John Seigenthaler

John Lawrence Seigenthaler ( ; July 27, 1927 – July 11, 2014) was an American journalist, writer, and political figure. He was known as a prominent defender of First Amendment rights. after his uncle encouraged an editor about his talent. Seigenthaler gradually established himself on the staff among the heavy competition that included future standout journalists David Halberstam and Tom Wicker.

He first gained prominence in November 1953 when he tracked down the former Thomas C. Buntin and his wife, who had gone missing 22 years earlier. The case involved the son of a wealthy Nashville business owner who had disappeared in September 1931, followed six weeks later by the disappearance of his secretary. Seigenthaler was sent to Texas by The Tennessean after reports surfaced that Buntin (now known as Thomas D. Palmer) was living somewhere in Texas. While investigating in Orange, Texas, Seigenthaler saw an older man step off a bus. Noting the man's distinctive left ear, Seigenthaler followed him home. After three further days of investigation, he returned to the home, where he confirmed the identities of Buntin/Palmer, his wife, the former Betty McCuddy, and their six children. Seigenthaler won a National Headliner Award for the story. On April 29, 2014, the bridge was renamed the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge.

In July 1957, Seigenthaler began a battle to eliminate corruption within the local branch of the Teamsters, noting the criminal backgrounds of key employees, along with the use of intimidation in keeping news of certain union activities quiet. During this period, he contacted Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa, both top Teamsters officials, but the two men ignored Seigenthaler's queries. His series of articles resulted in the impeachment trial of Chattanooga Criminal Court Judge Ralston Schoolfield.

Seigenthaler took a one-year sabbatical from The Tennessean in 1958 to participate in Harvard University's prestigious Nieman Fellowship program.

During the Freedom Rides of 1961, Seigenthaler was sent in his capacity as assistant to Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights John Doar to be chief negotiator for the government, in its attempts to work with Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson. After several days of refusing to return calls, Patterson finally agreed to protect the Riders, but their state trooper escort disappeared as soon as they arrived in Montgomery on May 20, 1961, leaving them unprotected before the waiting white mob.

Seigenthaler was a block away when he rushed to help Susan Wilbur, a Freedom Rider who was being chased by the angry mob. Seigenthaler shoved her into his car and shouted, "Get back! I'm with the Federal government" but was hit behind the left ear with a pipe. Knocked unconscious, he was not picked up until police arrived 10 minutes later, with Montgomery Police Commissioner Lester B. Sullivan noting, "We have no intention of standing police guard for a bunch of troublemakers coming into our city."

Seigenthaler's brief career in government would conclude as a result of Evans' death from a heart attack on July 29, 1961. A brief transition followed, during which longtime Tennessean reporter John Nye served as publisher. On March 20, 1962, the newspaper announced that Evans' brother, Amon Carter Evans, would be the new publisher.

One of the new Evans' first acts would be to bring back Seigenthaler as editor. The two had worked together at the paper when Seigenthaler served as assistant city editor and Evans was an aspiring journalist. On one occasion during that era, the two nearly came to blows over Seigenthaler's assignment of Evans to a story.

Evans named Seigenthaler editor of The Tennessean on March 21, 1962. With this new team in place, The Tennessean quickly regained its hard-hitting reputation. One example of the paper's resurgence came following a Democratic primary in August 1962, when The Tennessean found documented evidence of voter fraud based on absentee ballots in the city's second ward. Moments after a victory in the California primary, Kennedy was shot by an assassin and died on June 6, 1968. Seigenthaler would serve as one of the pallbearers at his funeral, and later co-edited the book An Honorable Profession: A Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy.

Remaining focused on the cause of civil rights, Seigenthaler then supported Tennessee Bishop Joseph Aloysius Durick in 1969 during the latter's contentious fight to end segregation, a stance that outraged many in the community who still believed in the concept.

The New Yorker described Seigenthaler as being "well connected in the Democratic Party." He was called a "close family friend" of the Kennedys, a "longtime family friend" of the Gores, and a friend of former Democratic Senator James Sasser. In 1976, after having encouraged Al Gore to consider entering public life, he tipped off Gore that a nearby U. S. House representative was retiring. In 1981, Seigenthaler urged Sen. Sasser to return to the Democratic party's "liberal tradition": "I keep telling him that Reagan's going to make it respectable to be a liberal."

In publishing On February 8, 1973, Seigenthaler was promoted to publisher of the Tennessean, after Amon Carter Evans was named president of Tennessean Newspaper, Inc.

As the publisher, Seigenthaler worked with Al Gore, then a reporter, on investigative stories about Nashville city council corruption in the early 1970s. In February 1976, Seigenthaler contacted Gore at home to tip him off that he had heard that U.S. Representative Joe L. Evins was retiring,

Afterward, the FBI appears to have collected rumors about Seigenthaler. FBI Deputy Assistant Director Homer Boynton told an editor of The New York Times to "look into Seigenthaler", whom he called "not entirely pure." After hearing this, Seigenthaler tried for a year to get his own FBI dossier. He finally received some highly expurgated material, including these words: "Allegations of Seigenthaler having illicit relations with young girls, which information source obtained from an unnamed source." He had previously promised to publish whatever the FBI gave him and did so. He flatly stated that the charges were false. The attorney general issued an apology, the allegations were removed from Seigenthaler's file, and he received the 1976 Sidney Hillman Prize for "courage in publishing".

In May 1982, Seigenthaler was named the first editorial director of USA Today. In announcing the appointment, Gannett president Allen Neuharth said Seigenthaler was "one of the most thoughtful and respected editors in America." During Seigenthaler's tenure at USA Today, he frequently commuted between Nashville and Washington to fulfill his duties at both newspapers.

The publication of author Peter Maas' 1983 book, Marie: A True Story, again put Seigenthaler under scrutiny over the investigation of a pardon scandal involving former Tennessee governor Ray Blanton. Marie Ragghianti was the head of the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles before being fired after refusing to release prisoners who had bribed Blanton's aides. Since the Tennessean had supported Blanton, the newspaper's initial reluctance in investigating the charges was called into question. However, editors and reporters had believed that Ragghianti's alleged broken affair with Blanton's chief counsel, T. Edward Sisk, motivated her claims.

Later life

In 1986, Middle Tennessee State University established the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, honoring Seigenthaler's "lifelong commitment to free expression values".

Seigenthaler announced his retirement in December 1991 from The Tennessean, just months after he made a similar announcement concerning his tenure at USA Today.

On December 15, 1991, Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, saying, "It is my hope that this center at Vanderbilt University ... will help promote appreciation and understanding for those values so vital in a democratic society." The center serves as a forum for dialog about First Amendment issues, including freedom of speech, press, and religion.

In 1996, Seigenthaler received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

In 2001, Seigenthaler was appointed to the National Commission on Federal Election Reform that followed the 2000 presidential election. He was also a member of the Constitution Project on Liberty and Security.

In 2002, when it was discovered that USA Today reporter Jack Kelley had fabricated some of his stories, USA Today turned to Seigenthaler, along with veteran editors Bill Hilliard and Bill Kovach, to monitor the investigation.

In 2002, Vanderbilt renamed the 57,000-square-foot (5,300 m2) building that houses the Freedom Forum, First Amendment Center, and Diversity Institute the John Seigenthaler Center. At one point, USA Today and Freedom Forum founder Allen Neuharth called Seigenthaler "the best champion of the First Amendment."

In April 2014, the Shelby Street Bridge was renamed the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge in his honor.

Seigenthaler hosted a book review program on Nashville public television station WNPT, called A Word on Words, and chaired the selection committees for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation's Profiles in Courage Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial's Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.

Wikipedia biography incident

On May 26, 2005, an unregistered Wikipedia user created a five-sentence biographical article about Seigenthaler that contained false and defamatory content. The false statement in Seigenthaler's Wikipedia article read:

Seigenthaler noted that the falsehoods written about him on Wikipedia were later posted on Answers.com and Reference.com. He later wrote an op-ed on the experience for USA Today in which he wrote, "And so we live in a universe of new media with phenomenal opportunities for worldwide communications and researchbut populated by volunteer vandals with poison-pen intellects. Congress has enabled them and protects them",

Death Seigenthaler died of complications from colon cancer on July 11, 2014, at the age of 86, surrounded by his family in his home.

Publications