CHICAGO TRIBUNE

daily newspaper published in Chicago, one of the leading American newspapers and long the dominant, sometimes strident, voice of the Midwest. It was founded in 1847 by three Chicagoans and was close to bankruptcy in 1855 when Joseph Medill (1823-99), a Canadian-born editor who became an Ohio newspaper publisher, along with five partners, bought the paper. Medill made the Tribune a profitable operation while using it to promulgate his Free Soil, or Abolitionist, views. In addition, he made the Tribune one of the most influential early advocates of Abraham Lincoln for the U.S. presidency. The paper gained in stature through its coverage of the Civil War. Following the war, it called repeatedly for government reforms, and Medill was elected mayor of Chicago. He bought a controlling ownership interest in the Tribune in 1874 and continued as publisher until his death. The Tribune, politically liberal in outlook in much of the 19th century, became increasingly conservative during the tenure of Robert R. McCormick (1880-1955), who gained control in 1914, becoming the paper's guiding force and a colourful figure in American journalism. McCormick was particularly noted for his nationalist-isolationist views, embodied in his unceasing opposition to the presidency (1933-45) of Franklin D. Roosevelt. After McCormick's death the paper gradually relaxed its jingoism and unyielding political conservatism. The Tribune's thorough coverage of Chicago and Midwestern commerce, industry, agriculture, and social life, as well as government and politics, won it great reader loyalty. It has also long been noted for its technical excellence.