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Friday, September 11, 2015

Chapter 4- The Editor

The Editor

“If American civilization is to progress, there must always be maintained that group of communists, socialists, radicals, or what you will, who disagree with the flag-waving, speech-making, oath-taking, DAR type of organization made up of ‘citizens’ who pay their servants and employees ten cents per hour and spend money putting up silk flags in churches and schools.”

Bill Allen in an editorial on February 23, 1939 in the Knox Student

(From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)


In the introduction to “Dear Folks,” his sister Elizabeth writes, “He died as he lived believing in a greater freedom of thought and action, greater tolerance and human understanding.” As you read Bill’s letters, it is obvious he held strong beliefs, was willing to take a stand for his beliefs, and was committed to making the world a better place.

In Bill’s letters from the War, it is clear he was not blindly patriotic.  He had developed a strong set of values connected with the ideals of freedom.  When Bill was boarding the ship to go to Europe, a band was playing. He commented, “We were met at the pier by one of the few bands that I’ve seen in the army (thank goodness, for you know what I think of flag waving music!) and we were greeted with not the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ or even ‘God Bless America,’ but such swing classics as the ‘One O’Clock  Jump.’ The performance was marred only as it changed to the ‘Army Air Corps’ song just before we went up the gangplank. To the infantry that was sacrilegious.”  Bill Allen was an American patriot, but his view of patriotism was centered around the importance of freedom of thought, independent thinking, and willingness to challenge authority.



Early in the War, Bill writes to his parents, “I am also convinced that even though it is a true statement that ‘War is Hell, ’and this one even more so than any other that I am still a member of the best fed, clothed, and equipped army that has ever taken to the field. And come from me, who still am as much opposed to the system as ever, you know that it must be the truth. Also know that come what may I still am convinced in my own mind that I have done the right thing all the way along the line.”
In our era it is challenging to understand why this free spirit would choose in his fifth year as a teacher to leave and join the military. Yes, it was a different time but Bill Allen still did not fit the profile of a soldier.  Records and writing during Bill’s college years provide us insight into this American patriot.

In choosing to go to Knox College, he chose to go to a school with a history of independent thinking.
·       In 1837 Knox was founded by a small group of people who were abolitionists. This was certainly not a mainstream belief in America at the time.
·       In 1858 in the 5th debate of Lincoln-Douglas at Knox, Lincoln felt comfortable with the Knox audience to make one of his earliest statements in regards to slavery.
·       Knox chose to admit and give to degrees to females in the 19th century before most schools.
·       At the turn of the century, S.S. McClure and John Phillips graduated from Knox, and then together founded the McClure Magazine. Irving Franz in A History of Mass Communication credits it with starting the tradition of muckraking journalism. Their magazine was one of the first to write about Standard Oil and later US Steel.
·       In 1953 after a fraternity admitted an African-American, their national organization disbanded the fraternity. The Knox administration stepped in and helped the fraternity stay together and develop as an independent fraternity.
·       In 1970 during the era of Vietnam protests, a group of Knox students took over Old Main. Included in the group was John Podesta who later went on to be Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton.  

Whether the events I have listed are simply isolated examples or illustrations of a pattern, Knox College through the years would like to be thought of as an institution which promoted independent and critical thinking. Like many colleges, Knox may tend to be more liberal than their alumni and the community. So often you have students who feel the school is not as open to change and free thinking as it should be, while the alumni may see the school as being too open to change and free thinking.
Bill, as the editor of the Knox Student, gets involved in the politics of the campus, but also becomes effected by some  of the politics of the nation.  Following the Russian Revolution, the Red Scare had challenged free speech in America.  In the case of Schenck vs. U.S. in 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., said that the government was justified in silencing free speech when there is a ‘clear and present danger’ to the nation. (America by Cayton, 2002, p.342)

But for many students in the 1920’s and 1930’s, socialism and communism became concepts worth examination. Joseph P. Lash was the leader of the American Student Union in the 1930’s. The American Student Union was an attempt to bring together the many different students groups together as one. In a speech entitled, The Student Movements of the 1930’s, Lash reflected, ”These student groups were primarily groups of study and inquiry…”  (The Student Movements of the 1930’s, Joseph P.Lash, Eleanor Roosevelt Library (Website-Student Activism of the 1930’s) There was a movement on college campuses to examine socialism and communism.

