Louis Stark

Louis Stark (May 1, 1888 – May 17, 1954) was an American journalist. He spent most of his career working as an economic reporter for The New York Times. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1942.

He is considered "a pioneer in the field of labor reporting." Harry S. Truman called him the "dean of all reporters on the labor scene."

Early life and education

Stark was born on May 1, 1888, in Tibolddaróc, Hungary. He was the son of Adolph Stark and Rose (Kohn) Stark, and moved with them to the United States when he was two years old. The family settled in New York, where he attended public schools, DeWitt Clinton High School, and the New York Training School for Teachers.

Career

In 1909, Stark taught for six months at Public School 75 in New York. He then worked as a book agent for a New York publisher. From 1909 to 1913, he was employed in publishing and advertising. In 1911, he held a job in the advertising department of The New York Times, then "began to do occasional assignments" for Arthur Greaves, then that newspaper's city editor, who helped Stark find a job with the New York City News Association. After working as a general assignment reporter for the City News from 1913 to 1917, Stark went over to the Evening Sun in 1917, and to the Times later that same year. From 1917 to 1922, he was a staff member at the Times.

He became a labor specialist in 1924 at the suggestion of Carr V. Van Anda, then managing editor of the Times. From then until 1951, he reported on business, economic affairs, and labor news for The New York Times, based in that newspaper's Washington bureau. During his first two days in Washington he "came up with two important exclusives," including the founding of the National Recovery Administration. "He covered all topics that have a connection to employment and the workforce," notes one source, "including strikes, international conventions of labor organizations, and the organization of labor, as well as national legislation and its impact on labor. He had a reputation for his 'accuracy and impartiality.'" He reported on the 1936 Akron rubber workers strike, on the activities of the National War Labor Board, on the U.S. government's takeover of railroads in December 1943, on the postwar decline of Henry A. Wallace's Progressive Party, on postwar concerns about a potential alliance between "an extremely nationalistic Germany and Soviet Russia," on efforts in the late 1940s to purge Communists from unions, and on efforts by Communist labor leaders to survive those efforts, among hundreds of other topics.

Stark's Times obituary drew special attention to a series of articles he had written on the battles in the Harlan County, Kentucky, coal fields, and to the "virtual running account" he had provided to Times readers "of the union organizing campaigns, including the rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the sit-down strikes and John L. Lewis." The Times also noted his coverage of the heresy trial of Bishop William Montgomery and of the Sacco-Vanzetti case. An account by Stark of the latter case appeared in a book by Times writers entitled "We Saw It Happen". When he departed Washington, former President Truman said in a statement: "I want you to know that you carry with you in your new position the respect and admiration of all those who have had the privilege of knowing you and of reading your careful reporting."

Book

He wrote Labor and the New Deal: Public Affairs Pamphlets, Number 2 (1936).

In 1942, Stark won the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting "for his distinguished reporting of important labor stories during the year."

Writing in 1993 about the many New York Times journalists who have won Pulitzer Prizes, Arnold Beichman counted Stark among the small number of those winners who were "truly great journalists," along with William Safire, James Reston, A. M. Rosenthal, and Brooks Atkinson.

In 1955, the U.S. Department of Labor incorporated the Louis Stark Memorial Fund "to foster improvement in labor relations, research and reporting."

The Nieman Foundation awards the Louis Stark Nieman Fellowship in honor of Stark's memory.