McCormick, Robert Rutherford

McCormick, Robert Rutherford, 1880–1955, American journalist, b. Chicago. He held local public offices, was admitted (1907) to the bar, and practiced law in Chicago. He worked with his brother, Joseph Medill McCormick, in the management of the Chicago Tribune, and, after serving in World War I, he became sole owner of the newspaper. He rapidly extended his journalistic holdings and soon was dominant in the midwestern newspaper world. The Chicago Tribune steadily and vehemently maintained an extreme right-wing position on various issues—it condemned labor unions and attacked the participation of the United States in world affairs. McCormick's works include The American Revolution and Its Influence on World Civilization (1945) and The War without Grant (1950).

Bibliography

See biography by R. N. Smith (1997).

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McCormick, Robert Rutherford (1880–1955) publisher; born in Chicago (grandson of Joseph Medill). A World War I veteran, Colonel McCormick inherited and ran the Chicago Tribune with his cousin Joseph Medill Patterson, assuming sole control as Patterson became preoccupied with the Daily News in New York. He was an ultraconservative isolationist, whose views were reflected on the editorial page and sometimes in news coverage.