''The Daily Compass'' was an American

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, published from May 16, 1949 through November 3, 1952. It is best known for its columns by the

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

I. F. Stone Isidor Feinstein "I. F." Stone (December 24, 1907 – June 18, 1989) was an American investigative journalist, writer, and author. Known for his politically progressive views, Stone is best remembered for ''I. F. Stone's Weekly'' (1953–1971), ...

. Its

Online Computer Library Center OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

record number is OCLC 09316051."New York County (NY) Newspapers on Microfilm and Paper at All NYS Locations"
New York State Library

Publication history

''The Daily Compass'', which included the weekend ''Sunday Compass'', was a 1949-1952 successor to the leftist New York City newspaper '' PM'', published from June 1940 to June 22, 1948, and that paper's first successor, the '' New York Star'', published from June 23, 1948, to January 28, 1949.

Ted Thackrey Theodore Olin Thackrey (November 17, 1901 – October 24, 1980) was an American journalist and publisher, best known as the editor of the ''New York Post'' in the 1940s, and the founder of the leftist New York City newspaper '' The Daily Compass''. ...

— the features editor of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' before marrying ''Post'' owner

Dorothy Schiff Dorothy Schiff (March 11, 1903 – August 30, 1989) was an American businesswoman who was the owner and then publisher of the ''New York Post'' for nearly 40 years. She was a granddaughter of financier Jacob Schiff. Schiff was interested in soci ...

in 1943, after which the two became co-publishers/co-editors Sheehy, Gail
"The Life of the Most Powerful Woman in New York"
''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

'', December 10, 1973 — had become solo publisher of the ''Post'', at the behest of his wife, for a disastrous three months. He then "left with a following of firebrand writers to start his own paper", buying the building and physical plant at which ''PM'' and the ''Star'' had been published,"Writings by I.F. Stone: ''The Compass''
The Website of I. F. Stone
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at

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and Hudson Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. With private financing, he founded ''The Daily Compass'' as its publisher and president.Archive o
''Hearings Before the Select Committee in Improper Activities on the Labor or Management Field''
May 5–8, 1959
WebCitation archive
The paper began publishing on May 16, 1949, and ceased publication in November 1952. The

wrote a column six days a week.

Jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is license ...

impresario

Art D'Lugoff Art D'Lugoff (August 2, 1924 - November 4, 2009) in Brooklyn, New York, was an American jazz impresario. He opened The Village Gate, a jazz club in New York City's Greenwich Village, in 1958. D'Lugoff sought out the hottest talent, hosting prominent ...

, then spelling his name Art Dlugoff, was a

copy boy A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the ''Herald Sun'' who began work there ...

at the paper, as was future ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

sports writer Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

Stan Isaacs.Isaacs, Stan
"The 1969 Chronicles: A Sports Writer's Notes"
Introduction
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(Note: On some browsers, page text is white-on-white and may require blocking to be visible) Future magazine editor

Clay Felker Clay Schuette Felker (October 2, 1925 – July 1, 2008) was an American magazine editor and journalist who co-founded ''New York'' magazine in 1968. He was known for bringing numerous journalists into the profession. ''The New York Times'' wrote ...

was a sportswriter for the paper. The

city editor A city editor is a title used by a particular section editor of a newspaper. They are responsible for the daily changes of a particular issue of a newspaper that will be released in the coming day. Mostly they stay at the publication at night and ...

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edito ...

, Tom O'Connor, who appeared before the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

in May 1952 without testifying or naming others, died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

at ''The Daily Compass'' offices while watching a televised broadcast of the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

on July 24, 1952.

Financing and distribution

''The Daily Compass'' was chiefly financed through the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Anita McCormick Blaine Anita Eugenie McCormick Blaine (1866-1954) was an American philanthropist and political activist. An heir to the McCormick Reaping Machine Works fortune built by her father, Cyrus McCormick (1809–1884), Blaine funded the launch of Chicago's Franci ...

, the

McCormick Harvesting Machine Company The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

heiress,"The Press: Angel in the Wings"
''

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 ...

'', May 16, 1949 who furnished either $300,000 or $2 million for the start-up (sources differ). She was introduced to Thackrey in late April 1949 by a mutual friend who had intended to put up half the money. When the friend backed out, Blaine invested the whole amount in return for all the

preferred stock Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt ins ...

; Thackrey held 51% of the

common stock Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Com ...

, and control. Blaine said at the time, "My purpose is to help create a better world state. You have only to think of the need for this thing ... look at the press of the world today...." The paper was distributed by the Metropolitan News Company and some 16 other distributors. William Peyton Marin was the company treasurer. Bernard Goldstein, the assistant treasurer and controller of the ''New York Star'', was the assistant treasurer. Following the company's dissolution, its books and records were stored at the AAAAAA American City Wide Express Service at 1135 Tiffany Street,

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, for two to three years before prepaid funds ran out and the documents were scheduled to be destroyed.

Aftermath

After ''The Daily Compass'' ceased publication, Thackrey joined the

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

firm

Ruder Finn Ruder Finn is a public relations firm with headquarters in the United States and China. It is a large privately owned communications agency, serving corporations, governments, and non-profits. It also has offices in San Francisco, London, Washingt ...

. In 1959, Thackrey and Goldstein testified at the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

's "Hearings Before the Select Committee in Improper Activities on the Labor or Management Field", which investigated alleged improprieties by the newspaper deliverers union and forcible payoffs in order to ensure ''Compass'' distribution.

Footnotes

External links

"Timeline: NYC Newspapers of General Circulation, 1900–1967"
New York Public Library. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daily Compass Daily newspapers published in New York City Defunct newspapers published in New York City Newspapers established in 1949 Publications disestablished in 1952

Publication history

Financing and distribution

Aftermath

Archives

Footnotes

External links