Robert R. McCormick
Encyclopedia
Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick (1880–1955) was a member of the McCormick family
of Chicago
who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune
newspaper. A leading non-interventionist
, an opponent of American
entry into World War II
and of the increase in Federal power brought about by the New Deal
, he continued to champion a traditionalist course long after his positions had been eclipsed in the mainstream.
. On his father's side, his great-uncle was inventor and businessman Cyrus McCormick
. His elder brother Joseph Medill McCormick (known as Medill McCormick) was slated to take over the family newspaper business but was more interested in running for political office.
From 1889 through 1893, he lived a lonely childhood with his parents in London
where his father Robert Sanderson McCormick
was a staff secretary to Robert Todd Lincoln
, and he attended Ludgrove School
. On his return to the United States, he was sent to Groton School
. In 1899, McCormick went to Yale College
, where he was elected to the prestigious secret society Scroll and Key
, graduating in 1903. He attended law school at Northwestern University
and served as a clerk in a Chicago law firm, being admitted to the bar in 1907. The following year, he co-founded the law firm that became Kirkland & Ellis
, which represented the Tribune Company
.
He was a partner until 1920. In 1910, he took control of the Chicago Tribune, becoming editor and publisher with his cousin, Captain Joseph Medill Patterson
, in 1914, a position he held jointly until 1926 and by himself afterwards.
In 1904 a Republican
ward leader persuaded him to run for Alderman, and he was elected, serving on the Chicago City Council
for two years. In 1905, at the age of 25, he was elected to a five-year term as president of the board of trustees of the Chicago Sanitary District, operating the city's vast drainage and sewage disposal system. In 1907 he was appointed to the Chicago Charter Commission and the Chicago Plan Commission. However, his political career ended abruptly when he took control of the Tribune.
McCormick went to Europe
as a war correspondent
for the Tribune in February 1915, early in World War I
, interviewing Tsar Nicholas
, Prime Minister
H. H. Asquith
, and First Lord of the Admiralty
Winston Churchill
. He visited the Eastern
and Western
Fronts and was under fire on both. His father had been ambassador to Russia, and he used his contacts to attend formal dinners with Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Peter.
On this trip, McCormick began collecting pieces of historically significant buildings which would eventually find their way into the structure of the Tribune Tower
.
on June 21, 1916, and, being an expert horseman, became a major
in its 1st Cavalry Regiment. Two days earlier, President
Woodrow Wilson
had called the Illinois National Guard into Federal Service, along with those of several other states, to patrol the Mexican
border during General
John J. Pershing
's Punitive Expedition
. McCormick accompanied his regiment to the Mexican border.
Soon after the United States entered the war, McCormick again became part of the U.S. Army on June 13, 1917, when the entire Illinois National Guard was mobilized for Federal service in Europe. He was sent to France
as an intelligence officer
on the staff of General Pershing. Seeking more active service, he was assigned to an artillery
school. By June 17, 1918, McCormick became a lieutenant colonel
, and by September 5, 1918 had become a full colonel
in the field artillery
, in which capacities he saw action. He took part in the capture of Cantigny
, after which he named his farm estate
in Wheaton, Illinois
, and in the battles of Soissons
, Saint-Mihiel
, and the second phase of the Argonne
. He served in the 1st Battery, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, with the 1st Infantry Division. His service ended on December 31, 1918, though he remained a part of the Officers Reserve Corps from October 8, 1919 to September 30, 1929. Cited for prompt action in battle, he received the Distinguished Service Medal
. Thereafter, he was always referred to as "Colonel McCormick."
in the midwestern United States
at the time, McCormick and Patterson sponsored a school named for their grandfather, the Joseph Medill School of Journalism
. It was announced by Walter Dill Scott
in November 1920, and began classes in 1921.
As publisher of the Tribune, McCormick was involved in a number of legal disputes regarding freedom of the press
that were handled by McCormick's longtime lawyer Weymouth Kirkland
. The most famous of these cases is Near v. Minnesota
, 283 U.S. 697 (1931), a case championed by McCormick in his role as chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association's Committee on Free Speech.
A conservative Republican
, McCormick was an opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and compared the New Deal
to Communism
. For a period in 1935, he protested Rhode Island
's Democratic
judiciary
by displaying a 47 star flag outside the Tribune building
, with the 13th star (representing Rhode Island) removed; he relented after he was advised that alteration of the American flag was unlawful. He was also an America First
isolationist who strongly opposed entering World War II
to rescue the British Empire
. As a publisher he was very innovative. McCormick was a 25 percent owner of the Tribune's 50,000 watt radio station
, which was purchased in 1924; he named it WGN
, the initials of the Tribunes modest motto, the "World's Greatest Newspaper".
