Henry Luce: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:32, 13 November 2025

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Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine publisher who founded Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. He built one of the first multimedia corporations, combining print, radio, and newsreels, and promoted the idea of the "American Century", envisioning the United States as a global leader.^[1]

Early life and education

Luce was born in Tengchow, Shandong, China, now Penglai, on April 3, 1898, the son of Elizabeth Root Luce and Henry Winters Luce, who was a Presbyterian missionary.^[1]

At 15, he was sent to the U.S. to attend the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he tried hard to overcome his stuttering. As a scholarship student he was isolated from the upper-class boys. He was subsidized by an elderly Chicago heiress, Nancy Fowler McCormick, who favored sons of missionaries. Applying himself to study, Luce quickly became the top student. He was especially strong in languages, studying Greek, Latin, French, and German, and already knowing Chinese. He edited the Hotchkiss Literary Monthly.^[2] There, he first met Briton Hadden; they became best friends.^[1]

Hotchkiss was a feeder prep school for Yale University. After a summer spent working on a Springfield newspaper, Luce matriculated in the fall of 1916. He was the top freshman academically, but grades did not confer as much prestige as a staff role on the Yale Daily News. Only four freshmen were chosen by the News; they included Luce and Hadden.^[3] When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, a third of the students joined the army; the rest, including Luce, joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and attended class in uniform.

Luce also joined Alpha Delta Phi, a minor fraternity. His grades remained top-level, and every spare hour was devoted to newspaper work. Luce and Hadden were the two outstanding journalists; when the vote came in January 1918 for chairmanship of the News, Hadden beat Luce by one vote. Luce instead became managing editor and the two worked closely together and started planning their future. Meanwhile, the Army assigned them as ROTC leaders to train new recruits. The war ended before either was commissioned.

In January 1919, Luce and Hadden returned to Yale University as juniors. In May 1919, they were both tapped into the prestigious Skull and Bones secret society. Luce tried, but failed, to win a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, but he was admitted to the university and paid his way. He spent the year travelling Europe, observing the post-World War I scene closely. He returned to the United States to take a newspaper job in Chicago as a junior reporter.^[4]

Career

Nightly discussions of the concept of a news magazine led Luce and Hadden, both age 23, to quit their jobs in 1922. Later that same year, they partnered with Robert Livingston Johnson and another Yale classmate to form Time Inc.^[5]

Luce, who remained editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964, was also an influential figure in the Republican Party.^[6] Supported by editor-in-chief T. S. Matthews, he appointed Whittaker Chambers as acting Foreign News editor in 1944, despite Chambers' well-known feuds with reporters in the field.^[7] In 1941, he authored an editorial for Life titled "The American Century", in which he articulated his vision for the role of U.S. foreign policy for the remainder of the 20th century.^[6]

An instrumental figure behind the so-called "China Lobby", he played a large role in steering American foreign policy and popular sentiment in favor of Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, Soong Mei-ling, in their war against the Japanese. (The Chiangs appeared in the cover of Time eleven times between 1927 and 1955.)^[8] In a 1965 diary entry, British publisher Cecil Harmsworth King recorded a dinner with Luce, noting that although Luce was "getting old and deaf," he remained a formidable personality. King reported that Luce praised the progress made in Taiwan and expressed contempt for the People's Republic of China, observing that its steel production was only 10 million tons a year, roughly the tonnage the United States used for ash-cans.^[9]

Personal life

File:THU Luce Memorial Chapel.jpg

The Luce Memorial Chapel at Tunghai University in Taiwan

Luce met his first wife, Lila Hotz, while he was studying at Yale University in 1919.^[10] They married in 1923 and had two children, Peter Paul and Henry Luce III, before divorcing in 1935.^[10]

In 1935, he married his second wife, Clare Boothe Luce, who had an 11-year-old daughter, Ann Clare Brokaw, whom he raised as his own. Ann Clare died in a car accident when she was 19.

Luce died of a coronary occlusion on February 28, 1967 in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 68.^[11] At his death, he was said to be worth $100 million in Time Inc. stock.^[12] Most of his fortune went to the Henry Luce Foundation.^[10]

Legacy

He was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 32¢ Great Americans series (1980–2000) postage stamp.^[13] Luce was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.^[14]

Henry Luce Foundation

The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization incorporated in New York. It was established in 1936 by Henry Luce in his thirties. His son Henry III served as its chairman and chief executive for many years.^[10]^[15]

References

Template:Reflist

External links

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John Foster Dulles and Clare Boothe Luce link (pdf format)
TIME biography Template:Dead link Template:Cbignore
The Henry Luce Foundation
Luce Center for American Art at the Brooklyn Museum – Visible Storage and Study Center Template:Webarchive
Whitman, Alden. "Henry R. Luce, Creator of Time–Life Magazine Empire, Dies in Phoenix at 68", The New York Times, March 1, 1967.
PBS American Masters
Henry R. Luce Papers at the New-York Historical Society

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↑ Brinkley, pp. 54-57.
↑ Brinkley, pp. 61–63, 70–83.
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↑ ^a ^b "Henry R. Luce: End of a Pilgrimage". Time. March 10, 1967
↑ Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century (2010) pp. 322–93
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[2] Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century (2010) p. 35.

