Josephus Daniels (May 18, 1862 – January 15, 1948) was an American newspaper editor and publisher from the 1880s until his death, who controlled Raleigh's '' News & Observer'', at the time North Carolina's largest newspaper, for decades. A Democrat, he was appointed by President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

to serve as Secretary of the Navy during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He became a close friend and supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served as his Assistant Secretary of the Navy and later was elected as United States president. Roosevelt appointed Daniels as his

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Mexico since 1823, when Andrew Jackson was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to that country. Jackson declined the appointment, however, and Joel R. Poinsett bec ...

, serving from 1933 to 1941. Daniels was a vehement white supremacist and segregationist. Along with

Charles Brantley Aycock Charles Brantley Aycock (November 1, 1859 – April 4, 1912) was the 50th governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1901 to 1905. After starting his career as a lawyer and teacher, he became active in the Democratic Party during the part ...

and

Furnifold McLendel Simmons Furnifold McLendel Simmons (January 20, 1854April 30, 1940) was an American politicians who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1887 to March 4, 1889 and U.S. senator from the state of North ...

, he was a leading perpetrator of the Wilmington insurrection of 1898. As Secretary of the Navy, Daniels handled policy and formalities in World War I while his top aide, Roosevelt, handled the major wartime decisions. After the Mexican Revolution, as ambassador to Mexico, Daniels dealt with the anti-American government and its expropriation of American oil investments. In North Carolina in the early 20th century, he had been a leading

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

, supporting public schools and public works, and calling for more regulation of trusts and railroads. He supported

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

and

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

, and used his newspapers to support the regular Democratic Party ticket. Daniels believed that "the greatest folly and crime" in U.S. history was giving "Negroes" the vote. He and his newspaper "championed the white supremacy cause in frequent news reports, vigorously worded editorials, provocative letters, and vicious front page cartoons that called attention to what the newspaper called the horrors of 'negro rule.'" Daniels argued that as long as African Americans had any political power, they would block progressive reforms. He was highly influential in the state legislature's passage in 1900 of a suffrage amendment that effectively disenfranchised most blacks in the state, excluding them from the political system for decades until the late 20th century. They were also excluded from juries and subject to legal racial segregation.

Early life and career

Josephus Daniels was born in 1862 to a shipbuilder and his wife in Washington, North Carolina, located on the

Pamlico River The Pamlico
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

in Beaufort County. The state had seceded from the Union in 1861. Before the boy was 3, his father was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter, because of his well-known Union sympathies. The father was attempting to leave with Federal forces evacuating Washington, N.C. during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

. Young Daniels moved with his widowed mother and two siblings to Wilson, North Carolina. He was educated at Wilson Collegiate Institute and at Trinity College (now Duke University). Daniels edited and eventually purchased a local newspaper, the ''Wilson Advance''. Within a few years, he became part owner, along with his brother Charles, of the ''Kinston Free Press'' and the ''Rocky Mount Reporter''. He studied law at the University of North Carolina (today the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...

) and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

in 1885, but did not practice law. After becoming increasingly involved in the North Carolina Democratic Party and taking over the weekly paper ''Daily State Chronicle'', Daniels served as North Carolina's state printer from 1887 to 1893. He was appointed as chief clerk of the Federal

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the m ...

under

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

in 1893–95.

Marriage and family

In 1888, Daniels married Addie Worth Bagley. She was the granddaughter of former Governor Jonathan Worth. They had four sons: Josephus, Worth Bagley, Jonathan Worth, and Frank A. Daniels II. Jonathan followed his father into public service, serving as a special assistant and, briefly, White House Press Secretary to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940s.

''The News and Observer''

In 1894, with the financial assistance of industrialist

Julian S. Carr Julian Shakespeare Carr (October 12, 1845 – April 29, 1924) was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and white supremacist. He is the namesake of the town of Carrboro, North Carolina. Early life Carr was the son of Chapel Hill merchan ...