He also established the town of Baie-Comeau, Quebec
in 1936 and constructed a paper mill
and a hydroelectric power plant there named McCormick Dam
to generate electricity for the mill.
McCormick carried on crusades against gangster
s and racketeers, prohibition
and prohibitionists, local, state, and national politicians, Wall Street
, the East
and Easterners, Democrats
, the New Deal and the Fair Deal
, liberal Republicans
, the League of Nations
, the World Court
, the United Nations
, British imperialism, socialism
, and communism
. Besides Roosevelt, his chief targets included Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson
and Illinois Governor Len Small
. Some of McCormick's personal crusades were seen as quixotic (such as his attempts to reform spelling of the English language
) and were parodied in political cartoons in rival Frank Knox
's Chicago Daily News
. Knox's political cartoonists, including Cecil Jensen
, derided McCormick as "Colonel McCosmic", a "pompous, paunchy, didactic individual with a bristling mustache and superlative ego."
In 1943 he told an audience he helped plan a defence against an invasion from Canada
at the end of World War I.
In June 1947 he gave a 100 year birthday party for the Tribune that included a fireworks show called "the most colossal show since the Chicago fire."
Other publications noted that everything about the celebration was called "the world's greatest". Instead, they said "the Tribune has been made into a worldwide symbol of reaction, isolation, and prejudice by a man capable of real hate."
. Amanda McCormick (1822–1891), youngest daughter of family patriarch Robert McCormick, had married fellow Virginia
n Hugh Adams (1820–1880) before moving to Chicago to start the McCormick & Adams grain trading business. Their son Edward Shields Adams, who was born in 1859, had married the much younger Amie de Houle "Amy" Irwin, born in 1872, the daughter of decorated soldier Bernard J. D. Irwin
, on April 15, 1895.
However, starting in November 1913 a bitter family dispute developed.
Amy filed for divorce, claiming Adams was alcoholic, which was granted on March 6, 1914 without her husband appearing in court.
Adams filed a lawsuit against McCormick for trespass and asked for the case to be heard again.
By September, Adams filed another lawsuit claiming that McCormick had a former chauffeur arrested and interrogated by a private detective.
The opposition press made the most out of the scandals.
Adams presented McCormick with a bill for eight years of lodging,
and claimed McCormick had "wickedly and maliciously debauched and carnally knew the said Amy Irwin Adams" while his guest.
McCormick then claimed he had made loans to Adams, which had to be repaid. The case was heard by Federal Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
in November. It was hinted that McCormick had promised to forgive the loans if the divorce was not contested. Landis ruled in favor of McCormick in February 1915.
On March 10, 1915, McCormick married Amy Irwin Adams after waiting the year after the divorce as required by law at the time.
The wedding was in the registry office of St George's, Hanover Square in London
with only two witnesses present.
The Tribune did not mention the wedding, nor any of the previous lawsuits. After she died in 1939 he became a near social recluse. On December 21, 1944 he married Mrs. Maryland Mathison Hooper in the apartment of his cousin Chauncey McCormick
. She was 47 and he was 64 at the time. She lived until July 21, 1985.
He had no children from either marriage.
In failing health since an attack of pneumonia
in April 1953, McCormick nevertheless remained active in his work until the month before he died on April 1, 1955. He was buried on his farm in his war uniform
.
described his meeting with McCormick and William Henry Chamberlin
:
The New York Times said:
Within days of McCormick's death, Richard J. Daley
was elected mayor and a new family would dominate Chicago, this time aligned with the Democratic Party
for over half a century.
Since McCormick had long advocated building a convention center
, after it was built from 1957 to 1960 McCormick Place
was named for him.
Upon his death McCormick left an estate estimated at $55 million, and set up a charitable trust in his will. The Northwestern University School of Law
building that opened in 1962 was named McCormick Hall after a donation from the foundation.
After a donation to renovate the Technological Institute
building at Northwestern University in 1989, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
was named for him.
Formerly called the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the trust divested its ownership of the Tribune Company, so in 2008 changed its name to simply the McCormick Foundation
. It contributed more than a billion US dollars
for journalism, early childhood education, civic health, social and economic services, arts and culture and citizenship.
