Henry Luce

Henry Robinson Luce (pronounced like "loose") (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an influential American publisher, one of the most powerful figures in twentieth century American journalism. He was the co-founder of Time (magazine), the pioneering weekly news magazine and the founder of Life, which pioneered photojournalism, also taking over Fortune magazine. His publications reflected Luce's desire to educate the American public, who were otherwise ill-informed about newsworthy events, both in the U.S. and worldwide.

Life

Henry Robinson Luce was born in Dengzhou, China, the son of a Presbyterian missionary. He was educated in various boarding schools in China and England. At 10, he was sent to a British boarding school at Chefoo on the China coast and at 14, he traveled to Europe alone.

He first arrived in the U.S. at the age of 15, to attend the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Luce spent his free time between waiting tables after school and editing the Hotchkiss Literary Monthly, holding the position of editor-in-chief. He graduated from Yale University in 1920, where he was a member of "Skull and Bones."

Henry Luce first met Briton Hadden, who was to become his partner in revolutionizing the world of journalism, at Hotchkiss while working on the school newspaper. The two continued to work together at Yale, where Hadden was chairman and Luce was managing editor of the Yale Daily News.

Luce recalled his relationship with Hadden:

Somehow, despite the greatest differences in temperaments and even in interests, somehow we had to work together. We were an organization. At the center of our lives—our job, our function—at that point everything we had belonged to each other.

After being voted “most brilliant” in his class at Yale, he parted ways with Hadden to embark on history studies at Oxford University for a year. He then worked as a cub reporter for the Chicago Daily News after his return. In December 1921, Luce joined Hadden at The Baltimore News. In 1923, they began Time (magazine), the introduction of their weekly news magazine and the revolution of American journalism.

Had Luce died in 1940, he would have been remembered for the great contributions he made to communication, seeking to create new ways of relaying the news, and informing the public of newsworthy events throughout the world. However, he lived another thirty-seven years, during which time his personal political viewpoints came to the fore, dominating the views expressed in his publications. Time was finally criticized as being "the most successful liar of our time" by a former editor. Thus, Luce came to be hated, even after his death, for his prejudices (Baughman 2001).

Luce had two children—Peter Paul and Henry Luce III—with his first wife, Lila Hotz. He married his second wife, Clare Boothe Luce in 1935.

According to a book by Ralph G. Martin, entitled Henry & Clare: An intimate portrait of the Luces, Henry had extended relationships with Jean Dalrymple, Mary Bancroft, and Lady Jeanne Campbell. Martin's writings however are considered questionable as undocumented falsehoods.

Luce died in Phoenix, Arizona in 1967. At his death he was said to be worth $100 million in Time Inc. stock. Most of his fortune went to the Henry Luce Foundation, which his son Henry Luce III directed until his own death in 2005.

Work

Henry Luce was a powerful innovator in the field of American journalism. His work transformed the field of mass communication in the mid-twentieth century. Together with Briton Hadden, his friend and co-worker from high school and Yale, Luce began Time in 1923.

Nightly discussions of the concept of a newsmagazine led the two, both aged 23, to quit their jobs in 1922. Later that same year the two formed Time Inc. Having raised $86,000 of a $100,000 goal, the first issue of Time was published on March 3, 1923. Luce served as business manager while Hadden was editor-in-chief. Luce and Hadden annually alternated year-to-year the titles of president and secretary-treasurer. Upon Hadden's sudden death in 1929, Luce assumed Hadden's position.

Luce launched the business magazine Fortune in February of 1930, Architectural Forum in (1934), and founded the pictorial pioneer of photojournalism, Life magazine in 1936. He later launched House & Home in 1952 and Sports Illustrated in 1954. Each publication added their own uniqueness to the world of print media. With Henry Luce's two main projects of Life and Time he could develop a formula that would summarize the week's news in print (Time) or pictures (Life) in ways that left the readers with a concise, and entertaining version of an event. In 1941, the revenues from Time and other Luce enterprises reached forty-five million dollars.

Luce was not content with merely the publishing of news in popular form, and making money, he felt a "calling" to use journalism as an educative force. Concerned about the early victories of Nazi Germany in World War II. Luce believed that America could no longer afford an isolationist foreign policy, and instead saw armed intervention to save Europe and a new postwar order dominated by the United States as inevitable.

Luce penned a famous article in Life magazine in 1941, entitled "The American Century," which defined such a role for American foreign policy for the remainder of the twentieth century (and perhaps beyond). Though he was never elected as Secretary of State, a dream he had cherished, or any type of foreign secretary by the U.S. government, a significant member of the Republican Party his views were highly influential.

Luce, who remained editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964, also held anti-communist sentiments, publicly stating that he did not believe that there could be peaceful co-existence between the Communist empire and the democtratic free world. He was an instrumental figure behind the so-called "China Lobby," and played a large role in steering American foreign policy and popular sentiment in favor of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling.

By the mid 1960s, Time Inc., now part of the Time Warner Inc. media empire, was the largest and most prestigious magazine publisher in the world. Luce also contributed to other forms of mass communication including radio and newsreels with his The March of Time, and also television, while his Time-Life Books became a major publishing house.

Legacy

During his lifetime, Luce supported many programs like Save the Children, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and United Service to China, Inc. He received 19 honorary degrees as well as many awards for his journalistic innovations, business success, democratic principles, and dedication to the "American dream."

Upon his death in 1967, Henry Luce was remembered by Life magazine as "the most successful editor of his TIME, a great popularizer of ideas, a man who revolutionized modern journalism."

Worthy of many accolades the part of his life that should be most noteworthy was his values that he upheld and the print media he helped bring into existence that forwarded these values to millions. By being born in China with Christian missionary parents he was easily able to adopt a worldview which helped his success tremendously. There was no better place to progress this worldview than in the largest democratic nation the world has - the powerful United States of America. The journalistic innovations that he helped to publish will continue to influence generations to come and also provide great career opportunities for journalists both now and in the future. One of the greatest things about his life was his strong anti-communist stance, definitely he should be remembered for this because communism was a destructive cause that needed to be stopped. Luce was a leader that could recognize that destructive force and helped to put an end to it beyond the critics of his generation. Although some may have found his love life questionable he still should be considered one of the most prominent men born of women. If we could possess his innate quality to help expand the human mind through his publishing work and life then we might all be able to live in a more peaceful place.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Baughman, James L. 2001. Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801867169
• Martin, Ralph G.. "Henry & Clare: An Intimate Portrait of the Luces. Reprint." Perigree, 1992. ISBN #0399517812

External links

• TIME biography
• The Henry Luce Foundation
• PBS American Masters
• Time Magazine - Henry R. Luce
• Luce Lips by John Leonard
• American History information about Henry Luce in The Reader's Companion to American History Eric Foner and John A. Garraty ( Eds). Houghton Mifflin Company
• Time.com in partnership with CNN

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