In the midst of the intellectual curiosity about socialism, the U.S. experienced the Stock Market Crash in 1929. This caused many Americans to question our government and obviously our economic system. According to Lash, this caused a real sense of both questioning and activism on the American college campuses in the 1930’s.  “The emphasis was less on ethics and the emancipation of the spirit and more on the politics of doing something about the problems immediately in front of us. There was a greater readiness on the part of students to take to militant activity. If you got into a fight with the Administration, you organized a picket line outside of the Dean's office you almost looked for trouble, because you felt that the Administration represented the Boards of Trustees and the Boards of Trustees represented corporate wealth, and corporate wealth was responsible for the fix in which the country was found, and therefore it didn't matter the issue on which you picked a fight with the Administration, in the end that fight was justified. Perhaps I am almost caricaturing it, but that gives you something of the flavor of it, of the thing.”  (The Student Movements of the 1930’s, Joseph P.Lash, Eleanor Roosevelt Library (Website-Student Activism of the 1930’s) 

So Bill Allen was the editor of the school paper at a school which philosophically encouraged free thought, and at a time in which Americans in general and college students in particular were questioning the basic structures of our society. With remnants of the Red Scare still in America, a person who questioned things too much might become labeled as a communist.  It is in this environment Bill writes as an editor of the Knox Student.

An issue which becomes at the center of Bill’s work as editor are mandatory Chapels. According to Knox historian, Owen Muelder, Knox had daily chapels in the 1800’s which were religious in nature. Owen says at some point in the early 1900’s although they kept the word “Chapel”, they began to be more lectures by either Knox professors or visiting professors. In the 1934 Knox Student, it indicates Chapels were mandatory and held three times per week. It appears by Bill’s senior year in 1939, Chapels were held at Beecher Chapel once per week. Chapels were still mandatory but creative students seemed to develop methods to avoid attendance on occasions.

In the winter of 1938-9 (Bill’s senior year), Knox had famous advertising giant, Hill Blackett come speak at a Chapel. The students were required to attend. Hill was a giant in radio advertising, he actually is considered responsible for the term “soap operas”, for his attaching soap ads to the afternoon radio dramas. His connection to Knox may have been through Knox alum, Earnest Elmo Calkins who had just retired as a major player in the national advertising world.
Hill Blackett was one of the main organizers of the Alf Landon (Republican) campaign in 1936 vs. Roosevelt. Later, Blackett allegedly was involved in attempts to build public sentiment against the New Deal. He encouraged store owners to have chalk boards in the front of their stores where they could list the actual price of items, the tax on the item, and then the total price. The point was to show the consumer the cost of government taxes. (The Southeast Missourian, Sept. 8, 1936)

Blackett was followed up at Knox by a speech by someone from the National Association of Manufactors. According to Barton St. John in “Press Professionalization and Propaganda,” (2010), NAM attempted in the 1930’s to promote the values of capitalism while combating the policies of the New Deal as well as undermining organized labor.

This set of back to back speakers at the mandatory Chapels was evidently too much for some of the students. Bill’s first appearance in the Knox Student with an opinion involved a letter to the editor on January 12, 1939. Four students wrote letters to the editor in which they were upset with the speaker at the last Chapel. Bill Allen, Robert Seibert, and George Durako were all members of the Gnothautii Literary Society.

Bill starts his letter with the comment, “… the policy of this college to line itself up with the Liberty League.” The Liberty League was founded in the early ‘30’s as an organization to oppose Roosevelt and the New Deal.  Bill Allen goes on to say that after these two speakers, “Even the DAR might have been unable to stomach this cross section of Americanism.”

In Bill’s letter, he claims Knox has tried to “educate a student for four years on the use the five smooth stones.” His analogy is coming from David and Goliath. The inference would be Knox had encouraged them to use their education as stones to take on and challenge the world, yet Bill and the other writers are concerned with the mandatory nature of the Chapels.  The Chapels are attacked most humorously by David Hamm who says, “I will defend forever his right to speak, but I simply cannot sleep in one of those pews.”


From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.
The Knox Student Editor,  James A. Campbell, felt the need to write an editorial explaining his decision to put the four letters in the paper the week before. He starts his editorial by addressing “those who are not enrolled at Knox,” an apparent reference to either Knox alumni or people in the community.

The editor twice feels the need to identify himself as a Republican. Criticism must have been pointed and personal after the letters. As he discusses the letters, his comment is, “… this ‘red’ editor allowed the signed student letters to be printed in their own newspaper as a protest to an insult to both student and faculty intelligence.”  Mr. Campbell goes on in his editorial to say something needs to be done about the mandatory chapels. (The following editorial is from Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)




This would be James Campbell’s last editorial for the Knox Student. It is reported he is dropping his position to focus on pre-med course work. It is announced his replacement for the remainder of the year will be William Allen from Alta. Thursday, Jan. 26, it was announced that Bill was the new editor.