McCormick family
The McCormick family is a family of business people and politicians from the United States.They descend from Robert McCormick and Mary Ann Hall.Below is a list of members:...
of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
newspaper. A leading non-interventionist
United States non-interventionism
Non-interventionism, the diplomatic policy whereby a nation seeks to avoid alliances with other nations in order to avoid being drawn into wars not related to direct territorial self-defense, has had a long history in the United States...
, an opponent of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
entry into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and of the increase in Federal power brought about by the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, he continued to champion a traditionalist course long after his positions had been eclipsed in the mainstream.
Biography
McCormick was born July 30, 1880 in Chicago to a distinguished family, and known as "Bertie" to his family because he had so many relatives named Robert. His maternal grandfather was Tribune founder and former Chicago mayor Joseph MedillJoseph Medill
Joseph Medill was an American newspaper editor and publisher, and politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, and was Mayor of Chicago.-Biography:...
. On his father's side, his great-uncle was inventor and businessman Cyrus McCormick
Cyrus McCormick
Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. was an American inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of International Harvester Company in 1902.He and many members of the McCormick family became prominent Chicagoans....
. His elder brother Joseph Medill McCormick (known as Medill McCormick) was slated to take over the family newspaper business but was more interested in running for political office.
From 1889 through 1893, he lived a lonely childhood with his parents in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where his father Robert Sanderson McCormick
Robert Sanderson McCormick
Robert Sanderson McCormick was a United States diplomat. Born in rural Virginia, his extended McCormick family became influential in Chicago.-Life:...
was a staff secretary to Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln...
, and he attended Ludgrove School
Ludgrove School
Ludgrove School is an independent preparatory boarding school for about 200 boys, aged from seven or eight years to thirteen. It is situated in the civil parish of Wokingham Without, adjoining the town of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire.-History:...
. On his return to the United States, he was sent to Groton School
Groton School
Groton School is a private, Episcopal, college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. It enrolls approximately 375 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades...
. In 1899, McCormick went to Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
, where he was elected to the prestigious secret society Scroll and Key
Scroll and Key
The Scroll and Key Society is a secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the wealthiest and second oldest Yale secret society...
, graduating in 1903. He attended law school at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
and served as a clerk in a Chicago law firm, being admitted to the bar in 1907. The following year, he co-founded the law firm that became Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an international law firm with headquarters in Chicago, known for its profitability and its litigation, bankruptcy, intellectual property and private equity departments. Kirkland & Ellis is currently ranked as the ninth most prestigious law firm in the United States by...
, which represented the Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
.
He was a partner until 1920. In 1910, he took control of the Chicago Tribune, becoming editor and publisher with his cousin, Captain Joseph Medill Patterson
Joseph Medill Patterson
Joseph Medill Patterson was an American journalist and publisher, grandson of publisher Joseph Medill, founder of the Chicago Tribune and a mayor of Chicago, Illinois.-Family:...
, in 1914, a position he held jointly until 1926 and by himself afterwards.
In 1904 a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
ward leader persuaded him to run for Alderman, and he was elected, serving on the Chicago City Council
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
for two years. In 1905, at the age of 25, he was elected to a five-year term as president of the board of trustees of the Chicago Sanitary District, operating the city's vast drainage and sewage disposal system. In 1907 he was appointed to the Chicago Charter Commission and the Chicago Plan Commission. However, his political career ended abruptly when he took control of the Tribune.
McCormick went to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
as a war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
for the Tribune in February 1915, early in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, interviewing Tsar Nicholas
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
H. H. Asquith
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC, KC served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916...
, and First Lord of the Admiralty
Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of the Board of Admiralty, which exercised command over the Royal Navy.Officially known as the Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland &c. The Lords...
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. He visited the Eastern
Eastern Front (World War I)
The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...
and Western
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
Fronts and was under fire on both. His father had been ambassador to Russia, and he used his contacts to attend formal dinners with Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Peter.
On this trip, McCormick began collecting pieces of historically significant buildings which would eventually find their way into the structure of the Tribune Tower
Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower is a neo-Gothic building located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Company. WGN Radio also broadcasts from the building, with ground-level studios overlooking nearby Pioneer Court and Michigan Avenue. CNN's...
.
Military
Returning to the United States in 1915, he joined the Illinois National GuardIllinois National Guard
The Illinois National Guard comprises both Army National Guard and Air National Guard components. The National Guard is the only United States military force empowered to function in a state status. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and...
on June 21, 1916, and, being an expert horseman, became a major
Major (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...
in its 1st Cavalry Regiment. Two days earlier, President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
had called the Illinois National Guard into Federal Service, along with those of several other states, to patrol the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
border during General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
's Punitive Expedition
Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—officially known in the United States as the Mexican Expedition and sometimes colloquially referred to as the Punitive Expedition—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican insurgent Francisco "Pancho" Villa...
. McCormick accompanied his regiment to the Mexican border.
Soon after the United States entered the war, McCormick again became part of the U.S. Army on June 13, 1917, when the entire Illinois National Guard was mobilized for Federal service in Europe. He was sent to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
as an intelligence officer
Intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...
on the staff of General Pershing. Seeking more active service, he was assigned to an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
school. By June 17, 1918, McCormick became a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
, and by September 5, 1918 had become a full colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
in the field artillery
Field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
, in which capacities he saw action. He took part in the capture of Cantigny
Battle of Cantigny
The Battle of Cantigny, fought on 28 May 1918 was the first American offensive of World War I. The U.S. 1st Division, the most experienced of the seven American divisions then in France and in reserve for the French Army near the village of Cantigny, was selected for the attack...
, after which he named his farm estate
Cantigny
Cantigny is a park in Wheaton, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago. It is the former estate of Joseph Medill, and his grandson Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publishers of the Chicago Tribune, and is open to the public...
in Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...
, and in the battles of Soissons
Battle of Soissons (1918)
The Battle of Soissons was a World War I battle, waged during 18 July to 22 July 1918, between the French and the German armies....
, Saint-Mihiel
Battle of Saint-Mihiel
The Battle of Saint-Mihiel was a World War I battle fought between September 12–15, 1918, involving the American Expeditionary Force and 48,000 French troops under the command of U.S. general John J. Pershing against German positions...
, and the second phase of the Argonne
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, or Maas-Argonne Offensive, also called the Battle of the Argonne Forest, was a part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire western front.-Overview:...
. He served in the 1st Battery, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, with the 1st Infantry Division. His service ended on December 31, 1918, though he remained a part of the Officers Reserve Corps from October 8, 1919 to September 30, 1929. Cited for prompt action in battle, he received the Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (Army)
The Distinguished Service Medal is a military award of the United States Army that is presented to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States military, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great...
. Thereafter, he was always referred to as "Colonel McCormick."
Crusading publisher
McCormick returned from the war and took control of the Tribune in the 1920s. Given the lack of schools of journalismJournalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
in the midwestern United States
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
at the time, McCormick and Patterson sponsored a school named for their grandfather, the Joseph Medill School of Journalism
Medill School of Journalism
The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University which offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It has consistently been one of the top-ranked schools in Journalism in the United States...
. It was announced by Walter Dill Scott
Walter Dill Scott
Walter Dill Scott was one of the first applied psychologists. He applied psychology to various business practices such as personnel selection and advertising.-Life:...
in November 1920, and began classes in 1921.
As publisher of the Tribune, McCormick was involved in a number of legal disputes regarding freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
that were handled by McCormick's longtime lawyer Weymouth Kirkland
Weymouth Kirkland
Weymouth Kirkland was a Chicago lawyer and one of the name partners of the Chicago law firm of Kirkland & Ellis.-Background, 1877–1901:...
. The most famous of these cases is Near v. Minnesota
Near v. Minnesota
Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 , was a United States Supreme Court decision that recognized the freedom of the press by roundly rejecting prior restraints on publication, a principle that was applied to free speech generally in subsequent jurisprudence...
, 283 U.S. 697 (1931), a case championed by McCormick in his role as chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association's Committee on Free Speech.
A conservative Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, McCormick was an opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and compared the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
to Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. For a period in 1935, he protested Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
's Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
judiciary
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
by displaying a 47 star flag outside the Tribune building
Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower is a neo-Gothic building located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Company. WGN Radio also broadcasts from the building, with ground-level studios overlooking nearby Pioneer Court and Michigan Avenue. CNN's...
, with the 13th star (representing Rhode Island) removed; he relented after he was advised that alteration of the American flag was unlawful. He was also an America First
America First Committee
The America First Committee was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 members, it was likely the largest anti-war organization in American history. Started in 1940, it became defunct after the attack on Pearl Harbor in...
isolationist who strongly opposed entering World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to rescue the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. As a publisher he was very innovative. McCormick was a 25 percent owner of the Tribune's 50,000 watt radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
, which was purchased in 1924; he named it WGN
WGN (AM)
WGN is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is the only radio station owned by the Tribune Company, which also owns the flagship television station WGN-TV, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and Chicago magazine locally. WGN's transmitter is located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois...
