hitelaw Reid was the longtime editor of the New York Tribune, a diplomat, and
the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1892. He was born near Xenia, Ohio,
to devout Presbyterian parents, Marion Whitelaw Ronalds Reid and Robert Charlton
Reid, a farmer. Young Reid attended his uncle's academy in Xenia before entering
Miami University of Ohio as a sophomore at the age of 15. A superior student, he
graduated with scientific honors in 1856, at the age of 18. During his college
years, he began writing for local newspapers, then in 1857 joined the staff of
his brother's Xenia News, which he edited for two years.
A fervent Republican, Reid backed Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860.
The next year, he began covering the state legislature for the Cincinnati Times,
contributed articles to the Cleveland Herald, then became the Washington
correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, writing for the latter under the
pseudonym "Agate." When the Civil War began, he joined the troops
under Union General William Rosecrans as a war correspondent. Reid gained fame
for his coverage of the campaigns of Rosecrans and General George McClellan, and
was particularly praised for his accurate and compelling reports of the battles
of Shiloh and Gettysburg. Reid was given the rank of captain, and the title of
aide-de-camp.
With the Republicans in control of Congress, Reid was named librarian of the
House of Representatives (1863-1866), and also served as clerk to the House
Military Affairs Committee for one session. Viewing Lincoln as too cautious,
Reid supported Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase of Ohio for the Republican
presidential nomination in 1864. Even after Lincoln was renominated, Reid joined
other Radicals in urging the president's withdraw. Union military victories,
especially the fall of Atlanta to General William Tecumseh Sherman, quieted the
anti-Lincoln chorus and helped ensure the president's electoral victory.
After the Civil War, Reid joined Chase (then Chief Justice) on an inspection
tour of the postwar South. The journalist published his reports in a book, After
the War (1866). He argued that the views of most white Southerners had not been
changed by the war, thus making it nearly impossible for the Republican party to
gain a foothold in the region. He briefly tried his hand at running a Louisiana
plantation, but soon gave up in despair. In 1868, he published a well-respected,
two-volume history of the war's impact on his home state, Ohio and the War.
In 1868, Horace Greeley employed Reid as an assistant editor for the New York
Tribune. Reid hired John Hay, and printed pieces from authors such as Bret Harte,
William Dean Howells, and Mark Twain. Increasingly dismayed with the policies
and corruption of the administration of Republican president Ulysses S. Grant,
Greeley and Reid joined the Liberal Republican movement in the early 1870s. At
the Liberal Republican convention in May 1872, Reid orchestrated Greeley's
nomination for president, then became his campaign manager, as well as acting
editor of the Tribune.
After Greeley's electoral defeat in November, Reid borrowed money from Jay Gould
to buy controlling shares in the newspaper, and took the reins as
editor-in-chief (Greeley died a few weeks later). Reid quickly adopted new
printing technologies, hired more reporters, improved the paper's coverage of
foreign affairs, and extensively reported major scandals involving both
political parties without degenerating into sensationalism. Consequently, under
his leadership, the New York Tribune's circulation rose to 60,000 by 1876, and
became a major influence in national politics.
Following the 1872 election, Reid returned to the Republican fold, and was
particularly close to President James Garfield, who hailed from his home state
of Ohio. Reid married Elizabeth Mills in 1881; they had two children. In 1884,
the Tribune editor was one of most vocal supporters of Republican presidential
nominee James G. Blaine, and a member of the candidate's inner circle of
advisors.
Reid had rejected offers from President Garfield to become U.S. minister to
Germany, but in 1889 accepted the ministership to France from President Benjamin
Harrison. As minister to France, he worked to open French markets to American
products, and reached a reciprocal trade agreement to that end. In 1892,
Republicans selected him as Harrison's vice-presidential running-mate. Reid
campaigned enthusiastically, but the Republican ticket went down to defeat.
After the election, Reid retired from active politics and the daily editorship
of the Tribune. In early 1897, Senator Thomas Platt of New York torpedoed the
plan of Republican president-elect William McKinley (another Ohioan) to name
Reid as secretary of state. Following the Spanish-American War in 1898,
President McKinley appointed Reid to the American delegation for the peace
negotiations with Spain, during which he advocated the retention of the
Philippines under American control. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt named
Reid as the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. He died in London in 1912.