Edward Musgrove Dealey (October 5, 1892 – November 27, 1969) was a journalist who became

chairman of the board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

of A.H. Belo, a media conglomerate that included the ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'' and

WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decatur-li ...

Radio.

Early life

Edward Musgrove (Ted) Dealey was born to

George Bannerman Dealey George Bannerman Dealey (September 18, 1859 – February 26, 1946) was a Dallas, Texas, businessman. Dealey was the long-time publisher of ''The Dallas Morning News'' and owner of the A. H. Belo Corporation. A plaza in Dallas is named in h ...

and Olivia Allen on October 5, 1892, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Dealey attended public schools in Dallas through grade five. In grade six, he was expelled from public school for unspecified reasons and sent to the Terrill School for Boys, which later became

St. Mark's School of Texas The St. Mark's School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian, college-preparatory day school in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1906, St. Mark's educates roughly 900 boys in grades 1-12. St. Mark's is one of the wealthiest day schools in the United ...

. For three years, Dealey was the top ranked student at the Terrill School, and he would later say that it was the school's strict disciplinary code that had reformed him. He graduated in 1910 and then attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

where he received a bachelor's degree in 1913. From there he went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, earning a master's degree in philosophy in 1914.

Journalism

1n 1915, Dealey was a student at the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

when he was offered a job at ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'', where his father was vice president of that newspaper's parent company, A.H. Belo. In 1920, the younger Dealey was promoted to staff correspondent. After his father bought the ''Morning News'' and the majority of the A.H. Belo stock from the Belo heirs, the younger Dealey became an A.H. Belo board member. Dealey was appointed vice president in 1932. He succeeded his father as president of A.H. Belo in 1940. When his father died in 1946, Dealey became publisher of ''The Dallas Morning News'' as well.

World War II

Dealey served as a major during the war. His first command was the Twenty-ninth Battalion, Texas Defense Guard in 1941–42. He served in the United States Army Specialist Corps between 1942 and 1943. Dealey also traveled to the Far East as a ''Morning News'' staff correspondent; at the conclusion of the war he witnessed the Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri. His war writings were gathered by the ''Morning News'' and published in 1945 as ''Sunset in the East''.

Politics

Beginning in the 1920's, Dealey had increasing amounts of influence on the editorial tone of the newspaper. Ku Klux Klan Dealey wrote many of the newspaper's anti-

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

articles. In a 1924 memo to his father, for example, he insisted that the paper endorse candidate

Miriam Ferguson Miriam Amanda "Ma" Ferguson ( ''née'' Wallace; June 13, 1875 – June 25, 1961) was an American politician who served two non-consecutive terms as the governor of Texas: from 1925 to 1927, and from 1933 to 1935. She was the first female govern ...

over the Klan's preferred gubernatorial candidate. Communism and the Red Scare While the older Dealey was a Democrat, the younger Dealey was a stridently anti-communist Republican, and the editorial tone of the ''Morning News'' veered sharply to the right after the older Dealey died. As described by investigative reporter Peter Elkind:

But the most critical difference between father and son was reflected on the editorial page.... Ted Dealey was a red-baiter, a supporter of
Joe McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age 48 in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the mo ...
, an unforgiving opponent of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, an enemy of social welfare and unions and federal aid, and so was his newspaper.

President John F. Kennedy In October 1961, Dealey attended a luncheon for newspaper publishers, given at the

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * Kennedy (surname), including any of several people with that surname ** Kennedy family, a prominent American political family that includes: *** Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), American businessman, investor, ...

White House. Toward the end of the event, President Kennedy asked if any of the guests wanted to comment. Dealey stood up and read the following prepared statement:

The general opinion of the grassroots thinking in this country is that you and your administration are weak sisters. If we stand firm, there will be no war. The
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
ns will back down. We need a man on horseback to lead this nation, and many people in Texas and the Southwest think that you are riding Caroline’s ennedy's 3-year-old daughtertricycle.

Kennedy, rankled by the inconsiderate reference to his daughter, frostily responded: "Wars are easier to talk about than they are to fight. I'm just as tough as you are, and I didn't get elected President by arriving at soft judgments." In November 1963, Dealey approved the publication in the ''Morning News'' of a full-page advertisement that was harshly critical of President Kennedy, implying that he was sympathetic to Communism. When President Kennedy saw the ad in that morning's newspaper as he was flying into Dallas on the morning of November 22, 1963, he said to his wife, "we're headed into nut country." He added that the person who'd approved the ad was the same person who'd made the scene at the White House two years earlier. Later that day, President Kennedy was assassinated in

Dealey Plaza Dealey Plaza is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is sometimes called the "birthplace of Dallas". It was also the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. The Dealey Plaza Historic ...

, named after Dealey's father.

Other Writing

Dealey published articles in such popular magazines as the

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

as well as scholarly journals, such as the

Southwestern Historical Quarterly The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

. He wrote accounts of his travels, published several short stories as well as a nonfiction account of the early days of his hometown, ''Diaper Days of Dallas''.

Cultural References

Ted Dealey was played by

Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...

in the 1985

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

'' Prince Jack.'' This movie portrays Dealey using a wheelchair and omits the White House encounter with

President Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

listed above. The film presents Dealey as being present when

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at age 12 for truan ...

attempted to

assassinate Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Edwin Walker Edwin Anderson Walker (November 10, 1909 – October 31, 1993) was a United States Army major general who served in World War II and the Korean War. Walker resigned his commission during 1959, but Eisenhower refused to accept his resignation and ...

in April 1963.

Personal Information

Dealey married the former Clara MacDonald on March 1, 1916. They had three children, two of whom survived into adulthood. On June 29, 1951, he married Mrs. Trudie Kelley. Dealey died of a heart attack on November 27, 1969 in Dallas.Dealey, Edward Musgrove
''Handbook of Texas Online'', Texas State Historical Association

References

External links

Edward Musgrove (Ted) Dealey
in ''

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

'' Online
George Bannerman Dealey
in ''

'' Online
Joseph MacDonald Dealey
in ''

'' Online
James Q. Dealey
in ''

'' Online
Samuel David Dealey
in ''

'' Online
''Dallas Morning News''
in ''

'' Online * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dealey, George 1892 births 1969 deaths American newspaper publishers (people) Journalists from Dallas The Dallas Morning News people Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni 20th-century American journalists American male journalists