Walter Lippmann and the American Century — 16 Lord of the Tower

1. 1. Herbert Bayard Swope won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded for journalism, created the op-ed page, and attracted top journalists to the World.
2. 2. Lippmann's elegant appearance led a city editor to mistake him for an unemployed messenger on his first day at the World.
3. 3. Lippmann's first editorial for the World compared France's reparations policy to locking a bankrupt in jail and forcing him to pay $10 million while on a stone pile.
4. 4. Lippmann admired Frank Cobb as a 'humorous Yankee titan' and felt the World's management had fundamental goodwill.
5. 5. Lippmann enjoyed taking 'persistent and cruel' potshots at the Harding administration and Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes.
6. 6. Lippmann privately criticized Herbert Bayard Swope and Arthur Krock for cozy financial relationships with financier Bernard Baruch, calling Baruch 'a character manufactured by public relations.'
7. 7. Lippmann overheard Arthur Krock on the phone with a Dillon, Read agent about an upcoming editorial and accused him of giving advance information, leading to a long feud.
8. 8. Lippmann corrected James M. Cain's grammar, insisting that after a negative the proper word is 'so' not 'as,' which Cain later appreciated as a sign of respect for style.
9. 9. Lippmann valued lucidity, brevity, and the 'instinct for the jugular' over brilliant writing when hiring editorial staff.
10. 10. Lippmann criticized New York Mayor Jimmy Walker's dress as 'horribly dressed; he looks like a vaudeville entertainer.'
11. 11. Lippmann concluded that Calvin Coolidge was admired for what he symbolized rather than what he did, calling forth 'an ancient piety toward the origins of their life.'
12. 12. Lippmann and Harry Houdini staged a fake mind-reading demonstration to debunk spiritualism, but Houdini refused to reveal the trick to Ralph Pulitzer.