OTIS, HARRISON GRAY

born Feb. 10, 1837, near Marietta, Ohio, U.S. died July 30, 1917, Los Angeles, Calif. American newspaper publisher who directed the Los Angeles Times from 1886 until after World War I. Otis was a descendant of the colonial political activist James Otis. He received little formal education but worked as a printer's apprentice in his teens and studied briefly at a commercial college in Columbus, Ohio. Moving to Kentucky, he became a member of the new Republican Party and in 1860 served as a delegate to its national convention, which nominated Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War he served in the eastern theatre, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war he held a variety of jobs in Ohio and Washington, D.C., before migrating in l876 to Santa Barbara, Calif., where he edited the Santa Barbara Press for several years. Moving to Los Angeles, he acquired part interest (1882) and then full control (1886) of the Los Angeles Times, which he edited with an iron hand for the next three decades, becoming one of the most powerful figures in southern California. He made his newspaper a voice of ultraconservative Republicanism and fiercely opposed labour unions. (On Oct. 1, 1910, the offices of his paper were bombed, killing 21 employees. Three union radicals, including two brothers, James B. and John L. McNamara, eventually confessed to the crime. Otis headlined the case relentlessly.) Otis also championed the declaration of war on Spain in 1898 and served briefly in the summer war as a major general. In 1914 Otis legally transferred his controlling interest to his daughter and son-in-law, Marian and Harry Chandler, but continued in practice to direct the day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles Times until his death. born Oct. 8, 1765, Boston, Mass. died Oct. 28, 1848, Boston Federalist political leader who championed the Hartford Convention in its opposition to mercantilist policies and the War of 1812. He was a nephew of James Otis and the son of Samuel Allyne Otis (17401814), who was a member of the Confederation Congress in 178788 and secretary of the U.S. Senate from its first session in 1789 until his death. Young Otis graduated from Harvard College in 1783, was admitted to the bar in 1786, and soon became prominent as a Federalist in politics. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 179697 and 180205, in the U.S. House of Representatives in 17971801, as a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 180513 and 181417, as a member of the U.S. Senate in 18171822, and as mayor of Boston in 182932. Otis was strongly opposed to the War of 1812 and was a leader in the states' rights Hartford Convention, which he defended in a series of open letters published in 1824 and in his inaugural address as mayor of Boston.