, also a white supremacist, Daniels acquired a controlling interest in Raleigh's '' News & Observer'', and left his federal position. Under his leadership, the paper was a strong advocate for the Democratic Party, which at the time was struggling to maintain its power in the state against a fusion of the

Republicans 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 ...

and Populists. According to Daniels in his autobiography, "The ''News and Observer'' was relied upon to carry the Democratic message and to be the militant voice of White Supremacy, and it did not fail in what was expected." Daniels printed numerous articles intended to stoke fears of black men as rapists of white women. A lone white woman noticing a black man in her vicinity would be written up in the paper as a narrowly avoided rape. Daniels also argued that achieving political office emboldened black men to commit more outrages against white women. He hired cartoonist Norman E. Jennett to spread his message among the 25% of white voters who were illiterate. Daniels admitted later that actual assaults committed by black men on white women were very few in number. However his newspaper coverage had the desired effect of winning Populists over to the Democratic Party. Newspapers were sold at cost to the Democratic Party, which distributed them to white voters. According to historian Helen Edmonds, the paper "led in a campaign of prejudice, bitterness, vilification, misrepresentation, and exaggeration to influence the emotions of the whites against the Negro." The result was the only successful ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, ...

'' in American history, the overthrow of an elected government by force in the Wilmington insurrection of 1898. In the Findings of the Wilmington Race Riot Commission, Daniels is the only name mentioned as a cause of the insurrection. The

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

campaign led to Democratic victories in 1898 and 1900. Having regained control of the state legislature, the Democrats passed a suffrage amendment raising barriers to voter registration, which affected most African Americans in the state. The political exclusion was maintained into the late 1960s. Later in life, while discussing his success, "Daniels admitted that the paper was occasionally excessive in its bias toward Democrats and that stories were not fully researched before publication and probably could not be 'sustained in a court of justice.'" He supported a number of progressive causes, such as public education and anti-child-labor laws. As Secretary of the Navy, he banned the consumption of alcohol aboard U.S. naval vessels. Daniels never apologized for using the newspaper to encourage white supremacist violence in 1898. In his memoir, he spoke positively about the actions of Red Shirts and how his white supremacy campaign had crushed "Negro domination". ''The News and Observer'' remained under Daniels' family control until 1995, when it was sold to The McClatchy Company. In 2006 the newspaper published an editorial apologizing for its role in the Wilmington insurrection of 1898 and consequent massacre.

Secretary of the Navy

Daniels supported native Southerner

in the 1912 presidential election. After Wilson's victory, he was appointed as Secretary of the Navy. Secretary Daniels held the post from 1913 to 1921, throughout the Wilson administration, overseeing the Navy during

. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a future US president, served as his

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy. From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Depa ...

. Daniels believed in government ownership of armor-plate factories, and of telephones and telegraphs. At the end of the First World War, he made a serious attempt to have the Navy permanently control all radio transmitters in the United States. If he had succeeded amateur radio would have ended, and it is likely that

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

would have been substantially delayed. Teetotaler Daniels banned alcohol from

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ships i
General Order 99
of June 1, 1914. (After the end of Prohibition in 1933, ship commanders determined that alcohol continue to be banned on board ship but that limited access to

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cer ...

be maintained for sailors with 45 days or more of service on their records. Limited access to harder alcoholic beverages by officers to be distributed at their discretion was subsequently maintained for use on shore during official leave from onboard duty.) In 1917, Secretary Daniels determined that no prostitution would be permitted within a five-mile radius of naval installations. In

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Storyville. It had long-lasting consequences for servicemen and others during subsequent decades. On March 15, 1919, Daniels issued General Order No. 456, prohibiting all forms of work on the Christian Sabbath (Sunday). He ordered,

In order to insure a proper observance of the Lord's Day in the Navy of the United States, and to provide the officers and men with rest and recreation so essential to efficiency, the following order will be carry out: Hereafter all commanding officers and others officially concerned will see to it that aboard ships and on shore stations to which they are attached, no work of any character whatsoever is performed except works of necessity. This order will be construed and embracing target practice, and drills of every character, inspection of ship and crew, clothing inspection, issuing of small stores, and all other ship activities that violate the letter and spirit of this order. No vessel of the Navy shall begin cruise on Sunday except in case of emergency ...

During World War I, Daniels created the Naval Consulting Board to encourage inventions that would be helpful to the Navy. Daniels asked

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...

to chair the Board, as the Secretary was worried that the US was unprepared for the new conditions of warfare and needed new technology. Additionally, Daniels was the first Secretary of the Navy to sponsor naval aviation. He established the first naval air station at the Pensacola Navy Yard, claiming "aircraft must form a large part of our naval force for offensive and defensive operations". The Newport Sex Scandal erupted due to a Navy sting operation, overseen by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, that was conducted in 1919. Begun as an attempt to clean up what was seen as "immoral conditions" at Naval Station Newport, it expanded to investigations of the civilian population in Newport. It resulted in the arrests for homosexual activity of some 17 sailors and a prominent

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

Navy chaplain, with imprisonment imposed for some. When the tactics used in the sting operation became known, it attracted national news coverage. Congress undertook an investigation, resulting in both Secretary Daniels and Roosevelt being rebuked by a Congressional committee. The report called FDR's behavior "reprehensible," and said that the actions "violated the code of the American citizen and ignored the rights of every American boy who enlisted in the Navy to fight for his country." Daniels published ''The Navy and the Nation'' (1919), which was primarily a collection of war addresses he had made as Secretary of the Navy.

Later life

After leaving government service in 1921, Daniels resumed the editorship of the ''Raleigh News and Observer''. Daniels strongly supported Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt for president in 1932.

Ambassador to Mexico

President Roosevelt appointed Daniels as United States Ambassador to Mexico, a post he held from 1933 to 1941. Roosevelt expected Daniels to help carry out his "Good Neighbor Policy" in Latin America. But Daniels' arrival in Mexico City was marred by a violent demonstration when a group of Mexicans stoned the American Embassy. Roosevelt appointed Daniels in order to heal the rift caused by the U.S. invasion of Mexico during its civil war. Daniel's speeches and policies while serving as Ambassador to Mexico are believed to have improved US-Mexican relations. He praised a proposed Mexican plan for universal popular education and, in a speech to US consular officials, advised them to refrain from interfering too much in the affairs of other nations. Daniels also saw the reforms of President Lázaro Cárdenas as analogous to Roosevelt's New Deal. He particularly supported Cardenas's expropriation of large landowners, over the objections of the State Department. This support also translated into support for the Farm Security Administration back home. Daniels, along with John A. Ferrell, was also instrumental in obtaining support for the Rockefeller Foundation's

Mexican Agriculture Program Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

, which influenced the later Green Revolution.

Anti-Catholicism

American Catholics bitterly attacked Daniels for failing to oppose the virulent attacks on the Catholic Church by the Mexican government during and after its revolution. Daniels was a staunch Methodist, and worked with Catholics in the U.S., but had little sympathy for the Church in Mexico. He believed that it represented the landed aristocracy, which stood opposed to his version of liberalism. In Mexico, the main issue was the government's efforts to shut down Catholic schools; Daniels publicly approved these attacks and praised anti-Catholic Mexican politicians. In a July 1934 speech at the American Embassy, Daniels praised the anti-Catholic efforts that had been led by the former president,

Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...

General Calles sees, as Jefferson saw, that no people can be both free and ignorant. Therefore, he and President Rodriguez, President-elect Cardenas and all forward-looking leaders are placing public education as the paramount duty of the country. They all recognize that General Calles issued a challenge that goes to the very root of the settlement of all problems of tomorrow when he said: 'We must enter and take possession of the mind of childhood, the mind of youth.'

However Daniels also warned the Mexicans they should not be so harsh against the Church.

Return to North Carolina

In 1941, his son, Jonathan, was named a special assistant to Roosevelt. At that time, Daniels resigned his ambassadorial post in Mexico to return to North Carolina. There he resumed the editor's post at the ''News & Observer'', and continued his outspoken editorial style. Daniels published several recollections of his years in public office. In addition to ''The Navy and the Nation,'' he wrote ''Our Navy at War'' (1922), ''The Life of Woodrow Wilson'' (1924), and ''The Wilson Era'' (1944). Daniels and his son Jonathan were passengers on Franklin Roosevelt's 1945 funeral train from Raleigh until Roosevelt's burial at his home of Springwood in Hyde Park, New York. The father and son rode the train back to Washington, D.C. in the company of widow Eleanor Roosevelt and the new president, Harry S. Truman. During the course of his life, Daniels operated several newspapers, culminating with the ''News & Observer'', which is still in operation. He served in public office with a strong belief in improving conditions for labor and the working class. The story of Daniels' life closely mirrors that of North Carolina during the same time period. From the catastrophe of Civil War to national prominence, Daniels was a prime example of the strengths and weaknesses that marked the progress of his state. In 1941, he retired to Raleigh due to his wife's poor health; she died in 1943. After completing a five-volume autobiography, in which he expressed regret over his vicious attacks (but not the overall righteousness) of the white-supremacy campaign of the late 19th century, Daniels died in Raleigh on January 15, 1948, at the age of eighty-five. He is buried in

