Victor Fremont Lawson was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, the son of Iver and Melinda (Nordvig) Lawson. Both parents were Norwegian, the father having been born in Norway, the mother in Illinois. Iver Lawson accumulated a considerable fortune in Chicago real estate, most of which was lost, however, in the Chicago fire of 1871. He died in 1873 leaving the residue of his estate to his son Victor.
Young Lawson had been educated in the Chicago public schools and at Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachussets. Ill health put an end to further study
After a brief period of life in the open Lawson returned to Chicago to take active charge of his father's estate. He inherited with other property an interest in the daily Skandinaven which his father and others had established. His interest in newspaper work had developed when he was employed as a boy in the circulation department of the Chicago Evening Journal. By a curious coincidence, the publication of a new newspaper, the Chicago Daily News, was begun in the same building with the Skandinaven in January 1876. This new publication, the first penny newspaper in the West, was sponsored by Melville E. Stone, William H. Dougherty, and Percy Meggy. Within six months the owners of the struggling paper had sold out to Lawson who retained Stone as editor and later took him into partnership.
In 1878 the Evening Post was taken over with its Associated Press franchise. In 1881 a morning edition was brought out which later became the Chicago Record and eventually the Record-Herald, when it was merged with the Times-Herald. The Record-Herald ceased publication in 1914 because of Lawson's reluctance to be connected with a paper publishing on Sunday. He had assumed editorial duties upon Stone's retirement in 1888. At a critical moment Lawson took up the cause of the Associated Press which was rivaled by the United Press, a news service organized on a commercialized rather than a cooperative basis. As president of the organization from 1894 to 1900, he was supported by his former partner, Melville E. Stone, at this time manager of the Associated Press. He remained as director from 1893 until his death.
In 1898 he turned his attention to the development of a foreign news service. The Spanish-American War had shown the need of an unbiased handling of foreign news affecting American interest. Up to this time cable news received by American newspapers was supplied by correspondents representing the British or other foreign papers. At the close of the war, Lawson placed his own correspondents in the leading European capitals and in the Orient. The example of the Daily News was widely followed by other papers and press associations. Another of Lawson's pioneering activities was his strong advocacy of postal savings-banks. Both by financial assistance and the use of his publishing organization, he consolidated support for the bill which was finally passed in 1910. To him, President Taft sent the pen with which the bill was signed.
At the same time the editor was exposed to furious attacks by corrupt agents of corporations seeking to exploit the city government. But nothing could swerve him from what he conceived to be his duty--the support of all civic reform movements. He gave generously to support a system of free lectures in public-school halls, to found a fresh air sanitarium, to maintain "better government associations, " to support the Y. M. C. A. , to endow the Chicago Theological Seminary, and to provide homes for the symphony orchestras, and for leading clubs of which he was a member.
He was a life-time member of the New England Congregational Church of Chicago. Lawson combined the practical talents of business with ideals of good citizenship. He was religious in the strictest sense. Quiet determination, dislike of publicity, personal friendliness, and humanity marked his character and bearing. His genius as a newspaper editor consisted in making his paper a constructive force in the life of the community in which he lived and worked.
Under the efficient management of Lawson, the Daily News made rapid progress and its circulation grew to 200, 000 people. The independent policy of the Daily News in politics and in civic reform made the paper a powerful influence in Chicago. Lawson founded an early foreign news service, which became a key component of the Daily News. He was also involved in various philanthropic causes in Chicago.
In 1880 Lawson married Jessie S. Bradley, daughter of W. H. Bradley of Chicago. She it was who guided much of his humanitarian work for the relief of the poor, particularly members of the colored race. She died in 1914 leaving no children.