, the initials of the Tribunes modest motto, the "World's Greatest Newspaper".
He also established the town of Baie-Comeau, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in 1936 and constructed a paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
and a hydroelectric power plant there named McCormick Dam
McCormick Dam
The McCormick Dam is a dam and power station built on the Manicouagan river by the Quebec & Ontario Paper Company and the Canadian British Aluminium Company east of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada. It is named after colonel Robert R...
to generate electricity for the mill.
McCormick carried on crusades against gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
s and racketeers, prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
and prohibitionists, local, state, and national politicians, Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, the East
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
and Easterners, Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, the New Deal and the Fair Deal
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal was the term given to an ambitious set of proposals put forward by United States President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. The term, however, has also been used to describe the domestic reform agenda of the Truman...
, liberal Republicans
Rockefeller Republican
Rockefeller Republican refers to a faction of the United States Republican Party who held moderate to liberal views similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller...
, the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, the World Court
Permanent Court of International Justice
The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1922 , the Court was initially met with a good reaction from states and academics alike, with many cases submitted to it for its first decade of...
, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, British imperialism, socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Besides Roosevelt, his chief targets included Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson
William Hale Thompson
William Hale Thompson was Mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931. Known as "Big Bill", Thompson was the last Republican to serve as Mayor of Chicago, and ranks among the most unethical mayors in American history.Thompson was born in Boston, Massachusetts to William Hale...
and Illinois Governor Len Small
Len Small
Lennington Small was the 26th Governor of Illinois, serving from 1921 to 1929. He also served as a member of the Illinois state senate from the 16th District from 1901 to 1903 and was Illinois state treasurer, 1905–07 and 1917-19.Small was born in Kankakee County, Illinois.Lennington Small was...
. Some of McCormick's personal crusades were seen as quixotic (such as his attempts to reform spelling of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
) and were parodied in political cartoons in rival Frank Knox
Frank Knox
-External links:...
's Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
. Knox's political cartoonists, including Cecil Jensen
Cecil Jensen
Cecil Jensen was an American editorial cartoonist.Born in Ogden, Utah, Jensen studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts...
, derided McCormick as "Colonel McCosmic", a "pompous, paunchy, didactic individual with a bristling mustache and superlative ego."
In 1943 he told an audience he helped plan a defence against an invasion from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
at the end of World War I.
In June 1947 he gave a 100 year birthday party for the Tribune that included a fireworks show called "the most colossal show since the Chicago fire."
Other publications noted that everything about the celebration was called "the world's greatest". Instead, they said "the Tribune has been made into a worldwide symbol of reaction, isolation, and prejudice by a man capable of real hate."
Family life
Starting in the summer of 1904, McCormick spent much time at the homes of his father's first cousin in downtown Chicago and Lake Forest, IllinoisLake Forest, Illinois
Lake Forest is an affluent city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The city is south of Waukegan along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded around Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in...
. Amanda McCormick (1822–1891), youngest daughter of family patriarch Robert McCormick, had married fellow Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
n Hugh Adams (1820–1880) before moving to Chicago to start the McCormick & Adams grain trading business. Their son Edward Shields Adams, who was born in 1859, had married the much younger Amie de Houle "Amy" Irwin, born in 1872, the daughter of decorated soldier Bernard J. D. Irwin
Bernard J. D. Irwin
Bernard John Dowling Irwin was an assistant army surgeon during the Apache Wars and the first Medal of Honor recipient...
, on April 15, 1895.
However, starting in November 1913 a bitter family dispute developed.
Amy filed for divorce, claiming Adams was alcoholic, which was granted on March 6, 1914 without her husband appearing in court.
Adams filed a lawsuit against McCormick for trespass and asked for the case to be heard again.
By September, Adams filed another lawsuit claiming that McCormick had a former chauffeur arrested and interrogated by a private detective.
The opposition press made the most out of the scandals.
Adams presented McCormick with a bill for eight years of lodging,
and claimed McCormick had "wickedly and maliciously debauched and carnally knew the said Amy Irwin Adams" while his guest.
McCormick then claimed he had made loans to Adams, which had to be repaid. The case was heard by Federal Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
in November. It was hinted that McCormick had promised to forgive the loans if the divorce was not contested. Landis ruled in favor of McCormick in February 1915.
On March 10, 1915, McCormick married Amy Irwin Adams after waiting the year after the divorce as required by law at the time.
The wedding was in the registry office of St George's, Hanover Square in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with only two witnesses present.