Historic Oakwood Cemetery Historic Oakwood Cemetery was founded in 1869 in North Carolina's capital, Raleigh, near the North Carolina State Capitol in the city's Historic Oakwood neighborhood. Historic Oakwood Cemetery contains two special areas within its , the Confede ...

of that city. Daniels divided his shares of the ''News and Observer'' among all his children and Jonathan became editor. The family retained control until it sold the paper in 1995. Josephus Daniels had a cousin, younger by 11 years,

John T. Daniels John Thomas Daniels, Jr. (July 31, 1873 – January 31, 1948) was a member of the U.S. Life-Saving Station in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, who took the photograph of the first powered flight on December 17, 1903. The flight was by the ...

, the Coast Guard member assigned to the Kill Devil Life-Saving Station in 1903, who took the famous photo of the Wright brothers in humanity's first ever successful piloted airplane flight, with Orville at the controls of the

Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown ...

Legacy and honors

*According to historian

John Milton Cooper John Milton Cooper Jr. (born 1940) is an American historian, author, and educator. He specializes in late 19th and early 20th-century American political and diplomatic history with a particular focus on presidential history. His 2009 biography of W ...

: *In 1956, the new Daniels Middle School in Raleigh was named after him. On June 16, 2020, the Wake County Board of Education voted unanimously to rescind the naming of the school and to rename it Oberlin Middle School. Daniels Hall on North Carolina State University's main campus was also named after him. On June 22, 2020, the NC State Board of Trustees voted to rename Daniels Hall. Chancellor Randy Woodson said "Josephus Daniels had strong ties to white supremacy and played a leading role in the Wilmington insurrection of 1898. The building’s name had served as a constant reminder of a shameful part of our state’s history." Until future renovations are completed, the building has been temporarily denoted "Beat Navy Hall" in recognition of the strong partnerships with the US Army and the academic departments within the building. * *His home, Wakestone, is now a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. It was used as a Masonic Temple before its demolition in August 2021. A statue of Daniels formerly stood in Nash Square in Raleigh. It was removed on June 16, 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent widespread civil unrest. Members of the Daniels family approved of the removal.

In fiction

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed ...

's " Southern Victory" series of alternate history novels, Daniels was US Secretary of the Navy during the timeline's analog of World War I, and the US Navy named a destroyer escort after him during the series's version of World War II.

Selected works

* 1919 �
''The Navy and the Nation.''
New York: George H. Doran Company.
OCLC 1450710
* 1922 �
''Our Navy at War.''
Washington, D.C.: Pictorial Bureau.
OCLC 1523367
* 1924 �
''The Life of Woodrow Wilson, 1856–1924.''
Philadelphia: Universal Book and Bible House
OCLC 4894794reprint
by Kessinger Publishing, 2004.
OCLC 81967751
* 1939 �
''Tar Heel Editor.''
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press
OCLC 335116
* 1941 �
''Editor in Politics.''
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press
OCLC 339245
* 1944 �
''The Wilson Era: Years of Peace, 1910–1917.''
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
OCLC 750810 (1944 edition)OCLC 63786963 (1946 edition)
* 1946 -
''The Wilson Era: Years of War and After, 1917–1923''
Volume 4. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. * 1947 �
''Shirt-sleeve Diplomat.''
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Notes

External links

* *
Detailed 1916 Article on Daniels with photosGuide to the Josephus Daniels Letter and Address 1939, 1943
* ttps://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Woodrow_Wilson/DANLWW/home.html Life of Woodrow Wilson by Josephus Danielsbr>North Carolina Election of 1898
*

*Daniel E. Worthington
Daniels, Josephus
in

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Josephus 1862 births 1948 deaths 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico American newspaper publishers (people) American people of World War I American white supremacists Burials at Historic Oakwood Cemetery Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni History of racism in North Carolina Politicians from Raleigh, North Carolina People from Wilson, North Carolina Political violence in the United States The News & Observer Candidates in the 1924 United States presidential election 20th-century American politicians United States Secretaries of the Navy University of North Carolina School of Law alumni Woodrow Wilson administration cabinet members North Carolina Democrats Businesspeople from Raleigh, North Carolina Progressivism in the United States People from Washington, North Carolina Wilmington insurrection of 1898 People born in the Confederate States