The following article is from Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.

After Bill’s letter to the editor, The Knox Board of Publications had to have had an idea of what it was getting into selecting Bill to be the new editor. In the past months, before Bill took over, The Knox Student editorials had been :
                  Oct 6-     “Tap Room at Custer Off Limits”, written by Dean Charles Adamee-
                  Oct 13-  “Sad Commentary on Knox” (Addressing few students at lecture series.)
                  Nov 3-     Salute To Visiting Coe College Football Coach
Nov 10- Veterans Day salute to ROTC- (It mentions preparedness is saving lives.)
Nov 17- Appreciation for 9 year old water boy for the football team
Dec 1, Dec 8- Ice Rink needed on campus
Jan 12- Praise for the Knox basketball team
(From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)

The Knox Student was headed for an exciting spring with Bill as the editor. His first two editorials went away from the topic of the mandatory chapels. On February 9, “Through Hell to Paradise”, looked at fraternities and hell weeks. His second editorial on February 16, “Club Knox”, scolded the students for their misuse of social areas in Seymour Hall.
(The following editorrials from the Knox Student are from Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)






In the Knox Student, some editorials are unsigned and some editorials bare the signature of a particular student. The unsigned editorials would be either written personally by William Allen as editorial, or could be written by his editorial board and approved by him.

During this time, the issue of The Chapel continued to develop on campus. From the earlier letters, it is apparent the issue of the Chapel being mandatory and the apparent choice of like-minded conservative speakers were also issues. But another concern of the students was that the college wanted them to take a citizenship oath. For Bill Allen, this was viewed as attack on his freedoms and on the principles of free thought which he felt Knox stood for. So on February 23, Bill wrote, “Why So Proudly We Hail.”

The editorial is obviously upset with the Chapel’s. The editorial starts by referring to the Knox College Catologue as a “masterpiece of academic dishonesty.” Chapel topics are said to be determined with input from students, and the students are not being given a chance for input.
“Why So Proudly We Hail,” is concerned not just about the past Chapel topics but the next Chapel. The topic of the next Chapel will be, “Responsibilities of Citizenship,” and delivered by Professor John Conger. Bill is concerned the topic sounds like this “…this seems to smack of being another DAR, Rotary, Trustee, or Tribune sponsored piece of propaganda.”

Bill takes issue with the need for a “citizenship oath,” and states his view of “being a good citizen.” Bill states his clear vision of what would make Knox College and our nation strong, “…government that is based upon the principle of freedom of opinion.” This theme is expressed throughout Bill’s editor days at Knox, and comes up numerous times in his letters home from Europe. 

Bill’s feels strongly about the importance of dissent. He states, “We thank God that ours is not ‘one nation indivisible.’” And then continues, ”If American civilization is to progress, there must always be maintained that group of communists, socialists, radicals, or what you will, who disagree with the flag-waving, speech-making, oath-taking, DAR type of organization made up of ‘citizens’ who pay their servants and employees ten cents per hour and spend money putting up silk flags in churches and schools.”

Knox appears to have known what it was doing, having chosen Dr. John Conger to deliver this chapel speech as emotions were running high. In 1934 when students had walked out of a Chapel because a speaker was late, the next Chapel Dr. Conger was trotted out to calm things down. Clearly Dr. Conger had the respect of the students. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)





It would appear Professor Conger’s speech provided the students with “intelligence and dignity.” But the speech concluded by asking students to take an oath of citizenship. It is unclear but inferred several times that an oath of citizenship may have been part of some earlier Chapel’s. The nature of Conger’s oath is never analyzed by Bill or any of the newspaper staff. It is entirely possible Dr. 

Conger may have chosen to ask the students to recite a citizenship oath less on flag waving and more on involvement. The following is the report as it appeared in the Knox Student on March 9, 1939. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)


Also in the March 9 edition of the Knox Student, the newspaper and Bill Allen chose to answer critics. The combination of the original letter to the editor, and Bill’s Februrary 23 editorial (Why So Proudly We Hail) must have upset some people. In the March 9 editorial, it is mentioned, “Since it was revealed in last week’s chapel that we are Communistic…” There is no mention of this controversy in the Knox Student’s coverage. It would seem to be out of character based on other statements about and by Dr. Conger. The best guess is that another professor must have had a chapel speech during leading up to this editorial.

Bill’s statement in the earlier editorial, “… there must be maintained that group of communists, socialists, radicals…” might have been the trigger that produced a speaker to label the paper as being communistic.  The response describing “our communistic platform,” uses some of the tame topics The Knox Student had dealt with in editorials earlier in the year, such as Hotel Custer Tap Room being off limits and need for a campus ice rink. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)


Bill took a break from the Chapel issues with his March 23 editorial on the role of sports in colleges. One cannot help but wonder how Bill would have felt that Knox after WW2 built a new gym as “Memorial Gym,” to honor WW2 soldiers, but did not build a center for fine arts for another ten years. It probably would not have been in line with his priorities for Knox. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)


Although it was not done every year, many years before 1939, The Knox Student had an April Fool’s edition. The tradition continued with the Knox Student into the 2000’s. In fact, Knox grads who started a local paper (The Zephyr) in Galesburg in the 1990’s had an April Fool’s edition also. March 30, 1939 served as the “April Fool’s” edition for Bill Allen’s paper.

The banner headline of the paper read, “Student Editor Victim of Bombing.” The sub-heading read, “Communist Activity of Student Editor Results in Bombing.” It is such an irony of the times that Bill Allen would have a “pretend death” described in the newspaper attributed to his being unpatriotic, and in just over six years the Galesburg Register Mail would describe his actual death after fighting as a patriot for his country. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)




The article says, “… the deceased will lie in state at Whiting Hall. Bill spent much of his time at the “Castle,” so the college believes that the girls deserve a last look at him.”  Whiting Hall was the dormitory for female students, and its nickname was the “Castle.” The entire front page is filled with humorous April Fools stories. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)

Another April Fool’s satire- From the positive views many students have expressed in The Knox Student toward Dr. Conger, it is likely this article is likely satirically looking at one of their favorites and suggesting he is aligned with people he would not choose to align with.



In the April Fool’s editorial, they pose that a new staff has taken over. But they promise they will continue the “Yellow Journalism”, of the past editor. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)


After the April Fool’s edition, the paper’s attacks on the Chapel program quieted. It was not until May 4, 1939 an editorial again addressed the topic. This time there is praise for the speaker. (From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)

The last editorial of Bill Allen appeared in The Knox Student in late May, 1939. It was entitled, “It Was A Hard Race But (?).” His writing style allows him to effectively challenge Knox College to strive to be what it claimed to be. One of his great lines is, “We really should advocate that the spirit of Abraham Lincoln be given its much deserved rest while the college educates a new president.”  In closing when he expresses about the Board of Publications, “What would we have done without them?” We can only speculate if this a statement of praise or of sarcasm. 
(From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)

It Was A Hard Race But (?)
In spite of the resistence which one thinks that he built up during his four years of college training, probably every graduate will weaken to the occasion and become somewhat sentimental at commencement. He will forget the disappointments and disillusions of his college days: the let down after rush week, the first grading period, the fact that the “View Book” didn’t entirely come to life, and even the poor meals he thought he was getting at the halls.

Probably the last editorial should be the climax of a semester’s efforts. We really should outline our program for the ideal Knox of the future- a program designed to keep Knox at all times a Mecca for scholars and never let it become an asylum for the intellectual orphans. We really should advocate that the spirit of Abraham Lincoln be given its much deserved rest while the college educates a new president. We should continue our program for making fraternities on the campus secondary rather than primary in the student’s interest. A month ago a very “sizzling” editorial could have been written for the continuance of freedom of speech and press on the campus in order to allow students to hear all sides of the question and then work out their own political and social problems for themselves.

But today, as the end of our college career approaches, we find that we, too, are blinded by the roses on the platform, and it is impossible to drag again the old skeleton out of the closet. So we are going to satisfy those many idealistic opponents of ours and say something really nice about someone.
Any possible success which The Student may have obtained during the past semester has been due entirely to a very enthusiastic, willing, and faithful staff. We could wish no surer success to the editors in the future than that they have assistants like Bob Giles and Bev Bender. Both have been on hand every week and have devoted many patient hours of their time in order that we might make the weekly deadline with enough material and headlines to fill the necessary space.

We hate to rely on the old cliché that “space does not permit giving credit to all those deserving mention.” However, that seems to explain the situation. Bob Siebert has always been on hand and willing to do everything from giving editorial advice to reading proofs. Marion Lambert, May Louise Porter, Dorothy Rice, Dick Burkhardt, and Dave Nixon, to mention only a few, have written more than their share of copy. If we ever needed a big story well written Ginny Mae Hughes was always willing no matter how close to the deadline we were. And then there was—but read the names of the staff. They are all there.

Then too, there is that ever present and willing Board of Publications. What wouldn’t we have done without them?


(From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)

(From Special Collections and Archives, Knox College Library, Galesburg, Illinois.)

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