One For The Road: Happy Birthday, Joseph Medill

By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 6, 2012 10:30PM

In 1855, Joseph Medill left Cleveland for Chicago and, in partnership with the paper's editor Dr. Charles H. Ray, bought the Chicago Tribune. While serving as managing editor, Medill was also involved with politics, and the Tribune vocally supported Abraham Lincoln's campaign for president and spoke out against slavery. Medill corresponded often with Lincoln, as seen in his papers at the Library of Congress. The Tribune writes:

The new owners not only put the struggling 8-year-old daily on solid financial footing but also created a forceful anti-slavery voice. In March 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision that slaves had to be returned to their masters from non-slave territory. "Slavery is now national," the Tribune editorialized. "Freedom has no local habitation nor abiding place save in the hearts of Freemen. Illinois in law has ceased to be a free State!"

The paper's remedy was published a few days later: "Let the next President be a Republican and 1860 will mark an era kindred with that of 1776." Medill worked tirelessly for the election of Abraham Lincoln as president and grimly set himself and his newspaper to support the savage war that followed Lincoln's election.

Medill left his editing post at the Tribune to focus on politics in 1864. He became mayor of Chicago in 1871 just after the Fire and created the Chicago Public Library. He didn't stay long, but he had a big impact on the office. In August 1873 he appointed an acting mayor to finish out his term, and then he just left.

While in office Medill clashed with then-editor Horace White, and in 1873 he bought White out of the paper. Medill then served as editor-in-chief of the Chicago Tribune until he died in 1899. The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University is named after him, as is Medill Avenue on the North Side.