The Tribune did not mention the wedding, nor any of the previous lawsuits. After she died in 1939 he became a near social recluse. On December 21, 1944 he married Mrs. Maryland Mathison Hooper in the apartment of his cousin Chauncey McCormick
Chauncey McCormick
Chauncey Brooks McCormick was an American businessman and art collector in the McCormick family.-Life:His mother was Eleanor Brooks, daughter of Walter Brooks of Baltimore....
. She was 47 and he was 64 at the time. She lived until July 21, 1985.
He had no children from either marriage.
In failing health since an attack of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in April 1953, McCormick nevertheless remained active in his work until the month before he died on April 1, 1955. He was buried on his farm in his war uniform
Military uniform
Military uniforms comprises standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and military styles have gone through great changes over the centuries from colourful and elaborate to extremely utilitarian...
.
Legacy
McCormick was regarded as a "remote, coldly aloof, ruthless aristocrat, living in lonely magnificence, disdaining the common people... an exceptional man, a lone wolf whose strength and courage could be looked up to, but at the same time had to be feared; an eccentric, misanthropic genius whose haughty bearing, cold eye and steely reserve made it impossible to like or trust him." McCormick was described by one opponent as "the greatest mind of the fourteenth century" and by the American labor historian Art Preis as a "fascist-minded multi-millionaire". In his memoirs, publisher Henry RegneryHenry Regnery
-Biography:Regnery was born to a textile manufacturer on January 12, 1912 in Hinsdale, Illinois. He obtained a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1934, and an M.A. from Harvard University, where he worked with Joseph Schumpeter. He also studied at Armour Institute of Technology, and from...
described his meeting with McCormick and William Henry Chamberlin
William Henry Chamberlin
William Henry Chamberlin was an American historian and journalist. He was the author of several books about the Cold War, Communism and US foreign policy, the most famous of which was The Russian Revolution 1917-1921...
:
The Colonel received us in his rather feudal office, high above Michigan Avenue at the top of his Gothic tower. He was a tall, erect, distinguished-looking man, who, with his white hair, blue eyes, ruddy complexion, white mustache, and in his manner and dress, conveyed the impression that he might have come from the English landed aristocracy. He was perfectly cordial, but gave us clearly to understand that our rather similar views on such matters as foreign policy and the administration in Washington were no basis for familiarity.
The New York Times said:
He did consider himself an aristocrat, and his imposing stature—6 in 4 in (193.04 cm) tall, with a muscular body weighing over 200 lbs, his erect soldierly bearing, his reserved manner and his distinguished appearance—made it easy for him to play that role. But if he was one, he was an aristocrat, according to his friends, in the best sense of the word, despising the idle rich and having no use for parasites, dilettantes or mere pleasure-seekers, whose company, clubs and amusements he avoided. With an extraordinary capacity for hard work, he often put in seven long days a week at his job even when elderly, keeping fit through polo and later horseback riding. In his seventies, he could still get into the war uniform of his thirties.
Within days of McCormick's death, Richard J. Daley
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
was elected mayor and a new family would dominate Chicago, this time aligned with the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
for over half a century.
Since McCormick had long advocated building a convention center
Convention center
A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees...
, after it was built from 1957 to 1960 McCormick Place
McCormick Place
McCormick Place is the largest convention center in the United States. It is made up of four interconnected buildings sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about 4 km south of downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA. McCormick Place hosts numerous trade shows, including the Chicago Auto Show,...
was named for him.
Upon his death McCormick left an estate estimated at $55 million, and set up a charitable trust in his will. The Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
building that opened in 1962 was named McCormick Hall after a donation from the foundation.
After a donation to renovate the Technological Institute
Technological Institute
The Technological Institute, more commonly known as "Tech", is a landmark building at Northwestern University built from 1940 to 1942.It is the main building for students and faculty in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. The school of engineering itself was called...
building at Northwestern University in 1989, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Established in 1909, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is one of eleven schools at Northwestern University. Most engineering classes are held in the Technological Institute, which students often refer to as "Tech." In October 2005, another building called the Ford...
was named for him.
Formerly called the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the trust divested its ownership of the Tribune Company, so in 2008 changed its name to simply the McCormick Foundation
McCormick Foundation
McCormick Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit charitable trust established in 1955, upon the death of "Colonel" Robert R. McCormick. it had more than US$1 billion in assets.-History:...
. It contributed more than a billion US dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
for journalism, early childhood education, civic health, social and economic services, arts and culture and citizenship.