Otto Fuerbringer (September 27, 1910 – July 28, 2008) was an editor for the American news magazine ''
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, to ...
''.
Life
Fuerbringer was born in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, U.S. to
Ludwig and Anna Zucker Fuerbringer. His father was a Lutheran minister. He was the youngest of five children.
As a student at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, he edited the student newspaper ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
''.
After graduating in 1932, he started working for the ''
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...
'', before being hired by ''Time'' in 1942.
Reaching the rank of assistant managing editor in 1951, he was appointed managing editor in 1960. Later, as head of
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
's magazine-development group, he also introduced ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' and ''
Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
'' magazines.
He did much to rejuvenate what was a rather austere publication, and once famously said of the journalism his staff did that "It only has to be true ''this week''." Though a social conservative, Fuerbringer nevertheless did much to focus the magazine's attention on the
counter-culture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
and the political and intellectual radicalism of the 1960s.
A 1964 issue dealt with the sexual revolution, while in 1967 the
birth control pill
The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: progest ...
was discussed.
During Fuerbringer's tenure as editor, the magazine's circulation rose from three to five million.
His best known act as editor was probably his April 8, 1966 cover story "
Is God Dead?
"Is God Dead?" was an April 8, 1966, cover story for the news magazine ''Time''. A previous article, from October 1965, had investigated a trend among 1960s theologians to write God out of the field of theology. The 1966 article looked in greater ...
" In the accompanying article he explored the role of religion in an increasingly secular society, and investigated a trend among contemporary theologians to write
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
out of the field of
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
.
Fuerbringer had initially been a supporter of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, but in 1968 he wrote an
editorial
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
conceding that the war was unwinnable.
Shortly before his death, in 2007, he wrote an autobiography, titled "On TIME".
Fuerbringer was married to his wife Winona Gunn Fuerbringer for 68 years. The couple had four children.
The
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning journalist
David Halberstam
David Halberstam (April 10, 1934 April 23, 2007) was an American writer, journalist, and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, Korean War, and later ...
once said of Fuerbringer "He was the most controversial man within ''Time magazine'', immensely influential, perhaps the most influential conservative of his generation in journalism, but outside the magazine almost no one knew his name." ''Time'' employees sometimes called him "Otto Fingerbanger" or "The Iron Chancellor" for his imperious demeanor.
Fuerbringer died in
Fullerton, California
Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617.
Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Sa ...
in a retirement home.
Family
In 1940, Fuerbringer married Winona Gunn Fuerbringer, who survived him, and lived in
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...
for more than 45 years. They had four children: Jonathan, Peter, Alexis, and Juliana.
His brother was
Alfred Fuerbringer, a Lutheran seminary president.
See also
* ''
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, to ...
''
* ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
''
* ''
Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
''
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuerbringer, Otto
1910 births
2008 deaths
American magazine editors
American autobiographers
The Harvard Crimson people
Writers from St. Louis
American people of German descent
St. Louis Post-Dispatch people
Time (magazine) people