Millard Lewis Cope is Local. (original) (raw)

Tip O�Neil reminded us that �all politics is local.� Millard Cope taught us that the best journalism is local, too.

Though I never met Mr. Cope, who served as publisher of the Marshall New-Messenger for seventeen years, learning about his contributions to East Texas and the world from the pen and prose of Max Lale leads me to applaud and appreciate him.

Millard Lewis Cope was born in Sonora, Texas, in 1905. He began a career in journalism that lasted until his death in 1964 by setting type for the local newspaper for �a nickel a stick,� or approximately two inches.

Cope worked on his school newspaper at Sonora High School, and also served on the board of the Texas High School Press Association. He attended Baylor and Howard Payne College before completing a degree in journalism at the University of Missouri in 1927.

A position on the staff of the San Angelo Morning Star was Cope�s first post-graduate job in journalism. By 1930 he had become publisher of the Sweetwater Reporter, moved to the Denison Herald in 1936, and to the Marshall News Messenger in 1945. In Marshall, Cope found his �place.� Over the next seventeen years Cope became a national figure in journalism. He served on the board of Associated Press and as president of the Southern Newspaper publishers Association.

Governor Allan Shivers appointed Cope to the original Texas State Historical Survey Commission, later renamed the Texas Historical Commission, and Governor Price Daniel appointed him to the Texas Civil War Centennial Commission. President John F. Kennedy appointed Cope to the advisory council of the Peace Corps in 1963.

That appointment doubtless was requested by the Corps� first director, Bill Moyers, who began a career in journalism at the News Messenger, and who credited Cope with teaching him how to be a journalist, especially one with ethics, as he also had tutored Cissy Stewart, leading columnist with the Fort Worth Star Telegram, and Jack McGuire, author of a syndicated column on Texas. Max Lale also worked at the New Messenger for eight years in what he calls �The Millard Cope School of Journalism,� and later became publisher of the Greenville Banner himself.

Said Moyers, �In a way [Cope] was to small-town publishing in the 40s and 50s what William Allen White was to small-town editing, although White�s reputation spread through his writing, and Millard Cope�s through personal character.