[3] Brinkley, pp. 54-57.

[4] Brinkley, pp. 61–63, 70–83.

[Emerald1962-5] Template:Cite magazine

[Time-Obit-1967-03-10-6] "Henry R. Luce: End of a Pilgrimage". Time. March 10, 1967

[7] Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century (2010) pp. 322–93

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{short description|American magazine publisher (1898–1967)}}
 {{for|his father, the missionary and educator|Henry W. Luce}}
-{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
+{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
+{{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
 {{Infobox person
 | image       = Henry Luce 1954.jpg
@@ Line 21: / Line 22: @@
 }}
-'''Henry Robinson Luce''' (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]'', and ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' magazines. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the America of his day".<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Edwin Herzstein|title=Henry R. Luce, Time, and the American Crusade in Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fb30H5d_jZkC&pg=PA1|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge U.P.|page=1|isbn=9780521835770}}</ref>
+'''Henry Robinson Luce''' (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine publisher who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', ''Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated''. He built one of the first multimedia corporations, combining print, radio, and newsreels, and promoted the idea of the "[[American Century]]", envisioning the United States as a global leader.<ref name="Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media">{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/henry-luce-henry-r-luce-and-the-rise-of-the-american-news-media/650/ | title=Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media | publisher=American Masters (PBS) | date=April 28, 2004 | access-date=19 June 2014 | author=Baughman, James L.}}</ref>
-Born in [[Shandong]], China, to parents from the United States who were serving as [[Presbyterian]] [[missionaries]], Luce moved to the US at the age of 15 and later attended [[Yale University]]. He launched and closely supervised a stable of magazines that transformed journalism and the reading habits of millions of Americans. ''Time'' summarized and interpreted the week's news; ''Life'' was a picture magazine of politics, culture, and society that dominated American visual perceptions in the era before television; ''Fortune'' reported on national and international business; and ''Sports Illustrated'' explored the world of sports.
-Counting his [[The March of Time|radio projects and newsreels]], Luce created the first multimedia corporation. He envisaged that the United States would achieve world hegemony, and in 1941 he declared the 20th century would be the "[[American Century]]".<ref>Editorial (1941-02-17) The American Century, Life Magazine</ref><ref name="Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media">{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/henry-luce-henry-r-luce-and-the-rise-of-the-american-news-media/650/ | title=Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media | publisher=American Masters (PBS) | date=April 28, 2004 | access-date=19 June 2014 | author=Baughman, James L.}}</ref>
 ==Early life and education==
@@ Line 32: / Line 29: @@
 At 15, he was sent to the U.S. to attend the [[Hotchkiss School]] in Connecticut, where he tried hard to overcome his stuttering.  As a scholarship student he was isolated from the upper-class boys. He was subsidized by an elderly Chicago heiress, [[Nancy Fowler McCormick]], who favored sons of missionaries.  Applying himself to study, Luce quickly became the top student. He was especially strong in languages, studying Greek, Latin, French, and German, and already knowing Chinese. He edited the ''Hotchkiss Literary Monthly''.<ref>Brinkley, ''The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century'' (2010) p. 35.</ref> There, he first met [[Briton Hadden]]; they became best friends.<ref name="Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media"/>
 Hotchkiss was a feeder prep school for [[Yale University]]. After a summer spent working on a Springfield newspaper, Luce matriculated in the fall of 1916. He was the top freshman academically, but grades did not confer as much prestige as a staff role on the ''[[Yale Daily News]]''. Only four freshmen were chosen by the ''News''; they included Luce and Hadden.<ref>Brinkley, pp. 54-57.</ref> When the U.S. entered [[World War I]] in 1917, a third of the students joined the army; the rest, including Luce, joined the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] (ROTC) and attended class in uniform.
-Luce also joined Alpha Delta, a minor fraternity. His grades remained top-level, and every spare hour was devoted to newspaper work. Luce and Hadden were the two outstanding journalists; when the vote came in January 1918 for chairmanship of the ''News,'' Hadden beat Luce by one vote. Luce instead became managing editor and the two worked closely together and started planning their future.  Meanwhile, the Army assigned them as ROTC leaders to train new recruits. The war ended before either was commissioned.
