Henry Luce

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
For the missionary and educator, see Henry W. Luce.
Henry Luce
Henry Luce 1954.jpg
Born
Henry Robinson Luce

(1898-04-03)April 3, 1898
Tengchow, Qing China
DiedFebruary 28, 1967(1967-02-28) (aged 68)
Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Alma materYale University
OccupationPublisher, journalist
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Lila Ross Hotz
​
​
(m. 1923; div. 1935)​

​
​
(m. 1935)​
Children3
Parent(s)Henry W. Luce

Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded Time, Life, and Fortune magazines. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the America of his day".[1]

Born in Shandong, China, to Presbyterian parents, Luce moved to the US at the age of 15 and later attended Yale University.[2] He launched and closely supervised a stable of magazines that transformed journalism and the reading habits of millions of Americans. Time summarized and interpreted the week's news; Life was a picture magazine of politics, culture, and society that dominated American visual perceptions in the era before television; Fortune reported on national and international business; and Sports Illustrated explored the world of sports. Counting his radio projects and newsreels, Luce created the first multimedia corporation. He envisaged that the United States would achieve world hegemony, and in 1941 he declared the 20th century would be the "American Century".[3][4]

Early life[edit]

Luce was born in Tengchow (now Penglai, Shandong, China, on April 3, 1898, the son of Elizabeth Root Luce and Henry Winters Luce, who was a Presbyterian missionary.[4]

Career[edit]

At 15, he was sent to the US to attend the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he edited the Hotchkiss Literary Monthly. There, he first met Briton Hadden.[4]

Magazines[edit]

Nightly discussions of the concept of a news magazine led Luce and Hadden, both age 23, to quit their jobs in 1922. Later that same year, they partnered with Robert Livingston Johnson and another Yale classmate to form Time Inc.[5]

Stranded in New York City, Luce's frustration and anger expressed themselves in blatant partisanship.[6][clarification needed]

Luce, supported by Editor-in-Chief T. S. Matthews, appointed Whittaker Chambers as acting Foreign News editor in 1944, despite the feuds that Chambers had with reporters in the field.[7]

Luce, who remained editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964, maintained a position as an influential member of the Republican Party.[8] An instrumental figure behind the so-called "China Lobby", he played a large role in steering American foreign policy and popular sentiment in favor of Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, Soong Mei-ling, in their war against the Japanese. (The Chiangs appeared in the cover of Time eleven times between 1927 and 1955.)[9]

It has been reported that Luce, during the 1960s, tried LSD and reported that he had talked to God under its influence.[10]

Once ambitious to become Secretary of State in a Republican administration, Luce penned a famous article in Life magazine in 1941, called "The American Century", which defined the role of American foreign policy for the remainder of the 20th century (and perhaps beyond).[8]

He died in Phoenix, Arizona in 1967. At his death, he was said to be worth $100 million in Time Inc. stock.[11] Most of his fortune went to the Henry Luce Foundation, where his son Henry III served as chairman and chief executive for many years.[12]

Family[edit]

Luce Memorial Chapel at Tunghai University in Taiwan

Luce met his first wife, Lila Hotz, while he was studying at Yale in 1919.[12] They married in 1923 and had two children, Peter Paul and Henry Luce III, before divorcing in 1935.[12]

Recognition[edit]

He was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 32¢ Great Americans series (1980–2000) postage stamp.[13] Luce was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Robert Edwin Herzstein (2005). Henry R. Luce, Time, and the American Crusade in Asia. Cambridge U.P. p. 1. ISBN 9780521835770.
  2. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2008-02-15). "Henry Luce and 20th Century U.S. Internationalism". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  3. ^ Editorial (1941-02-17) The American Century, Life Magazine
  4. ^ a b c Baughman, James L. (April 28, 2004). "Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media". American Masters (PBS). Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  5. ^ Warburton, Albert (Winter 1962). "Robert L. Johnson Hall Dedicated at Temple University" (PDF). The Emerald of Sigma Pi. Vol. 48, no. 4. p. 111.
  6. ^ Alan Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century (2010) pp. 302–03
  7. ^ Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century (2010) pp. 322–93
  8. ^ a b "Henry R. Luce: End of a Pilgrimage". Time. March 10, 1967
  9. ^ "Time magazine historical search". Time magazine. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  10. ^ Maisto, Stephen A., Galizio, Mark, & Connors, Gerald J. (2008). Drug Use and Abuse: Fifth Edition. Belmont: Thomson Higher Education. ISBN 0-495-09207-X
  11. ^ Edwin Diamond (October 23, 1972). "Why the Power Vacuum at Time Inc. Continues". New York.
  12. ^ a b c Ravo, Nick (April 3, 1999). "Lila Luce Tyng, 100, First Wife of Henry R. Luce". The New York Times. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  13. ^ "Henry R. Luce". US Stamp Gallery. April 3, 1998.
  14. ^ "Appendix O- National Business Hall of Fame Laureates" (PDF). Junior Achievement Inc. Retrieved 30 December 2019.

Further reading[edit]

  • Baughman, James L. "Henry R. Luce and the Business of Journalism." Business & Economic History On-Line 9 (2011). online
  • Baughman, James L. Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media (2001) excerpt and text search
  • Brinkley, Alan. The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century, Alfred A. Knopf (2010) 531 pp.
  • Brinkley, Alan. What Would Henry Luce Make of the Digital Age?, Time (April 19, 2010) excerpt and text search
  • Elson, Robert T. Time Inc: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise, 1923–1941 (1968); vol. 2: The World of Time Inc.: The Intimate History, 1941–1960 (1973), official corporate history
  • Garside, B. A. Within the Four Seas, Frederic C. Beil, New York, 1985.
  • Herzstein, Robert E. Henry R. Luce, Time, and the American Crusade in Asia (2006) excerpt and text search
  • Herzstein, Robert E. Henry R. Luce: A Political Portrait of the Man Who Created the American Century (1994).
  • Morris, Sylvia Jukes. Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce (1997).
  • Swanberg, W. A., Luce and His Empire, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1972.
  • Wilner, Isaiah. The Man Time Forgot: A Tale of Genius, Betrayal, and the Creation of Time Magazine, HarperCollins, New York, 2006

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Luce&oldid=1071710295"