Our first century
A mandate to 'lighten' still drives the Monitor at the dawn of its second 100 years.
from the November 25, 2008 edition
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Rigby was one of the first in a line of pioneering and courageous women journalists at the Monitor that included World War II correspondent Mary Hornaday; Charlotte Saikowski, who served in Moscow, Tokyo, Washington, and as chief editorial writer; and Elizabeth Pond, who covered the Vietnam War and later was Bonn bureau chief.
1930-1940
As the US economic depression deepened, the Monitor gave President Herbert Hoover "unswerving support," as Canham put it, in the 1932 election. One reason: Franklin D. Roosevelt favored repeal of Prohibition and Christian Scientists are generally teetotalers.
The tough economic climate did not prevent the Church from building a handsome new home for the Monitor and its sister periodicals. The nine-story Publishing House was completed in 1934 and its second floor has served as the Monitor's newsroom ever since.
The Depression's negative effects on circulation and advertising revenue triggered an internal study of the Monitor's purposes and performance. As a result, Boston editions were strengthened, editorial taboos were eliminated, and a weekly magazine, produced using a high-quality color printing process, was launched. This editorial strengthening took place under the editorship of Roscoe Drummond, who was named to the job in 1934. He later wrote a widely syndicated Washington column. His close friend Canham called Mr. Drummond a "journalistic genius."
1940-1950
The massive human drama of World War II called forth the best from the Monitor. The Monitor's wartime coverage was marshaled by Canham, who was named the Monitor's top editorial executive in 1939 when Drummond moved to Washington as bureau chief. Canham, a Bates College graduate and Rhodes scholar, would lead the Monitor for the next 25 years – longer than anyone before or since. He was greatly respected in the world of journalism and became highly visible through his broadcast appearances and various public-service activities.
Monitor war correspondents including Gordon Walker, Ronald Stead, Mallory Brown, and Edmund Stevens were in harm's way on 25 major campaigns. They participated in more than 20 invasions, visited 53 bases, and, as a Monitor story noted, had "ridden in and on almost all the types of craft known to man."
Their award-winning coverage was planned and polished by international news editor Charles Gratke, who was killed on assignment in 1949 when his plane crashed in India. Beloved by his far-flung staff, he would leave the newsroom when greeting correspondents, to hide the emotion of the reunion from others. Canham called his loss, "a sad and severe blow."
One sign of the quality of the Monitor coverage during that period was the 1950 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Edmund Stevens for his scathing series on life inside the Soviet Union. "This is Russia – Uncensored" was based on his three years' worth of reporting.
1950-1960
The Monitor celebrated its 50th anniversary in what Susan Bridge's book "Monitoring the News" calls a "quietly triumphal style." The 1958 festivities included printing a massive full-color anniversary edition. That was complemented by publication of Canham's book "Commitment to Freedom" and the production of a color movie, "Assignment: Mankind."
In 1959, Canham took the unusual step of agreeing to serve simultaneously as Monitor editor and as president of the US Chamber of Commerce. Canham "used his stature and respect to enhance the Monitor's standing in the US and the world," said Hughes. One example: a 1954 photograph shot for McCall's magazine shows Sen. John Kennedy lounging outdoors in a chair wearing a T-shirt reading the Monitor with his wife, Jacqueline, standing over him reading along.
1960-1970
In 1964, the unenviable task of succeeding the legendary Canham (who stayed on as editor-in-chief) went to DeWitt John, at a time when the business climate for newspapers had grown markedly more difficult. Mr. John had worked as a Monitor reporter and staff editor, but had spent most of his career in the church's public affairs office.
With a highly logical mind and deft editing skills, John set about building what other news organizations called "the new Monitor." He boosted staff salaries, started a training program for young reporters, added news bureaus, and launched features aimed at helping the paper compete in a society where television had become the dominant news source.
The results made Monitor history: Pulitzer Prizes three years in a row. In 1967, Hughes won a Pulitzer for his reporting of an attempted Communist coup in Indonesia. In 1968, Howard James won for his series "Crisis in the Courts." The following year, environmental reporter Robert Cahn took the prize for his inquiry into the future of the national parks.
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