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Created page with "{{Infobox person | name=Edward John Meeman (American newspaperman in Tennessee) | image=Edward J. Meeman of TN.png | birth_date= October 2, 1889 | birth_place=Evansville, ..."
{{Infobox person
| name=Edward John Meeman
(American newspaperman in Tennessee)
| image=Edward J. Meeman of TN.png
| birth_date= October 2, 1889
| birth_place=Evansville, [[Indiana]], USA
| death_place=[[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]
| death_date= November 15, 1966 (aged 77)
| religion=[[Roman Catholic]]-turned-Christian Science
| party= [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| branch=[[United States Navy]]
| battles=[[World War II]]}}
'''Edward John Meeman''' (October 2, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was a crusading [[journalist]] who edited, among other publications, the since defunct ''Memphis Press-Scimitar'' in his adopted home city of [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], a position from which he retired in 1962. He began work as a $4 a week cub reporter in his native Evansville, [[Indiana]], but left a multi-million dollar estate to foster studies of [[biology]], conservation of natural resources, and the environment.
==Background==
Meeman was born to a [[Germany|German]] [[Roman Catholic]] working-class couple in Evansville in[Vanderburgh County, Indiana. His father was a [[cigar]] maker and an officer in his local labor union. Meeman graduated in 1907 from high school. He served briefly in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War I]].
==Career==
Meeman took his first newspaper job at $4 a week for ''The Evansville Press,'' an afternoon daily of which he later became the editor. ''The Evansville Press'' closed in 1998, but the ''Evansville Courier & Press'' remains the daily newspaper for Evansville. He was subsequently a reporter for the ''Terre Haute (Indiana) Times," a forerunner of the ''Tribune-Star.'' He then joined the Newspaper Enterprise Association, a print syndicate out of [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]], [[Ohio]],<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=883|title=Edward John Meeman|publisher=''Tennessee Encyclopedia''|date=January 1, 2010|accessdate=May 24, 2015}}</ref> now known as United Media and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company.
In 1921, the E. W. Scripps Company selected Meeman to edit the ''The Knoxville News,'' a then afternoon daily in [[Knoxville]] in eastern Tennessee. In 1926, ''The News'' joined with ''The Sentinel'' to become ''The Knoxville News Sentinel,'' which became a morning paper in 1986. Meeman had considerable success in Knoxville during the 1920s in both the advertising and circulation realms. Meeman was an early advocate of what became in 1933 the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]], a massive development involving the taming of the swift waters of the Tennessee River and the providing of electric power to isolated sections of a half-dozen area states. He also supported through newspaper articles and columns what became the [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park]], which straddles the Tennessee-[[North Carolina]] border and<ref name=bio/> was dedicated in 1940 by [[U.S. President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].
In 1931, Scripps-Howard sent Meeman to manage ''The Memphis Press-Scimitar'', another afternoon daily. In his editorials, Meeman called for enhanced economic development and the modernization of medical facilities. Quickly, Meeman found a great rival in Edward Hull "Boss" Crump, a former [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] and [[mayor]] of Memphis whose political machine for years ran Memphis and Shelby County with an iron fist. Meeman urged the establishment of a city manager]government to undercut Crump's power. He endorsed permanent, rather than annual, voter registration, the adoption of voting machines, and the employment of [[African-American]]s as police officers. He fought the poll tax, which Crump had manipulated to control the votes of black constituents. In 1948, Meeman urged the election of [[Estes Kefauver]] in the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[primary]] for the [[U. S. Senate]],<ref name=bio/> rather than the incumbent Tom Stewart, the machine candidate backed by Crump. Kefauver prevailed in the primary and then defeated [[Republican Party|Republican]] B. Carroll Reece in the [[general election]].
In the early 1930s, Meeman went to Germany to study conservation and forestry and returned a fierce opponent of [[Nazism]]. Originally a [[Cold War]]rior, he opposed the American military intervention in [[Vietnam]] even before the rise of anti-war protestors in 1965. Meeman was nominated for a [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1946. When he left ''The Press-Scimitar'' editorship, he worked for the last four years of his life as the conservation editor of the whole Scripps-Howard chain. ''The Press Scimitar'' ceased publication in 1983; the void left only ''The Memphis Commercial Appeal]' as the principal daily in that large market.<ref name=bio/>
As a young man, Meeman was briefly a [[Socialist Party|Socialist]]. He was affiliated in his middle years with [[Christian Science]]. As a philanthropist, Meeman's estate provided generous endowments to institutions of higher learning in Memphis. The Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, north of Memphis, is named in his honor because of Meeman's role in the environmental movement. The Edward J. Meeman Biological Station of the University of Memphis conducts research in ecology, environmental biology, and natural history.<ref name=bio/> The Edward J. Meeman National Journalism Awards for environmental reporting are named in his honor. The Department of Journalism at the University of Memphis is housed in the Edward J. Meeman Journalism Building.
In 1976, the University of Memphis published Meeman's posthumous [[autobiography]] oddly titled, ''The editorial we: A posthumous autobiography.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/editorial-autobiography-Edward-John-Meeman/dp/B0006CJZVM|title=The editorial we: A posthumous autobiography|publisher=Memphis State University Printing Services|date=1976|accessdate=May 24, 2015}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeman, Edward J.}}
[[Category:Tennessee]]
[[Category:Indiana]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:American Authors]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:Former Catholics]]
| name=Edward John Meeman
(American newspaperman in Tennessee)
| image=Edward J. Meeman of TN.png
| birth_date= October 2, 1889
| birth_place=Evansville, [[Indiana]], USA
| death_place=[[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]
| death_date= November 15, 1966 (aged 77)
| religion=[[Roman Catholic]]-turned-Christian Science
| party= [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| branch=[[United States Navy]]
| battles=[[World War II]]}}
'''Edward John Meeman''' (October 2, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was a crusading [[journalist]] who edited, among other publications, the since defunct ''Memphis Press-Scimitar'' in his adopted home city of [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], a position from which he retired in 1962. He began work as a $4 a week cub reporter in his native Evansville, [[Indiana]], but left a multi-million dollar estate to foster studies of [[biology]], conservation of natural resources, and the environment.
==Background==
Meeman was born to a [[Germany|German]] [[Roman Catholic]] working-class couple in Evansville in[Vanderburgh County, Indiana. His father was a [[cigar]] maker and an officer in his local labor union. Meeman graduated in 1907 from high school. He served briefly in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War I]].
==Career==
Meeman took his first newspaper job at $4 a week for ''The Evansville Press,'' an afternoon daily of which he later became the editor. ''The Evansville Press'' closed in 1998, but the ''Evansville Courier & Press'' remains the daily newspaper for Evansville. He was subsequently a reporter for the ''Terre Haute (Indiana) Times," a forerunner of the ''Tribune-Star.'' He then joined the Newspaper Enterprise Association, a print syndicate out of [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]], [[Ohio]],<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=883|title=Edward John Meeman|publisher=''Tennessee Encyclopedia''|date=January 1, 2010|accessdate=May 24, 2015}}</ref> now known as United Media and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company.
In 1921, the E. W. Scripps Company selected Meeman to edit the ''The Knoxville News,'' a then afternoon daily in [[Knoxville]] in eastern Tennessee. In 1926, ''The News'' joined with ''The Sentinel'' to become ''The Knoxville News Sentinel,'' which became a morning paper in 1986. Meeman had considerable success in Knoxville during the 1920s in both the advertising and circulation realms. Meeman was an early advocate of what became in 1933 the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]], a massive development involving the taming of the swift waters of the Tennessee River and the providing of electric power to isolated sections of a half-dozen area states. He also supported through newspaper articles and columns what became the [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park]], which straddles the Tennessee-[[North Carolina]] border and<ref name=bio/> was dedicated in 1940 by [[U.S. President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].
In 1931, Scripps-Howard sent Meeman to manage ''The Memphis Press-Scimitar'', another afternoon daily. In his editorials, Meeman called for enhanced economic development and the modernization of medical facilities. Quickly, Meeman found a great rival in Edward Hull "Boss" Crump, a former [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] and [[mayor]] of Memphis whose political machine for years ran Memphis and Shelby County with an iron fist. Meeman urged the establishment of a city manager]government to undercut Crump's power. He endorsed permanent, rather than annual, voter registration, the adoption of voting machines, and the employment of [[African-American]]s as police officers. He fought the poll tax, which Crump had manipulated to control the votes of black constituents. In 1948, Meeman urged the election of [[Estes Kefauver]] in the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[primary]] for the [[U. S. Senate]],<ref name=bio/> rather than the incumbent Tom Stewart, the machine candidate backed by Crump. Kefauver prevailed in the primary and then defeated [[Republican Party|Republican]] B. Carroll Reece in the [[general election]].
In the early 1930s, Meeman went to Germany to study conservation and forestry and returned a fierce opponent of [[Nazism]]. Originally a [[Cold War]]rior, he opposed the American military intervention in [[Vietnam]] even before the rise of anti-war protestors in 1965. Meeman was nominated for a [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1946. When he left ''The Press-Scimitar'' editorship, he worked for the last four years of his life as the conservation editor of the whole Scripps-Howard chain. ''The Press Scimitar'' ceased publication in 1983; the void left only ''The Memphis Commercial Appeal]' as the principal daily in that large market.<ref name=bio/>
As a young man, Meeman was briefly a [[Socialist Party|Socialist]]. He was affiliated in his middle years with [[Christian Science]]. As a philanthropist, Meeman's estate provided generous endowments to institutions of higher learning in Memphis. The Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, north of Memphis, is named in his honor because of Meeman's role in the environmental movement. The Edward J. Meeman Biological Station of the University of Memphis conducts research in ecology, environmental biology, and natural history.<ref name=bio/> The Edward J. Meeman National Journalism Awards for environmental reporting are named in his honor. The Department of Journalism at the University of Memphis is housed in the Edward J. Meeman Journalism Building.
In 1976, the University of Memphis published Meeman's posthumous [[autobiography]] oddly titled, ''The editorial we: A posthumous autobiography.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/editorial-autobiography-Edward-John-Meeman/dp/B0006CJZVM|title=The editorial we: A posthumous autobiography|publisher=Memphis State University Printing Services|date=1976|accessdate=May 24, 2015}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeman, Edward J.}}
[[Category:Tennessee]]
[[Category:Indiana]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:American Authors]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:Former Catholics]]