Thomas Stanley Matthews (January 16, 1901 – January 4, 1991) was an American magazine editor, journalist, and writer. He served as editor of ''Time'' magazine from 1949 to 1953.

Background

Thomas Stanley Matthews was born on January 16, 1901, in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

. His father was New Jersey bishop, Paul Clement Matthews; and his mother was Elsie Procter, the

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

heiress. His grandfather was

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

. He had five sisters, including Margaret (later Flinsch) and Dorothea (later Dooling). He earned a first bachelor's degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1922 and a second from New College at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

in 1925.

Career

He joined the staff of ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' in 1925. There, literary critic

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...

encouraged him to write for the magazine. By 1928, he became an assistant editor and by 1929 an associate editor. He joined ''

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, ...

'' in 1929 as book editor and moved up to assistant managing editor, executive editor, and managing editor. (In 1940,

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''T ...

cites him as one of two managing editors at ''Time'' with Manfred Gottfried.) Finally, he succeeded ''Time'' co-founder Henry Luce as the magazine's editor, serving in that position from 1949 to 1953. Matthews' relationship with ''Time'' soured over the 1952 presidential election. Luce favored

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 ...

nominee

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

but Matthews preferred his Democratic rival (and his Princeton classmate)

Adlai Stevenson II Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (; February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was twice the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. He was the grandson of Adlai Stevenson I, the 23rd vice president o ...

. At Luce's instigation, Matthews moved to England to study a British version of ''Time.'' When the project did not carry through, he remained in Britain. There, he wrote numerous books and poetry, including an autobiography and a book on T. S. Eliot. He also reviewed books for the ''New York Times''.

Impact

The ''New York Times'' credited Matthews with "bringing depth and refinement to the news weekly in a 25-year career." It described him as a "lean, athletic editor" with "clipped, quiet speech was filled with obscure literary references" who rid the magazine of its double-barreled adjectives, puns and backward sentences."

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938) ...

, who started after and ended before Matthews at ''Time'', summarized as follows: "T. S. Matthews' contribution to the humanity of ''Time'', both in the intellectual and personal sense of the word, cannot be overstated." However, W.A. Swanberg, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography ''Luce and His Empire'', criticized Matthews for emphasizing the readability of ''Time'' at the expense of objectivity. “For him to be managing editor of America's most politically oriented and propagandist 'newsmagazine' was as if

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

were Secretary of State," Swanberg wrote. Swanberg also characterized Matthews as being “as close to being politically obtuse as such an otherwise cultivated man could be.” Princeton University holds his papers, which include writings, notebooks, correspondence, files from ''Time'' (1940s, 1950s, including the ''Time-in-Britain'' project), subject files, legal and financial correspondence, photographs, and printed material from 1910 to 1991. These include datebooks 1950–1991. Correspondents include John W. Aldridge,

, T. S. Eliot,

Valerie Eliot Esmé Valerie Eliot (née Fletcher; 17 August 19269 November 2012) was the second wife and later widow of the Nobel prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot. She was a major stockholder in the publishing firm of Faber and Faber Limited and the editor and ...

, Robert Graves, Eleanor Green, Laura (Riding) Jackson, Schuyler Jackson,

Len Lye Leonard Charles Huia Lye (; 5 July 1901 – 15 May 1980) was a New Zealand artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives including the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, M ...

, Laurie Lee, William Piel Jr., V. S. Pritchett,

Lyman Spitzer Lyman Spitzer Jr. (June 26, 1914 – March 31, 1997) was an American theoretical physicist, astronomer and mountaineer. As a scientist, he carried out research into star formation, plasma physics, and in 1946, conceived the idea of telesco ...

, and Adlai Stevenson.

Private life and death

Matthews was married three times, to: Juliana Stevens Cuyler,

Martha Gellhorn Martha Ellis Gellhorn (8 November 1908 – 15 February 1998) was an American novelist, travel writer, and journalist who is considered one of the great war correspondents of the 20th century. Gellhorn reported on virtually every major worl ...

, and Pamela Firth Peniakoff. He married Gellhorn in 1954 and lived with her in London; they divorced in 1963. He had four sons: Thomas S. Matthews Jr., John P. C. Matthews, Paul C. Matthews, and W. Alexander P. Matthews. He died of lung cancer in

Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English au ...

, England.

Works

The Library of Congress holds the following books by Matthews: * ''To the Gallows I must go'' (1931) * ''Sugar Pill: An Essay on Newspapers'' (1957, 1959) * ''Name and Address: An Autobiography'' (1960, 1961) * ''O My America! Notes on a Trip'' (1962) * ''Great Tom: Notes Towards the Definition of T. S. Eliot'' (1974) * ''Jacks or Better: A Narrative'' (1977) * ''Under the Influence: Recollections of Robert Graves, Laura Riding, and Friends'' (1979, 1983) * ''Angels Unawares: Twentieth-Century Portraits (1985) Articles appearing online include: * "Football Morals" (November 26, 1976) Poems appearing online include: * "After Such Knowledge: T.S. Eliot" (undated)

References

External sources

Princeton
T. S. Matthew Papers
Princeton Weekly Bulletin
image of Matthews
Getty Images
photo Matthews among TIME staff ca. 1948
Wheatmark Press
painting of Matthews * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, T. S. 1901 births 1991 deaths American male journalists 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American non-fiction writers Princeton University alumni 20th-century American male writers