Newspaper publishers played a crucial role in transforming Texas into a modern state. By promoting expanded industrialization and urbanization, as well as a more modern image of Texas as a southwestern, rather than southern, state, news barons in the early decades of the twentieth century laid the groundwork for the enormous economic growth and social changes that followed World War II. Yet their contribution to the modernization of Texas is largely unrecognized.

This book investigates how newspaper owners such as A. H. Belo and George B. Dealey of the Dallas Morning News, Edwin Kiest of the Dallas Times Herald, William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby of the Houston Post, Jesse H. Jones and Marcellus Foster of the Houston Chronicle, and Amon G. Carter Sr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram paved the way for the modern state of Texas. Patrick Cox explores how these news barons identified the needs of the state and set out to attract the private investors and public funding that would boost the state's civic and military infrastructure, oil and gas industries, real estate market, and agricultural production. He shows how newspaper owners used events such as the Texas Centennial to promote tourism and create a uniquely Texan identity for the state. To balance the record, Cox also demonstrates that the news barons downplayed the interests of significant groups of Texans, including minorities, the poor and underemployed, union members, and a majority of women.

A fascinating look at how newspaper publishers including A. H. Belo and George B. Dealey (Dallas Morning News), William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby (Houston Post), Jesse H. Jones (Houston Chronicle), and Amon G. Carter Sr. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) played a crucial role in transforming Texas into a modern state.

About the Author
Patrick L. Cox served as the Associate Director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin and is now an independent scholar, contributing to National Public Radio and other media.

Reviews
Those interested in how power is used -- as well as who gets to wield it -- will enjoy this contribution to the study of journalism, often called the rough draft of history. * East Texas Historical Association *



Book Information
ISBN 9780292709775
Author Patrick L. Cox
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint University of Texas Press
Publisher University of Texas Press
Weight(grams) 454g