Once upon a time, William Allen White of Emporia, Kansas,

was a household name in America. An acquaintance of

every twentieth century president from Theodore Roosevelt

to Franklin Roosevelt, he held a close friendship with the

former and generally was an admirer of the latter. White

allied himself with the Progressive movement early in the

twentieth century, originally from the influence of T. R., but

also from others such as Woodrow Wilson. The author

of numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction, and an

important political advisor within the Republican party,

although he traveled and spoke often both in the United

States and sometimes abroad, White nevertheless was most

proud of the fact that he was a small-town newspaper editor

in Emporia until his death there in 1944. He was an important

supporter of middle class and middle western values, but

a close examination of his writings from the end of World

War I until 1944 shows that he was most concerned about

support for democracy, which he defined as Christianity

institutionalized. This came at a time when democratic

principles were coming under scrutiny or outright attack,

both at home and abroad. Politically he always sought to

promote the moderate course, attempting to bring both

major parties together in a common ground. Even though

he is not widely known today, perhaps his message has a

significant value to twenty-first-century America.

--Jack Wayne Traylor

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