No Medill of Honor for Press Baronesses

In place of press lords the United States has had press families: the Binghams in Louisville, the Chandlers in Los Angeles, the Ochs-Sulzbergers in New York and Chattanooga. None, though, compared in power or zaniness with the family of Joseph Medill at its height. Born in 1823, Medill was a fervent abolitionist, one of the founders of the Republican Party, and is perhaps most notable for having helped put Abraham Lincoln over as his partyâ??s candidate in the 1860 presidential election. In 1855 Medill bought a one-third ownership of The Chicago Daily Trib­une, and eventually controlled the majority stock in the paper, which he took great care before his death in 1899 to make certain stayed in his family.