Editing Chicago Tribune (section)

===19th century===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}
[[File:Chicago Tribune Advertisement 1870.jpg|thumb|left|An 1870 advertisement for ''Chicago Tribune'' subscriptions]]
[[File:Cheer up.jpg|thumb|The lead editorial in the ''Chicago Tribune'' following the [[Great Chicago Fire]]]]
The ''Tribune'' was founded by [[James Kelly (journalist)|James Kelly]], John E. Wheeler, and Joseph K. C. Forrest, publishing the first edition on June 10, 1847. Numerous changes in ownership and editorship took place over the next eight years. Initially, the ''Tribune'' was not politically affiliated, but tended to support either the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] or [[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]] parties against the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] in elections.<ref>{{Harv|Wendt|1979|pp=23, 27–28}}</ref> By late 1853, it was frequently running [[editorial]]s that criticized foreigners and [[Roman Catholics]].<ref>{{Harv|Cole|1948|p=14}}</ref> About this time, it also became a strong proponent of [[The Temperance movement in the United States|temperance]].<ref>{{Harv|Keefe|1971|p=131}}</ref> However [[nativism (politics)|nativist]] its editorials may have been, it was not until February 10, 1855, that the ''Tribune'' formally affiliated itself with the nativist American or [[Know-Nothing movement|Know Nothing]] party, whose candidate [[Levi Boone]] was elected [[Mayor of Chicago]] the following month.<ref>{{Harv|Keefe|1975|pp=233–4}}</ref>

Around 1854, part-owner Capt. J. D. Webster, later General Webster and chief of staff at the [[Battle of Shiloh]], and Charles H. Ray of [[Galena, Illinois]], through [[Horace Greeley]], convinced [[Joseph Medill]] of [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]]'s ''[[The Plain Dealer|Leader]]'' to become managing editor.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dante |first=Harris L. |title=The Chicago Tribune's 'Lost' Years, 1865–1874 |journal=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society |volume=58 |number=2 |date=1965 |page=140 |jstor=40190285 |access-date=March 8, 2021 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40190285}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Ron |last=Grossman |title=The Man Who Built a Paper, a Party and a Presidency |date=June 8, 1997 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-06-08-9706300105-story.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Tim |last=Jones |title=Joseph Medill buys the Chicago Tribune |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 18, 2007 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/chi-chicagodays-medill-story-story.html}}</ref> Ray became editor-in-chief, Medill became the managing editor, and [[Alfred Cowles, Sr.]], brother of [[Edwin Cowles]], initially was the bookkeeper. Each purchased one third of the ''Tribune''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rushton, Wyatt|title=Joseph Medill and the Chicago Tribune (thesis)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcc7AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA7-IA2|year=1916|access-date=October 24, 2007}} and {{cite book|author=White, James Terry|title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/nationalcyclopa01whitgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/nationalcyclopa01whitgoog/page/n255 224]|publisher=James T. White & Company, via New York Public Library via Internet Archive full view|year=1895|access-date=October 24, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Norton Smith|title=Chapter 1, The Colonel, The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick 1880–1955|url=https://archive.org/details/colonellifelegen00smit|date=June 10, 1997|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co. via The New York Times Company|isbn=0-395-53379-1|access-date=October 24, 2007}}</ref> Under their leadership, the ''Tribune'' distanced itself from the Know Nothings, and became the main Chicago organ of the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]].<ref>{{Harv|Wendt|1979|pp=57–65}}</ref> However, the paper continued to print anti-Catholic and anti-Irish editorials, in the wake of the massive [[Great Famine (Ireland)|famine immigration from Ireland]].<ref>{{Harv|Cole|1948|p=66}}</ref>

The ''Tribune'' absorbed three other Chicago publications under the new editors: the ''Free West'' in 1855, the ''[[Democratic Press]]'' of [[William Bross]] in 1858, and the ''[[Chicago Democrat]]'' in 1861, whose editor, [[John Wentworth (mayor)|John Wentworth]], left his position when elected as [[Mayor of Chicago]]. Between 1858 and 1860, the paper was known as the ''[[Chicago Press & Tribune]]''. On October 25, 1860, it became the ''Chicago Daily Tribune''.<ref>[http://www.archives.chicagotribune.com/1860/10/25 ''Chicago Daily Tribune'']{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, October 25, 1860.</ref> Before and during the [[American Civil War]], the new editors strongly supported [[Abraham Lincoln]], whom Medill helped secure the presidency in 1860, and pushed an [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] agenda.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} The paper remained a force in Republican politics for years afterwards.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In 1861, the ''Tribune'' published new lyrics by [[William Weston Patton|William W. Patton]] for the song "[[John Brown's Body]]". These rivaled [[The Battle Hymn of the Republic|the lyrics]] published two months later by [[Julia Ward Howe]]. Medill served as mayor of Chicago for one term after the [[Great Chicago Fire]] of 1871.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}