George R. Dale

George Reynolds Dale Sr. (February 5, 1867 – March 27, 1936) was an American newspaper editor and politician. He was the editor of the Muncie Post-Democrat from 1920 to 1936 and the mayor of Muncie, Indiana, from 1930 to 1935, a member of the Democratic Party. He started several newspapers and battled bootleggers and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Born in Monticello, Indiana, Dale produced his first newspapers in Hartford City and Montpelier. He moved to Muncie, where he founded the Muncie Post, at the invitation of mayor Rollin Bunch, whom he would later oppose. After this paper shuttered, he founded the weekly Muncie Post-Democrat in 1921, with a left-wing, pro-labor stance. The paper's reporting on bootleggers, as well as accusations of corruption against the leader of the county's Republican Party, led to attacks on Dale.

Dale's Post-Democrat frequently opposed the KKK. He mocked the group and published lists of its local members and businesses. In 1923, the paper accused a judge, Clarence W. Dearth, of being affiliated with the group, for which the judge charged Dale with libel and contempt of the court. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld these charges before Dale was pardoned by Governor Edward L. Jackson. Many Indiana citizens and several national newspapers supported Dale, claiming that the charges had violated the right to freedom of the press. Dale gained national fame for this incident.

Dale won the 1929 election for mayor of Muncie. Days after his inauguration, he replaced the city's police and fire departments. City councilors opposed Dale. They impeached him for an alcohol conviction, but he was restored to the office and pardoned for the conviction. During the New Deal, Dale used federal funds for public works projects. Dale lost his re-election bid at the end of his five-year term. He edited the Post-Democrat until his death in 1936. Historical assessment of Dale has been positive, focusing on his resistance of the KKK.

Early and personal life

George Reynolds Dale was born on February 5, 1867, in Monticello, White County, Indiana. His mother, Ophelia Reynolds, was also born in Monticello and was a Presbyterian of Irish descent. His father, Daniel D. Dale, had been the captain of Company K of the 19th Indiana Regiment during the U.S. Civil War, later serving as the clerk of White County and of the Indiana State Senate. Dale's grandfather, William Dale, had migrated to White County from Virginia. Dale had three siblings: Charles H., Bertha M., and Ida.

Dale went to school in Monticello, dropping out of twelfth grade due to chronic headaches. This was Dale's first experience in news and was the city's first daily paper. He returned to Hartford City and established the Hartford City Daily Journal in March 1909.

Dale became known for his opposition to gambling and to alcohol, which he called "demon rum". His newspapers led to the closure of bars in Hartford City and Montpelier. According to his wife, Dale was not opposed to alcohol itself, but rather its association with corrupt politicians. Dale was the editor of the Muncie Post until it folded in 1918. He attributed its closure to a boycott over its pro-labor stance. Dale also served as a police sergeant under Bunch. He cut ties with Bunch after the latter was imprisoned for mail fraud in 1919.

Establishment of the Muncie Post-Democrat Dale created the Muncie Post-Democrat, a weekly newspaper, in 1920; it had previously been called the Muncie Democratic Post.

Dale wrote that the leader of the Delaware County Republican Party, William H. "Billy" Williams, was corrupt and ran a political machine with connections to bootleggers and the KKK. Dale wrote that this group had supported Bunch's campaign. According to historian Carrolyle M. Frank, the existence of a political machine may have largely been Dale's invention. On March 24, 1922, Dale was attacked and his son, George Jr., was shot. He reported two weeks later that the attack was caused by his reporting on Williams.

Local government officials refused to advertise in the Post-Democrat, favoring Muncie's two Republican newspapers, until Dale presented them with court orders under a state law requiring them to advertise in publications of both parties. Dale did not endorse Bunch as the Democratic candidate in the 1921 mayoral election as the candidacy violated a state law barring felons from public office and his belief that Bunch was associated with organized crime. Dale's editorials led to a decrease in support for Bunch, who lost to the Republican candidate, John C. Quick. Dale's opposition to Bunch caused a rift among local Democrats. Opponents of Dale said they would start an opposing newspaper; they founded the city's second Democratic newspaper in 1924, which shuttered the same year.

Opposition to the Ku Klux Klan alt=George R. Dale wearing a suit in front of prison bars, surrounded by two men With a reputation for his satirical attacks on several subjects

Dale began reporting on the KKK in nearly every edition, publishing reprints from national publications as well as allegations against local KKK members. He published the names of these supposed members and of businesses run by the group. He wrote that the Williams political machine worked with the KKK. He described KKK members as "kookoos", mocked their ideology of "100 percent Americanism", and employed exaggerations and disparaging nicknames to describe its members, such as referring to Daisy Douglas Barr as Daisy Doodle Barr. Dale said that KKK members would shove or spit at him. He began to blame the KKK for the 1922 attack, although it had occurred before his KKK reports.

Several KKK members took legal action against Dale. In 1923, Dale wrote that a judge of the Delaware County Circuit Court, Clarence W. Dearth, was a KKK member who engaged in illegal jury selection practices and gave lower sentences to KKK members. That March, Dearth sentenced Dale to a 90-day jail sentence and a $500 fine for libel and for indirect contempt of the court. Indiana citizens petitioned the state legislature to impeach Dearth for violating the First Amendment right to freedom of the press, more than any candidate had previously won. He was the first Democratic mayor since Bunch had left office in 1919. When Dale left office, both of Muncie's Republican newspapers wrote that he had made some positive contributions during his term.

Later life, death, and legacy Dale continued to run the Post-Democrat until his death, His wife Lena succeeded him as the editor of the Post-Democrat. the second study, Middletown in Transition (1937), described his resistance of the KKK as "almost single-handed". Some scholars have credited Dale with limiting the political power of the Ball family. According to Ron F. Smith, "Because so much attention has been paid to Dale's fight with the Klan, his real mission in Muncie has been largely overlooked."