James Leonard Reinsch (June 28, 1908 – May 9, 1991) was a broadcasting executive. He was president and CEO of

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...

. Behind the scenes, he gave advice to four Presidents. He assisted the

White House Press Secretary The White House press secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the executive branch of the United States federal government, especially with regard to the president, senior aides and ...

office in 1945, during the transition from President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

to President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

and advised

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

on his 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech.

Career

Reinsch was born in

Streator, Illinois Streator is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, LaSalle and Livingston County, Illinois, Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River (Illinois River tributary), Vermilion River approximately so ...

in 1908. He majored in Advertising at Northwestern University, where he won the D.F. Keller prize for this thesis. He took over the development of what was then WHIO for

James M. Cox James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the Unite ...

. Reinsch was sent to Atlanta, in 1939, when Cox purchased the Atlanta Journal and Georgian and the radio stations. He was put in charge of WSB radio. In 1942 he was put in charge of the three radio stations; WIOD Miami, WSB Atlanta, WHIG in Dayton. Reinsch was called on by Cox to assist in communications at the White House during the transition from the Roosevelt to Truman administrations in 1946. In the 1960 presidential campaign, he suggested that the two opponents stand for the hour-long debate, knowing that

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

had injured a knee when he struck it on a car door. To Mr. Reinsch's surprise, Nixon agreed. He also served as a key advisor to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and

. Reinsch narrowly avoided being the first owner of an Atlanta football team. In the summer of 1965, he reached a tenantive deal to purchase the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

from the Phipps family and move them to Atlanta. However, in the time between the deal (where he left for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

right after due to having to travel for his wife's surgery) and June 30, 1965, the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(as led by

Pete Rozelle Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was an American professional football executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retire ...

) announced that Rankin Smith, among a few others, would be part of an expansion team in Atlanta that would begin play in 1966. In 1973, Reinsch retired from Cox Broadcasting. In March of that same year, Reinsch was presented the coveted Gold Medal award from the International Radio and Television Society. He was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1979 to 1985. Reinsch died on May 9, 1991 of heart failure at

Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

.[. In September 2003, the Library of American Broadcasting named Reinsch as one of the "First Fifty Giants of Broadcasting".

References

Notes

External links

J. Leonard Reinsch Oral History Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinsch, J. Leonard 1908 births 1991 deaths People from Streator, Illinois American radio executives Cox Enterprises 20th-century American businesspeople