Franklin Glass

Franklin Potts Glass (born June 7, 1858 in Centreville (Bibb County); died January 10, 1934 in Montgomery) was editor of The Birmingham News from 1910 to 1920.

Glass was the son of Benjamin Glass, a leading businessman in Bibb County. As a boy, Franklin attended private schools. He then attended Princeton University, achieving his bachelor's degree in 1877 and master's in 1880. He then returned to Centreville where his father had purchased the Shelby Guide and renamed it the Bibb Blade. Benjamin turned the paper over Franklin to run. In 1881, Benjamin Glass purchased the Selma Times and Franklin Glass moved there and became editor¹. In 1885, Franklin purchased a quarter interest in the Montgomery Advertiser. He purchased further interest in 1889 and eventually became the paper's editor.

In 1910, Franklin Glass joined Victor Hanson in purchasing interest in The Birmingham News, where Glass became editor. His editorials earned him a place as one of the "Seven Super Pens", so named by a national magazine in 1913. He also served on the board of directors (1906-1916) and as president (1918-1920) of the American Newspaper Publishers Association. He was also a source of inspiration for the founding of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, of which he later served as president from 1906 to 1907. Glass was also a founder and charter member of Independent Presbyterian Church.

In 1913, Alabama Governor Emmett O'Neal appointed Glass to fill the unexpired senatorial term of Joseph Johnston, but Senate Committee of Elections and Privileges objected to the appointment because the 17th Amendment suppported an Alabama state law requiring a special election to fill a vacant Senate seat. Francis White won the special election.

On April 4, 1920, Glass retired from the News and sold his interest to Hanson. Both men wrote editorials mentioning a disagreement, but did not elaborate. In the book celebrating the News' centennial, the purchase of the Birmingham Ledger just a few weeks later is considered as a possibility. Both men said it was a friendly parting. Glass' 30 percent interest gave Hanson almost complete ownership of the News.

In 1922, Glass moved to St Louis where he became editor and co-owner of The Star. In December 1927 he bought Hanson's interest in the Montgomery Advertiser, making Glass majority owner. He served as publisher until his death in 1934. In his final years, Glass also continued to be active politically. In 1932, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Glass to the Board of Federal Mediation in 1933.

Glass married the former Mattie Byrd Purnell of Selma on April 2, 1884. The couple had three sons and three daughters. Glass was inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor in 1962.

Preceded by: ?

Editor of The Birmingham News 1910-20

Succeeded by: ?

Notes

1. Some accounts differ as to whether it was Benjamin or Franklin Glass who purchased these two newspapers.

References

• DuBose, Joel Campbell, ed. (1904). Notable men of Alabama: personal and genealogical, Volume 1. Southern Historical Association.
• The Birmingham News: Our First 100 Years. (1988) The Birmingham News Company.
• "The 1930s: Media: Deaths." (2001). American Decades. The Gale Group, Inc. Accessed October 6, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com