+Luce also joined Alpha Delta Phi, a minor fraternity. His grades remained top-level, and every spare hour was devoted to newspaper work. Luce and Hadden were the two outstanding journalists; when the vote came in January 1918 for chairmanship of the ''News,'' Hadden beat Luce by one vote. Luce instead became managing editor and the two worked closely together and started planning their future.  Meanwhile, the Army assigned them as ROTC leaders to train new recruits. The war ended before either was commissioned.
 In January 1919, Luce and Hadden returned to Yale University as juniors. In May 1919, they were both tapped into the prestigious [[Skull and Bones]] secret society. Luce tried, but failed, to win a [[Rhodes Scholarship]] to the [[University of Oxford]], but he was admitted to the university and paid his way. He spent the year travelling Europe, observing the post-World War I scene closely. He returned to the United States to take a newspaper job in [[Chicago]] as a junior reporter.<ref>Brinkley, pp. 61–63, 70–83.</ref>
@@ Line 41: / Line 38: @@
 Nightly discussions of the concept of a news magazine led Luce and Hadden, both age 23, to quit their jobs in 1922. Later that same year, they partnered with [[Robert Livingston Johnson]] and another Yale classmate to form [[Time Inc.]]<ref name="Emerald1962">{{cite magazine|last=Warburton|first=Albert|date=Winter 1962|volume=48|number=4|magazine=The Emerald of Sigma Pi|title=Robert L. Johnson Hall Dedicated at Temple University|pages=111|url=http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1962/SP_Emerald_VOL_48_NO_4_WINTER_1962.pdf|access-date=October 13, 2016|archive-date=September 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915082411/http://www.enivation.com/SigmaPi/archive/Emerald/1962/SP_Emerald_VOL_48_NO_4_WINTER_1962.pdf|url-status=usurped}}</ref>
-Luce, supported by editor-in-chief [[T. S. Matthews]], appointed [[Whittaker Chambers]] as acting Foreign News editor in 1944, despite the feuds that Chambers had with reporters in the field.<ref>Brinkley, ''The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century'' (2010) pp. 322–93</ref>
+Luce, who remained editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964, was also an influential figure in the [[History of the United States Republican Party|Republican Party]].<ref name=Time-Obit-1967-03-10>[https://archive.today/20130105003801/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,836722,00.html "Henry R. Luce: End of a Pilgrimage"].  ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''.  March 10, 1967</ref> Supported by editor-in-chief [[T. S. Matthews]], he appointed [[Whittaker Chambers]] as acting Foreign News editor in 1944, despite Chambers' well-known feuds with reporters in the field.<ref>Brinkley, ''The Publisher: Henry Luce and his American Century'' (2010) pp. 322–93</ref> In 1941, he authored an editorial for ''Life'' titled "[[The American Century]]", in which he articulated his vision for the role of U.S. foreign policy for the remainder of the 20th century.<ref name=Time-Obit-1967-03-10 />
-Luce, who remained editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964, maintained a position as an influential member of the [[History of the United States Republican Party|Republican Party]].<ref name=Time-Obit-1967-03-10>[https://archive.today/20130105003801/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,836722,00.html "Henry R. Luce: End of a Pilgrimage"].  ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''.  March 10, 1967</ref> An instrumental figure behind the so-called "[[China Lobby]]", he played a large role in steering American foreign policy and popular sentiment in favor of [[Kuomintang]] leader [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and his wife, [[Soong Mei-ling]], in their war against the Japanese. (The Chiangs appeared in the cover of ''Time'' eleven times between 1927 and 1955.)<ref name="Time Magizine search">{{cite magazine | url=http://search.time.com/results.html?N=46&Ntt=Chiang | title=Time magazine historical search | magazine=Time | access-date=19 June 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630081514/http://search.time.com/results.html?N=46&Ntt=Chiang | archive-date=30 June 2012 }}</ref>
-Luce authored an editorial for ''Life'' in 1941, titled "[[The American Century]]", in which he defined the role of U.S. foreign policy for the remainder of the 20th century.<ref name=Time-Obit-1967-03-10 />
+An instrumental figure behind the so-called "[[China Lobby]]", he played a large role in steering American foreign policy and popular sentiment in favor of [[Kuomintang]] leader [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and his wife, [[Soong Mei-ling]], in their war against the Japanese. (The Chiangs appeared in the cover of ''Time'' eleven times between 1927 and 1955.)<ref name="Time Magizine search">{{cite magazine | url=http://search.time.com/results.html?N=46&Ntt=Chiang | title=Time magazine historical search | magazine=Time | access-date=19 June 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630081514/http://search.time.com/results.html?N=46&Ntt=Chiang | archive-date=30 June 2012 }}</ref> In a 1965 diary entry, British publisher [[Cecil Harmsworth King]] recorded a dinner with Luce, noting that although Luce was "getting old and deaf," he remained a formidable personality. King reported that Luce praised the progress made in [[Taiwan]] and expressed contempt for the [[People's Republic of China]], observing that its steel production was only 10 million tons a year, roughly the tonnage the United States used for ash-cans.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Anthony |title=The New York Times Book Review |date=January 7, 1973 |page=23 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/07/archives/the-new-york-times-book-review-kiss-and-tell.html |access-date=October 19, 2025}}</ref>
