was declared he sailed with the American fleet under Admiral Robley D. Evans as correspondent for the Journal. He witnessed the first capture of the enemy ships and wrote many stories of the war. On the call for volunteers he returned to Georgia and was commissioned first lieutenant, Company A, Third Georgia United States Volunteer Infantry. He was rapidly promoted, first to captain and then to major, and went with the army of occupation to Cuba. In the second administration of President Cleveland, Major Cohen was Washington correspondent for the Journal, and for a brief period he was also private secretary to Hoke Smith, secretary of the interior. He became managing editor of the Journal in 1900, during an important period of development of the South, in which he took an active part. Under his guidance, in 1909, this paper joined with the New York Herald in sponsoring a motorcade to chart the first national highway from New York City through the heart of Virginia to Atlanta and Jacksonville, Florida, thus contributing to the advancement of the use of the automobile. In 1927 he sponsored the inauguration tour of the Appalachian scenic highway from New Orleans to Quebec. In 1917 he was made president and editor of the Journal. Under his administration it grew in usefulness to the South and in influence throughout the nation. It was the earliest newspaper in the South and the second in the world to visualize the possibilities of radio, and established the broadcasting station WSB, "The Voice of The South, " which first went on the air from the roof of the Journal Building on March 15, 1922. Through his vision and sense of progression, various other innovations in newspaper service were inaugurated, including wire-photo on January 1, 1935. Major Cohen took an active part in state and national politics. In 1924 he was elected Democratic national committeeman for Georgia, in which capacity he served until his death, having been reelected in 1928 and 1932. He served Georgia as United States senator from April 25, 1932, to January 10, 1933, filling the unexpired term of Senator William J. Harris. On July 2, 1932, he was appointed vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee and served as such until his death, taking no unimportant part in the nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt for the presidency.
Achievements
He took an active part in furthering the establishment or enlargement of various colleges in Georgia and in the reestablishment of the Lee School of Journalism at Washington and Lee University, Virginia.
Politics
In the Democratic National Convention of 1924 he was one of the leading supporters of William G. McAdoo for the presidential nomination.
Personality
He had a magnetic personality which enabled him to make friends and inspire loyalty; his friendships reflected the versatility of his mind and interests.
Interests
He was fond of sports and a patron of art, music, and education.
Connections
On November 11, 1887, he married Julia Lowry Clarke, daughter of Robert Campbell and Mary (Lowry) Clarke, by whom he had two children--John and Mary.
Father:
Philip Lawrence
He was a private banker and broker, who entered the Confederate army when he was sixteen years old, serving throughout the war and surrendering with Lee at Appomattox
Father:
John
Mother:
Ellen Gobert (Wright) Cohen
Spouse:
Julia Lowry Clarke
Brother:
Ambrose Ransom Wright Cohen
Grandfather:
Ambrose Ransom Wright
He was a distinguished commander in the Confederate army and a lieutenant-governor of Georgia, who was elected to Congress in 1872 but died too soon thereafter to take his seat; he was also editor of the Augusta Chronicle
