TIME INC. BIOGRAPHY FILLED WITH MINUTIA]

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300180062-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 7, 2004
• Sequence Number: 62
• Publication Date: December 7, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Releag,W/Ip/1f~Nq,F}DP88-01462 i'$i~'2`~6
d ~ in
BOOKS IN REVIEW
I December 1968 0 ~ +? R ~ ~ ~ ~ ? ?:
formeil." The reason? "I3ecause justice" by correcting errors
Inc* biography
~
filld nth aa~
en~ac"111.
By Bill Ward
TIME INC. By Robert T.
Elson. Atheneum, 1968. 500 pp.;
$10.
? * * *
I The stor
has been told over
y
.'.and over about how two Yale
,.;graduates, Henry Robinson Luce
and Briton Hadden, founded
Time magazine on faith, and on
funds largely from Yale asso-
ciates. It has become one of the
legends of journalism. The story
,is told one more time in this
"`authorized" biography, or as it
is subtitled, "The Intimate His-
tory of a Publishing Enterprise
1923-1941."
"Authorized" 'means, accord-
ing to prefatory remarks, the
author had complete access to
the corporate records. Unfor-
tunately, the book is about as
dramatic, as a visit to the
archives.
Through a depression, the
Approved For Release' 2004/10/28 :.CIA=RDP8:8-n1314RQ0030'6180062,
New Deal era and into World
War II, Time grows, without
much dramatic tension. It is an
unallayed success story, with
occasional dissension among the
staff (expressed mostly in
memos) to relieve the pattern.
It is a Horatio Alger story
picked up at the point of the
hero marrying the tycoon's
daughter.
to the time which busy men are
able to spend on simply keeping
informed." Thus, Time's con-
cepts of encompassing the week's
news in two hours' reading time,
and of developing a style to
catch and hold reader interest.
In seeking a style, the author
suggests,, Haddon had the Iliad . journalism." After Hadden's
ht
lb
ow.
e
at his rig
Other Luce memos:
About the "instructive role of
journalism": "Instruction does
not arise from the mere publica- with its ironical threat to Time's
tion of a fact. Instruction does circulation, Luce took back
not arise from the mere exist-' stronger editorial control of the
ence of brilliant or profound magazines. Finally, by 1941,
comment on the fact. Instruction Time had moved from a devo-
arises only when something hap- tion to objective presentation of
pens in a reader's head." There- news into an attitude of occa-
There is more interest in the fore, from the outset, Time sional advocacy. For instance,
development of Fortune maga- sought a distinctive style. Luce's support of Wendell Will-
zine which in its depth report- About early criticisms that kie for the Republican nomina-
ing of business and finance Time reaped its news from news- . tion in 1940: "1 think I was in-
seems a much more pioneering papers and rewrote it: "It takes fluential in a small degree, in
venture. The concept behind and brains and work to master all the nomination of Wendell Will-
the development of Life, as a the facts dug up by the world's kie and of Dwight Eisenhower.",
pioneer in pictorial journalism, i'10,000 journalists and to put Thus, Time moved from a role
also is more fascinating. them together in a little maga- of not only informant but also
What sticks in' the mind zine." conscience. That should provide
mostly are bits and pieces from About specialized ? journalists
memoranda from Luce to his. for Fortune magazine: ,Of a much more controversial and
staff (the book uses a memo- necessity, we made the discovery dynamic second biography-and
random approach). For instance, that it is easier to turn poets perhaps more insight into the
in a prospectus about Time into business journalists than to quixotic mind of Luce.
(1923), Luce and Hadden de- .turn bookkeepers into writers." The author, Robert T. Elson,
Luce at one time declared the worked for 25 years for. Time
r.
d "People in America are
d
re
,
ith Life
, -
for the most part, poorly in- first job of Letters to be -",to do! xnc., w
And so on.
The, biography-history is
strictly chronological. It begins
with young Luce and Haddon
and their ideas, Luce generally
about news and Hadden about
style. The author claims "their
death in 1931, Time seemed to
he controlled by an oligarchy of
top editors and managers. With
the emergence of Life in 1936,