 ==Personal life==
 [[Image:THU Luce Memorial Chapel.jpg|thumb|The [[Luce Memorial Chapel]] at [[Tunghai University]] in [[Taiwan]]]]
 Luce met his first wife, Lila Hotz, while he was studying at [[Yale University]] in 1919.<ref name=LilaHotz>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/03/nyregion/lila-luce-tyng-100-first-wife-of-henry-r-luce.html |title=Lila Luce Tyng, 100, First Wife of Henry R. Luce |first=Nick |last=Ravo |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 3, 1999 |access-date=January 16, 2018}}</ref> They married in 1923 and had two children, Peter Paul and Henry Luce III, before divorcing in 1935.<ref name=LilaHotz/>
-In 1935, he married his second wife, [[Clare Boothe Luce]], who had an 11-year-old daughter, [[Ann Clare Brokaw]], whom he raised as his own.
+In 1935, he married his second wife, [[Clare Boothe Luce]], who had an 11-year-old daughter, Ann Clare Brokaw, whom he raised as his own.  Ann Clare died in a car accident when she was 19.
 Luce died of a [[coronary occlusion]] on February 28, 1967 in [[Phoenix, Arizona]]. He was 68.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://time.com/archive/6630572/nation-henry-r-luce-end-of-a-pilgrimage/#:~:text=On%20the%2044th%20anniversary%20of,He%20was%2068 | title=Nation: HENRY R. LUCE: End of a Pilgrimage | date=March 10, 1967 }}</ref> At his death, he was said to be worth $100 million in Time Inc. stock.<ref>{{cite magazine| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HecCAAAAMBAJ&q=Henry+Luce++%24100+million+in+Time+Inc.+stock&pg=PA93 |title=Why the Power Vacuum at Time Inc. Continues|author= Edwin Diamond|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date = October 23, 1972}}</ref> Most of his fortune went to the Henry Luce Foundation.<ref name="LilaHotz" />
@@ Line 59: / Line 54: @@
 == Henry Luce Foundation ==
-The [[Henry Luce Foundation]], Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization incorporated in [[New York (state)|New York]]. It was established in 1936 by Henry Luce in his thirties. His son Henry III served as its chairman and chief executive for many years.<ref name="LilaHotz" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=History {{!}} The Henry Luce Foundation |url=https://www.hluce.org/about/history/ |access-date=2024-08-19 |website=www.hluce.org}}</ref>
+The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization incorporated in [[New York (state)|New York]]. It was established in 1936 by Henry Luce in his thirties. His son Henry III served as its chairman and chief executive for many years.<ref name="LilaHotz" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=History {{!}} The Henry Luce Foundation |url=https://www.hluce.org/about/history/ |access-date=2024-08-19 |website=www.hluce.org}}</ref>
 ==References==
@@ Line 85: / Line 80: @@
 * [http://www.time.com/time/mediakit/about/biographies/founders/luce.html TIME biography]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
 * [http://www.hluce.org/ The Henry Luce Foundation]
-* [http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/luce/ Luce Center for American Art at the Brooklyn Museum – Visible Storage and Study Center]
+* [http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/luce/ Luce Center for American Art at the Brooklyn Museum – Visible Storage and Study Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623163858/http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/luce/ |date=June 23, 2014 }}
 * Whitman, Alden. [https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0403.html "Henry R. Luce, Creator of Time&ndash;Life Magazine Empire, Dies in Phoenix at 68"], ''The New York Times'', March 1, 1967.
 * [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/henry-luce-henry-r-luce-and-the-rise-of-the-american-news-media/650/ PBS American Masters]
@@ Line 112: / Line 107: @@
 [[Category:Yale University alumni]]
 [[Category:Members of Skull and Bones]]
+[[Category:20th-century American people]]

Henry Luce: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:32, 13 November 2025

Contents

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Legacy

Henry Luce Foundation

References

Further reading

Primary sources

External links

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Henry Luce: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:32, 13 November 2025

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Legacy

Henry Luce Foundation

References

Further reading

Primary sources

External links

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