TheChicago American[1] was an Americannewspaper published inChicago under various names from 1900 until its dissolution in 1975. Its afternoon publication was known as theChicago American, while its evening publication was known as theChicago Evening American.
The paper's first edition came out on July 4, 1900, asHearst's Chicago American. It became theMorning American in 1902 with the appearance of an afternoon edition. The morning and Sunday papers were renamed as theExaminer in 1904.James Keeley bought theChicago Record-Herald andChicago Inter-Ocean in 1914, merging them into a single newspaper known as theHerald.William Randolph Hearst purchased the paper from Keeley in 1918.
Distribution of theHerald Examiner after 1918 was controlled bygangsters.Dion O'Banion,Vincent Drucci,Hymie Weiss andBugs Moran first sold theTribune. They were then recruited byMoses Annenberg, who offered more money to sell theExaminer, later theHerald-Examiner. This "selling" consisted of pressuring stores and news dealers. In 1939, Annenberg was sentenced to three years in prison for fraud and died in prison.
Under pressure from his lenders, Hearst consolidated theAmerican and theHerald-Examiner in 1939. It continued as theChicago Herald-American until 1953 when it became theChicago American. TheAmerican was bought by theChicago Tribune in 1956, and was renamed asChicago's American in 1959.
As with many other afternoon daily newspapers the paper suffered in postwar years from declining circulation figures caused in part bytelevision news and in part by population shifts from city to suburbs. The paper continued as an afternoon broadsheet until 1969 when theTribune converted the paper to the tabloid-formatChicago Today. Measures to bolster the paper were unsuccessful, andChicago Today published its final issue on September 13, 1974. TheChicago Tribune inherited many of theToday's writers and staff and became a 24-hour operation.
TheAmerican was the product of the merger or acquisition of 14 predecessor newspapers and inherited the tradition and the files of all of them.
As an afternoon paper, theAmerican was dependent on street sales rather than subscriptions, and breaking news helped bring in street sales.
The tradition was exemplified by the longtime night city editor of theAmerican,Harry "Romy" Romanoff, who could create news stories almost at will with only a telephone. He ran the city room at night with the help of two rewrite men (including Mike McGovern, noted below), one night photo editor, a sports desk editor (Brent Musburger's first job out of journalism school), and one night copy boy who cut and pasted AP and UPI wires for Harry's review. Since the afternoon paper was put together the previous evening, the night city editor was the key news editor. Romanoff enjoyed the fearful but absolute regard of pressmen, the composing room and the entire night staff of theTribune Tower, which owned and housed theChicago American's operations in its final decades.
One night, floods threatenedSouthern Illinois, and theAmerican did not have a big story for the front page. Romanoff called fire departments and police stations throughout the region, posing as "Captain Parmenter of thestate police" (a nonexistent individual), urging them to take action.[citation needed] One fire department, bemused by the call, asked what they should do. "Ring those fire bells! Call out the people!" Romanoff then turned to hisrewrite man to dictate the lead story:
Fire bells rang over southern Illinois aspolice and fire departments called out the people to warn them of impending floods.
It never did flood, but theAmerican had its banner headline. These headlines were necessary for sales of the early editions. Later in the day, breaking news would generally replace them or reduce their importance. Of course, many stories developed in this way were genuine scoops that would be expanded in later editions.
TheAmerican gave the same attention to smaller stories as to large ones. It was usually first with police news. One notable headline:
Mother of 14 kids kills father of 9 in police station
Headquarters for the paper was the Hearst Building, located at 326 West Madison Street in Chicago. In 1961, the offices ofChicago's American were moved adjacent to theTribune Tower at 435 North Michigan Avenue, where they would remain until the ultimate demise ofChicago Today in 1974.
Charles Dryden, considered the best baseball writer of his era; first hired in 1898 by theNew York Journal; capped his career with theTribune andHerald-Examiner; coined the name "Hitless Wonders" for the1906 White Sox
Hugh Fullerton, while covering the1919 World Series for theHerald-Examiner, became suspicious of theChicago White Sox's play; his articles culminated in eight Sox players being accused of conspiring with gamblers and subsequently being banned from baseball for life
Chester Gould, cartoonist; creator ofDick Tracy; drew a number of comic strips for theEvening American before being hired away by theChicago Tribune in 1931
Robert Gruenberg, Washington bureau chief for theAmerican, 1963–65
Richard Hainey, theAmerican's executive editor. Bob Hainey, his brother and aSun-Times copy chief, was found dead on a Chicago street at 35; the circumstances were addressed by Bob's son,GQ magazine editor Michael Hainey, in a 2013 book,After Visiting Friends.
Sydney J. Harris, wrote for theHerald-Examiner from 1934-41 before launching a long career as a columnist with theDaily News
Walter Howey, managing editor of theAmerican, beginning in 1917; widely presumed to be the inspiration for the colorful character of editor "Walter Burns" in the playThe Front Page and subsequent film adaptations, includingHis Girl Friday
Harold L. Ickes, reporter for theRecord at the turn of the century; U.S. Secretary of the Interior 1933-46
James Keeley, owned theHerald from 1914–18; also served it as a World War I correspondent
Jack Mabley, columnist and associate editor for theAmerican andChicago Today 1961-1974; one of his most famous columns was about the measured water pressure during commercial breaks on national TV broadcasts, determining that viewers were using the toilet during the breaks
Hazel MacDonald, born in 1890, wrote forPhotoplay magazine, then reviewed films for theAmerican until she was let go for crossing a picket line in 1938; became a war correspondent for theChicago Daily Times
Tiny Maxwell, football player; cub reporter for theRecord-Herald; college football'sMaxwell Award is named for him
Maxwell McCrohon,American reporter in 1958; became managing editor ofChicago Today in 1970; named editor of theTribune in 1972, and later was theLos Angeles Herald-Examiner editor when that paper closed
George Murray, was once sent toCentral America and told to "find a lost city," which he promptly did; wrote a memoir about the paper calledThe Madhouse onMadison Street[4]
Vaughn Shoemaker, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist; ended his career withChicago's American andChicago Today, retiring in 1972 after drawing approximately 14,000 cartoons
Roger Treat, vocal critic of segregation and editor of the firstPro Football Encyclopedia
William Veeck, Sr., sports columnist who was hired away to beChicago Cubs vice-president byWilliam Wrigley Jr. in 1917 after a series he wrote criticizing the team; after the Cubs won the 1918 National League pennant, he was promoted to club president
John F. Kennedy, the future U.S. president, worked as a reporter at theChicago Herald-American after serving in the Navy during World War II in 1945, where he covered the United Nations Conference held in San Francisco and the elections that oustedWinston Churchill in 1945 from London. The job was lined up by his influential father,Joseph P. Kennedy.
In the end, TV news brought an end to most afternoon papers, but up until the 1970s, Chicago had a competitive journalistic scene unmatched by most other American cities, five daily newspapers and four wire services in competition, and none were more competitive thanChicago's American.[citation needed]
TheAmerican's predecessor and successor newspapers
^"Chicago American Now A.P. Member",The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Tuesday 1 November 1932, Volume 39, Section 1, Page 1. Associated Press.
