James McLellan Langley (October 11, 1894 – June 23, 1968) was an American newspaper editor and diplomat. Born in

Hyde Park, Boston Hyde Park is the southernmost neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Situated 7.9 miles south of downtown Boston, it is home to a diverse range of people, housing types and social groups. It is an urban location with suburban chara ...

, to Frank Elmer Langley and Mary Bradford McLellan, James M. Langley was raised in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, where his father, who later served as mayor of

Barre Barre or Barré may refer to: * Barre (name) or Barré, a surname and given name Places United States * Barre, Massachusetts, a New England town ** Barre (CDP), Massachusetts, the central village in the town * Barre, New York, a town * Barre (c ...

and state senator, had founded the '' Barre Times'' in 1894. The younger Langley attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. His college career was broken up by World War I, during which he trained at a Plattsburgh camp, before moving to the

Fort Devens-Sudbury Training Annex A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. After his graduation and discharge from the Army, Langley worked for the ''

Manchester Union Leader The ''New Hampshire Union Leader'' is a daily newspaper from Manchester, the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. On Sundays, it publishes as the ''New Hampshire Sunday News.'' Founded in 1863, the paper was best known for the conse ...

''. In 1923, Langley secured a loan from his father and

John G. Winant John Gilbert Winant (February 23, 1889 – November 3, 1947) was an American diplomat and politics of the United States, politician with the Republican Party (United States), Republican party after a brief career as a teacher in Concord, New Ham ...

. He used to money to buy, then merge, the ''

Concord Monitor The ''Concord Monitor'' is the daily newspaper for Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. It also covers surrounding towns in Merrimack County, most of Belknap County, as well as portions of Grafton, Rockingham and Hillsborough counti ...

'' with ''The New Hampshire Patriot''. Langley sold the ''Monitor'' in 1961 to the publishers of the ''

Holyoke Transcript-Telegram The ''Holyoke Transcript-Telegram'', or ''T‑T'', was an afternoon daily newspaper covering the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States, and adjacent portions of Hampden County and Hampshire County. Published as a daily since 1882, after ...

'', but continued serving as editor of the publication until his death. Langley served on multiple municipal and state conventions, authoring many New Hampshire laws tackling

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

licensing A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

, and

tax code A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

s. He helped negotiate the

Laurel–Langley Agreement The Laurel–Langley Agreement was a trade agreement signed in 1955 between the United States and its former colony the Philippines. It expired in 1974. It was an amendment to the Bell Trade Act, which gave full parity rights to American citizens ...

with the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, signed in 1955. Langley was appointed the ambassador to Pakistan in 1957, and served for two years. He died in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

, on June 23, 1968, aged 73.

References

External links

* 1894 births 1968 deaths Writers from Boston 20th-century American newspaper editors Ambassadors of the United States to Pakistan People from Concord, New Hampshire Editors of New Hampshire newspapers United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army soldiers Dartmouth College alumni People from Barre, Vermont {{US-journalist-19thC-stub