Hugh Patterson, Jr., 91; Publisher of Ark. Gazette during '57 crisis

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: OBITUARIES
Hugh Patterson Jr., 91; Publisher of Arkansas Gazette
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
May 31, 2006

Hugh B. Patterson Jr., whose 38 years as publisher of the Arkansas Gazette included the Little Rock Central High School desegregation crisis, died Monday, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He was 91....

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The Gazette won two Pulitzer Prizes in 1958 — one for its news coverage of Central High and the other for editorials....

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The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 in Brown vs. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional....In September 1957, nine black students braved angry white mobs to attend Central High. Gov. Orval Faubus had called out the National Guard to prevent black children from attending the previously all-white school, but President Eisenhower sent Army troops to escort the youngsters into the school and maintain order.

Patterson "was absolutely vital to leading the paper to the position it held: Obey the law and the court decision," said Roy Reed, a former reporter for the Gazette who is a professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

The paper lost millions of dollars in circulation and advertising revenue because of a boycott by segregationists but eventually regained the lost circulation....

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-patterson31may31,0,4456745.story?coll=la-home-obituaries

[bobbieinok]

1. 1 of the many heroes I learn about only in theri obituaries

[theHandpuppet]

2. RIP, Mr. Patterson

Wish there were more like you today.