Lucius William Nieman was an American journalist and editor. He was founder and president of The Milwaukee Journal from 1882 to 1935.
Background
Lucius Nieman was born on December 13, 1857, in Bear Creek, Wisconsin, United States. He was the son of Conrad and Sara Elizabeth Nieman. His parents died soon after he was born. Nieman and his sister, Vidette, were therefore raised by their maternal grandmother, Susan Cuppernall Delamatter, in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Education
Lucius attended Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Nieman's grandparents were great friends with Theron Haight, a former teacher in Waukesha who ran the Waukesha Freeman, a weekly paper detailing local news. Nieman, who was throughout his life fascinated by the inner workings of newspapers, began at twelve to live with Haight and his family, and to work as the paper's “printer’s devil.” This meant he set typed fetched things, and generally learned every aspect of newspaper printing.
Nieman was a zealous pupil even in his teens. He quickly moved through the ranks, as one would expect. By fifteen, he worked in the composing room of the Milwaukee Sentinel, and was bucking for reporter. When told to achieve more formal education, Nieman took himself back to Waukesha, where he studied at Carroll College and worked as a Sentinel correspondent. But even this could not slow Nieman's progress: by 1875, he was a fully-fledged reporter, commenting on the state legislative session. He became city editor that year and the paper’s managing editor in 1876.
After a brief stint at the St. Paul Dispatch in 1881, Nieman found himself hampered by the conservative management at the Sentinel. So in 1882 Nieman bought a half-interest in a new Democratic paper in town from Peter V. Deuster. With the paper’s other founder, Michael Kraus, Nieman set up shop as co-owner, editor, reporter, typesetter, and general responsibility repository for the Daily Journal, later called the Milwaukee Journal. In Nieman's first editorial, quoted by Barwis, he described what he saw as the paper's mission: “The Journal will be independent and aggressive, but always with a due regard to the sanctities of private life. It will oppose every political 'machine' and cabal, venal politicians of every stripe, every form of oppression, and at the same time give all the news for two cents. It will be the people's paper, and will recognize that its field is Milwaukee and the state at large."
Nieman's paper lived up to that promise. He was never averse to taking a stand, even when it was unpopular, yet he was willing to present readers with two sides of an issue. The Journal under Nieman's direction adopted a policy of reporting all the news, whether favorable or unfavorable to the political Party that it supported. Nieman's paper was ahead of its time in several key areas: the Journal was one of the first newspapers to hire female reporters; and it established the “green sheets," which summarized sports news in an easy-to-find section. Nieman’s paper was dedicated to quality, and he pushed his staff to bring their best to the task.
The Journal became a top-notch newspaper, winning public support as well as professional accolades. In 1919, the paper won its first Pulitzer Prize for “most disinterested and meritorious service rendered by any American newspaper during the year and for the strong and courageous campaign for Americanism in a constituency where foreign elements made such a policy hazardous from a business point of view.” The Pulitzer awarded the Journal for printing and making available translations of German language newspapers. These translations provided readers with a clear sense of the propaganda being used to gain support for Germany in the United States.
The Journal received a second Pulitzer Prize in Nieman’s lifetime in 1934, when a cartoon by Ross Lewis won laurels. But by this time Nieman had relinquished his key role in running the paper; a stroke had left him paralyzed and mute. Nevertheless, he continued to inspire the Journal's staff and retained all his life the sprightly demeanor and old-fashioned grace that so motivated his employees to give their best.
After his death in 1935, Nieman continued to inspire the best in reporters; his wife, after her death, left a sizable chunk of their combined fortune to Harvard University in order to endow the fellowships now bearing Nieman's name. Moreover, the Journal continued to win awards and faithful readers.
Achievements
Connections
Lucius married Agnes Elisabeth Guenther Wahl on November 28, 1900.
Father:
Conrad Nieman
Mother:
Sara Elizabeth Nieman
Spouse:
Agnes Elisabeth Guenther Wahl Nieman
grandmother:
Susan Cuppernall Delamatter
Sister:
Vidette Nieman
References
Contemporary Authors
A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields