I wasnt satisfied Im that way whether Im out riding my bike or racing a car.. The two men introduced themselves as J.T. and Oats (Chandlers longtime family nickname), struck up a conversation about motorcycles and soon began dirt-biking together. Bureaus opened in Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Rome, Bonn, London, Vienna and San Francisco, at the United Nations and on Wall Street. Since his first run for Congress in 1946, he had been championed by The Times as he successfully ran for U.S. Senate and then for the vice presidency on the Eisenhower ticket. Although Chandler had previously been insistent that his criticisms of the business strategies pursued by Times management remain private, this undermining of the papers editorial integrity stirred him to action. As it turned out, however, several members of the Chandler family had begun to share Otis disenchantment with Willes, especially the companys lack of diversification, interest in new media and long-term strategic plan, as Chandlers sister, Camilla Chandler Frost, put it the morning the sale to Tribune was announced. He moved gradually at first, then much more quickly, especially after hiring Day, who joined the paper as chief editorial writer in 1969 and later became editor of the editorial pages. He said he didnt regret the 40 years he spent here. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Six weeks later, on the day that John Puerner of Tribune Co. took over as publisher of The Times, Chandler had dinner with Puerner and Jack Fuller, then-president of Tribune Publishing at their invitation. Despite that, Chandler did not envision journalism as a career during his youth; instead, he often said he would like to become a doctor. Regardless, Chandler welcomed the outcome, largely because of his dissatisfaction with the existing management of Times-Mirror. Son of Norman Chandler and Dorothy Buffum Chandler The paper warmly endorsed Nixon but also praised Browns accomplishments in the same editorial. During his tenure it would expand to 34 foreign and domestic bureaus. While in college, he sometimes worked summers at the paper, most often moving printing plates and other heavy equipment. President-elect Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Reagan, are honored at the Los Angeles Music Center in 1980 during an event hosted by Otis Chandler and his mother, Dorothy. The Dowling Family Tree with over half a million relatives,contains thousands of pictures and over four thousand GeneaStars.We are all related! Willes, he said in 1999, was basically undoing what I and my father and Franklin Murphy all did, dating back to 1958. [2] At Stanford he was a successful shot putter. Numerous top Times reporters left the paper, many to join the New York Times or to pursue other interests. When he strides out of a meeting to shake hands, it is like looking up at a California redwood., Anthony Day, The Times editorial page editor from 1971 until 1989, once said: After I had been working for Otis for a few years, it occurred to me that I was working for a prince, a man who had been raised to be a prince.. Other family members had gathered at the Chandler home. [4], He was not involved in negotiations by other members of the Chandler family to sell The Times to Tribune Company, a clear sign of how his influence had eroded. They owned vast landholdings and used their influence with elected officials and the business elite to shape the regions development. He built a newspaper that was as great as the city it covers. Mark has the stock price and dividends up, and thats all they care about.. When Williams showed him the piece, the publisher said it wasnt tough enough. But by 1962, The Times had become a different institution. Despite the liberalization of The Times editorial page under Chandler, he remained moderate, even conservative, on many issues, feminism among them. The agreement made sense financially for The Times, but it proved to be a boon in another way as well. And sooner or later Im afraid well have to align ourselves with one of those companies to ensure the long-term survival of The Times., When Tribune turned out to be that company, Chandler said, Of all the people, of all the media companies that Times Mirror could join, this is the most logical and probably the best company.. As recently as September, Chandler appeared fit, aside from a knee injury, and was lucid enough to sit for an interview and give a visitor a guided tour of his classic car and motorcycle museum in Oxnard. Readers could be excused for thinking that only one political party existed in Southern California. It was a watershed experience, he said. The 1962 gubernatorial campaign was another. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Otis Chandler (1928 - 1970) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days How do we create a person's profile? Otis said he wanted a more assertive, more liberal editorial page, Day said. He attended Dartmouth College, and on a dare, he jumped into a vat of starch that had frozen over during winter, which led to severe pneumonia. It may sound strange for a Chandler to say this, he said in one such conversation, but I dont think my family and the other people running the company are looking ahead enough to the Internet and other new media. [1], In 1986, Chandler won the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism to honor his years of service to the newspaper.[3]. Harry Chandler was born in Landaff, New Hampshire to Moses K. and Emma J. Heirs to other great newspaper dynasties have felt an obligation to remain deeply involved with their papers, virtually until their dying day, and Chandlers decision not to do so remained a topic of curiosity among his peers long after he left. Chandler had his own ways of blowing off such stress like getting behind the wheel of a turbocharged Porsche. And that apparently gave Mrs. Chandler the opening she needed. He wrote offbeat feature stories, such as one about the people who feed sharks at the aquarium. Chandler died at his home in Ojai about 4 a.m., according to Tom Johnson, a former publisher of The Times who was acting as a spokesman for the family. But by then, he had so little real power and so little influence with the members of his family who controlled the paper that when they decided four months later to sell Times Mirror to Tribune Co. of Chicago, he said he hadnt even known about the negotiations until he heard rumors, nothing more, two days before the deal was consummated. Chandler knew and trusted Burke. Ever concerned with the papers image and visibility nationally, he teamed with Philip Graham, then publisher of the Washington Post, to create the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service to distribute the papers stories to client papers. If he hadnt divorced Missy, Im not sure he wouldve left the paper. login . Goodwin J. Knight. His father made sure that Chandler experienced work in all sections of the organization, assigning him to jobs in the industrial production of the paper, business management, clerical administration, and the news-gathering operation.[1]. Although the decision stunned her, friends said they had long seen the breakup coming. Otis himself offered contradictory explanations of his mothers role in his promotion, befitting a mother-son relationship that had its share of paradox. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. But he was never specific, and the word publisher was never mentioned.. My style was to do the job and push the boundaries, and once Otis realized I knew what I was doing, he let me do it, Thomas said. Nobody had ever heard of the Chandlers, he said later. He had the papers support when he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1960. Chandler liked the shotput and weightlifting, he once said, because they were individual sports, and he could be judged on his own merits. Chandler started prep school at Cate, in Carpinteria, but his parents thought hed find a greater challenge and broader perspective back East, so after a year they transferred him to Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. The Birchers argued that presidents Eisenhower, Truman and Franklin Roosevelt were either Communists or Communist dupes. I always had the feeling that I wasnt welcome in the building when Mark was in charge that maybe theyd have a guard try to throw me out if I tried to come in. . Despite the enormous difference in their socioeconomic status, the two remained close friends for more than 30 years. At the same time, it doubled its circulation to more than 1 million daily and for many years during and after his tenure published more news and more advertising than any other newspaper in the United States. The Games took place in 1952. Thomas, who was among the editors brought over from the Mirror, said he believed that the windfall of local talent was as responsible for The Times subsequent success as the hiring of big guns from the East. George Cotliar, who joined the paper three years before Chandler became publisher and served as an editor for almost 40 years, said The Times had been widely regarded as a crappy newspaper and a politically biased newspaper, and the Birch series and the editorial were a statement to the staff too. About that time, Otis began telling Nick Williams, the editor of the paper, the kinds of improvements he envisioned making if and when he had the authority. The truth probably falls in the middle. One had only to visit the mens room in his car and wildlife museum its walls covered with posters of scantily clad women draped over shiny sports cars to realize that his ultra-masculinity wasnt limited to guns, barbells, fast cars and motorcycles. I dont butt in.. Alberta Chandler, the wife of Chandlers uncle (and rival) Philip, was a prominent member of the Birch Society, and she and Philip had played host to Birch Society President Robert Welch. To grasp the breadth of the changes, it is necessary to understand what The Times had been. 'It was three outside members of the [Times Mirror] board who persuaded him to do it There was an air of anticipation as the elder Chandler stepped to the microphone and said, after a bit of reminiscing, I hereby appoint, effective as of this moment, Otis Chandler as publisher of The Times., He recalled almost four decades later having had no inkling what my dad was going to say until an hour before the luncheon. He was convinced that he had taken The Times about as far as he could, and he wanted more challenges and more freedom. Still, he wanted to be bigger and stronger, so shortly after graduation, he took up weightlifting. As much as any other change at the paper, the arrival of Paul Conrad brilliant, sharp-penned and liberal served notice that an entirely new breed of Chandler was in charge. Retired Times publisher Otis Chandlers car collection included a 1931 Duesenberg LeBaron Special Phaeton. Both Thomas and Johnson said he hated being chairman. The Times, on his watch, consistently editorialized in favor of gun control, but Chandler himself was a strong advocate of the right to bear arms. He entered a six-hour endurance race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., teamed with John Thomas, his motorcycle buddy and Porsche mechanic, who had long raced cars himself. Despite his family's wealth, Chandler's father insisted that he perform field labor and did not spoil him with gifts. Heres a man who led a full life, said Otis Booth, his cousin and longtime hunting companion. Their first child was a boy named Norman after Chandler's father. You cannot overstate the importance of Otis Chandlers impact on the Los Angeles Times, the newspaper industry and all of Southern California, said current Times Publisher Jeff Johnson (no relation to Tom Johnson). By all accounts, the family enjoyed their outdoor experiences together, for Chandler focused on his children as intensely as he did on everything else that mattered in his life. He wanted the paper to take what he called more balls out positions, and he wanted us to change our position and editorialize against the war in Vietnam.. Otis Chandler, whose vision and determination as publisher of the Los Angeles Times from 1960 to 1980 catapulted the paper from mediocrity into the front ranks of American journalism, died today of a degenerative illness called Lewy body disease. Williams was 21 years older than Chandler and often pulled in his reins. They said I might be able to lift my hand to my mouth, but just barely and only after two years and only if I exercised it properly, he recalled. One of the first examples came in 1961, when The Times hired Jim Murray as a sports columnist. [1], His son, Mike Chandler, was a race-car driver in the CART Championship Car series. Ultimately, there was little that Chandler could or would do to influence the fate of The Times beyond this brief but dramatic entry into the fray. He had family money, but he had looked on GeoTek as another chance to prove he could succeed on his own, and he wound up embarrassed and forced by the exposure to return his stock and finders fees. [1], In 1998, at age 71, Chandler suffered minor head injuries when he spun out a Ferrari automobile on the road in Oxnard. Chandler was no typical rookie. He had purchased his first a 1931 Duesenberg in 1968 for $35,000, and he built a world-class collection of Porsches, Ferraris, Duesenbergs, Cadillacs, Packards and other classics before selling all of them to meet the financial terms of his divorce settlement. In 1960, he became publisher of the Los Angeles Times. He and Thomas finished sixth in a field of 72 cars third in their class of 22 a remarkable performance for a 50-year-old rookie driver. During Chandlers 20 years as publisher and five subsequent years as editor in chief and chairman of the board of The Times then-parent company, Times Mirror the paper won nine Pulitzer Prizes and expanded from two to 34 foreign and domestic bureaus. Most historians credit Otis mother Buff to her friends and family with persuading her husband to make their son his successor. They didnt like the L.A. Times, he said in the 2005 interview. Chandler and his editor, Williams, lured reporters away from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, the Washington Star, BusinessWeek and U.S. News & World Report. Norman Chandler, then near his 60th birthday, saw the logic in the change. More than most high-level executives, Chandler also seemed willing to interrupt the workday occasionally when pleasure beckoned. Collection Title: Chandler Family History Collection Digitized by California Audiovisual Preservation Project. Otis Ashmore Chandler (1891 - 1956) Chandler had long felt that Willes hadnt shown enough respect for him and what he had accomplished. He remained an avid reader of the paper. Word that Chandler was breaking his silence ricocheted through the newsroom. Such special issues were financial windfalls for the Times, generating a record $2 million in ad revenue. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. Until shortly before his death in 1973, Chandlers father had helped insulate him from those protests. When doctors said Otis was dead, Mrs. Chandler wailed, My son is not dead! She picked him up and raced to another hospital, screaming all the way there, Otis is alive, Otis is alive!. His grandfather, Charles Abel Buffum, was a businessman who founded Buffum's, a department store chain, with his brother, Edwin E. Buffum, and a politician, who served as Mayor of Long Beach, California. Jack Burke, Chandlers close friend since their days together at Stanford, had assembled an exploratory oil-drilling company called GeoTek in the late 1960s and early 70s. The stories described the Birchers extremist tactics and positions and, largely through their own words, depicted them as a threat to, rather than a defender of, the American way of life. As a boy of 5 or 6, he had frequently accompanied his father to the office and slid down the chutes that were used to drop papers from the pressroom to the delivery trucks. His goal, he once quipped, was to make it a militant middle-of-the-road paper.. But Tribune had long had Times Mirror in its corporate sights. Not long after, he left his wife, and three years later a year after he moved out of the Times publishers office he and Whitaker, 12 years his junior, were married. Within four years, Time magazine and others were routinely mentioning The Times as one of the three or four best newspapers in the country. But he didnt disclose to other investors that he received $109,000 in finders fees and $373,000 in promotional shares of GeoTek stock for his efforts. At 6-foot 3-inches (190cm) tall, after bulking-up to and 220 pounds he won the Pacific Coast Conference title and finished second in the nation during his senior year with a toss of 57 feet (17m), 63/47 of an inch while serving as his team's captain. Critics also thought his position at the top of the citys power structure prevented The Times from aggressively investigating that establishment. The only other possible publisher in the family, however, was Normans younger brother Philip, then general manager of The Times and a member of the Times Mirror board. When I asked what he did, he just said, I work at The Times,. Thomas recalled. But even though the paper and the company has been sold, it feels to me like Im home again.. Chandler himself invested more than $200,000 of his personal funds. The GeoTek affair also damaged Chandler physically. Its true that in 1958 Norman Chandler had promoted Williams, a 27-year Times veteran, to the top editors job and had given him instructions to initiate a more aggressive and evenhanded approach to the news. He gradually worked his way through every department at the paper: production, circulation, the mailroom, mechanical, advertising, the newsroom. He set his sights on a goal making The Times one of the two or three great American papers and he pulled it off.. The next evening, a Friday, his father grinning like a Cheshire cat, Chandler would always remember handed him a sheet of paper. He was, in general, something of a loner, a trait he traced partly to spending my young years on that ranch in Sierra Madre, a little remote, rather than on a neighborhood street with a lot of kids. Asked repeatedly in one interview to name his best childhood friends, he came up blank. Although all three of his sons worked at the paper for varying periods, none ascended into the top executive ranks. Chandler was both more willing than most publishers to reinvest the papers rising profits in editorial improvements and more visionary in his approach to newspapering. The pay was $48 a week. Contact Information The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, CA 91108, Phone: (626) 405-2191; Email: reference@huntington.org, www.huntington.org Access-restricted-item true Addeddate "No publisher in America improved a paper so quickly on so grand a scale, took a paper that was marginal in qualities and brought it to excellence as Otis Chandler did," journalist David Halberstam wrote in his history of the company. He hunted. Three top editors asked Boyarsky not to read the statement aloud, fearing that it would further provoke an already enraged staff. You transformed the entire staff, he said, and the whole place had a totally different attitude.. He was bold in making changes and investments in the paper that transformed The Times into a world-class news organization., Otis was a giant in every way, said Donald Graham, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the Washington Post Co. 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