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Biography of Samuel Sidney McClureName: Samuel Sidney McClureBirth Date: February 17, 1857 Death Date: March 21, 1949 Place of Birth: County Antrim, Ireland Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: editor Samuel Sidney McClure Samuel Sidney McClure (1857-1949) created the first literary syndicate and developed "muckraking," which established him as one of America's notable editors.Born in County Antrim, Ireland, on Feb. 17, 1857, S. S. McClure was taken to the United States as a boy. Raised in poverty, he worked his way through Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., where he was an outstanding student. In 1882, by good fortune, he became editor of the Wheelman; then he was associated with the De Vinne Press in New York. Dissatisfied, McClure turned to the Century Magazine, which despite its high status he found constrictive in opportunities.The idea of a syndicate, capable of circulating a story or article to numerous publications at a small fee, rather than to one at a large fee, became an obsession with McClure. He left regular employment to sell his idea to writers and editors. Although difficult years followed, McClure's syndicate introduced a wider audience …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…including George Kibbe Turner and Willa Cather.Yet his former associates were correct in thinking that McClure was skeptical of democracy's potential. He sought a government for, rather than of, the people. Tired and temperamental, McClure abandoned editorial work in 1914 and absorbed himself in theoretical speculations regarding democracy's workings: Obstacles to Peace (1917), The Achievements of Liberty (1935), and What Freedom Means to Man (1938). These books made little impression, and McClure himself receded into obscurity. He died on March 21, 1949, in New York. Associated Works McClure's Magazine Further Reading Peter Lyon, Success Story: The Life and Times of S. S. McClure (1963), makes use of McClure's private papers and is vividly written. Louis Filler, Crusaders for American Liberalism (1939), treats McClure in the context of his times. See also McClure's My Autobiography (1914; new ed. 1963), which owes much of its distinction to Willa Cather. Harold S. Wilson, McClure's Magazine and the Muckrakers (1970), is an interesting study. |