Henry R. Luce

Henry Luce, "the son of a missionary, was born in Tengchow, China, on 3rd April, 1898. After being educated in China and England, Luce moved to the United States and graduated from Yale University in 1920.

"In April, 1923, Luce and Briton Hadden, began publishing Time magazine. The magazine, with its short articles summarizing important events and issues, was a great success and by 1927 was selling over 175,000 copies a week. Hadden was editor of the magazine until his early death in 1929.

"With the success of Time, Luce decided to expand his publishing interests. In 1929 he brought out the business magazine Fortune.

"In November, 1935, Henry married Clare Booth Luce, the former managing editor of Vanity Fair. The followed year he began publishing the picture magazine, Life. Luce also produced The March of Time for radio (1931) and for the cinema (1935). Other new magazines published by Luce included House & Home (1952) and Sports Illustrated (1954).

"After the Second World War Luce developed right-wing political opinions and became a strong supporter of the Republican Party.

"Luce was a strong opponent of Fidel Castro and his revolutionary government in Cuba. This included the funding of Alpha 66. In 1962 and 1963 Alpha 66 launched several raids on Cuba. This included attacks on port installations and foreign shipping.

"Luce's media empire was used against John F. Kennedy. When Kennedy was assassinated, Luce's Life Magazine purchased the Zapruder Film. Soon after the assassination they also successfully negotiated with Marina Oswald the exclusive rights to her story. This story never appeared in print. Luce published individual frames of Zapruder's film but did not allow the film to be screened in its entirety.

"Luce, who remained editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964, was an influential member of the Republican Party. Henry Luce died in Phoenix, Arizona, on 28th February, 1967."

In 1936 Henry created the Henry Luce Foundation.


 * Original Member, American Security Council

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Council for Democracy

Related Books

 * James L. Baughman, "Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media",
 * Robert E. Herzstein, "Henry R. Luce, Time, and the American Crusade in Asia", Cambridge University Press, 2005.
 * Alan Brinkley, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010). Review by Thai Jones.