Clinton Dotson McKinnon (February 5, 1906 – December 29, 2001) was an American
Democratic politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
and
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
from
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
. He served two terms in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from 1949 to 1953.
Biography
McKinnon was born 1906 in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
to Dr. John and Tennie McKinnon. He was 12 and the only child when his father died and his mother, a nurse, raised him. He graduated from
Palo Alto High School,
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was es ...
. McKinnon attended
Stanford University in 1924, attended the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...
in 1930, and received a BA from
University of Redlands
The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...
in 1930.
McKinnon and his wife Lucille had two sons, Clinton Daniel (Dan) and Michael Dean (Mike), and a daughter Connie.
[Clinton McKinnon, 95; Publisher, Congressman](_blank)
LA Times. Myrna Oliver. 01/01/02. Retrieved: 17/05/18
McKinnon was a journalist and owned newspapers in Texas and California.
He started local throwaway newspapers and sold ads to local merchants.
He organized the only daily newspaper to begin during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the ''
San Diego Daily Journal
The ''San Diego Daily Journal'' was a daily newspaper in San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 ...
'' in 1944 by stringing together several throwaways. The ''Journal'' competed with the much larger ''
The San Diego Union-Tribune
''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868.
Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
''.
It was possible because the
Franklin Roosevelt administration allocated newsprint, then under ration, to the ''Journal'' to compete with the
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
''Tribune''. Other Journal alumni included ''Tribune'' editor and columnist Neil Morgan and Congressman
Lionel Van Deerlin
Lionel Van Deerlin (July 25, 1914 – May 17, 2008) was an American journalist and politician who served nine terms as a Democratic United States Representative from California from 1963 to 1981, representing a San Diego area district.
Biograp ...
.
Van Deerlin recalled:
:''"He was one of the guys-very different from your standard publisher. At the company picnics, he would be pitching softballs. He would come through the newsroom and he would know the names of your kids and which ones had been sick."''
McKinnon sold the paper in 1947, before running for Congress, and it was eventually absorbed into the ''Tribune''.
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' described McKinnon as: "a jockey-sized little fireball with unruly black hair and bounding energy."
McKinnon was first elected to the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
in 1948, defeating Republican incumbent
Charles K. Fletcher
Charles Kimball Fletcher (December 15, 1902 – September 29, 1985) was an American banker and United States Republican Party, Republican politician from San Diego, California.
Early life
Fletcher was born 1902 to "Colonel" Ed Fletcher and ...
, founder of Home Federal Savings and Loan.
During the campaign, McKinnon hogged the stage for 15 min, keeping President
Truman from speaking to the crowd waiting for him. Later in Washington, McKinnon apologized to Truman, and Truman glared back at McKinnon, then said: "Well, you got elected, didn't you? That's the only thing that matters."
McKinnon served until 1953. In Congress, he fought for water projects for San Diego.
Gordon Luce, then the California Republican Party Chairman, said that he was a bright and hard-working leader that even political opponents respected. In 1952, instead of running for reelection, he ran for the Democratic nomination for
Senator against better-known Republican Senator
Bill Knowland.
Candidates could then run in multiple party primaries in California, and Knowland won both the Republican and Democratic primaries. Since the Congressional districts were redrawn in 1952, McKinnon was the last Representative to serve all of
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...
. McKinnon was a delegate to Democratic National Conventions in 1952 and 1956.
McKinnon preferred to be known as a journalist than a politician. His other ventures included the La Jolla ''Light'', Coronado ''Journal'', and radio station KSDJ (now
KCBQ
KCBQ (1170 AM "The Answer") is a commercial radio station in San Diego, California. It is owned by Salem Media Group and airs a conservative talk radio format. Studios and offices are on Towne Center Drive in San Diego's University City are ...
).
McKinnon died 2001 December 29 in
La Jolla, California.
His son Michael D. is the majority stockholder in
McKinnon Broadcasting
McKinnon Broadcasting Company (doing business as Texas Television, Inc.) is a privately owned television broadcasting company based in San Diego, California. Michael Dean McKinnon Sr. is the company's majority owner, president, chief executive o ...
, owner of San Diego Home & Garden Lifestyles Magazine, and a former Texas state legislator (1972–1976). His son C. Dan was the former owner of
KSON radio, is a minority stockholder in McKinnon Broadcasting, ran for congress as a Republican in 1980, and was national campaign chairman of the
Duncan Hunter for President campaign in 2008.
Duncan Hunter
@ CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
.com
See also
* Bowman-Lamb, Molly. ''Clinton McKinnon and The New Voice for San Diego: San Diego Journal'', History thesis, University of San Diego, 1996.
* "Member of Congress, newspaper owner dies. He was last representative of entire county of San Diego", ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', December 30, 2001, by Steve La Rue. Obituary includes portrait.
* "Out of the Valley", November 2, 1942, and "PM for Post Mortem", March 22, 1948, ''Time'' magazine
References
External links
"Chapter 4: The City—the End of One Civic Dream", ''History of San Diego'' (1977) by Richard Pourade
Describes ''Journal'' during the war.
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Clinton D.
1906 births
2001 deaths
Politicians from Dallas
University of Redlands alumni
Journalists from California
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
American newspaper publishers (people)
20th-century American politicians
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists