Medill, Joseph

Medill, Joseph

(1823–99) publisher, editor; born in New Brunswick, Canada. Raised mainly in Ohio and partially self-taught, he became a lawyer, bought and ran two papers, and in 1855 acquired part interest in the Chicago Tribune, with which he was associated as owner and editor for most of his later years. He built it into a highly professional, influential, and successful paper, though markedly illiberal (one infamous editorial advocated administering arsenic to derelicts and the unemployed). He also served in public life, notably as mayor of Chicago in the early 1870s.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.