Wallace Turner (March 15, 1921 – September 18, 2010) was an American journalist and government administrator. A native of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, he won a

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 ...

in 1957 while working for ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'' in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

. Turner later worked in the

Kennedy administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 ...

before returning to the newspaper business where he worked for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Early life

Turner was born on March 15, 1921, to Clyde H. and Ina Belle (née Wallace) Turner in

Titusville, Florida Titusville is a city in eastern Florida and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida, United States. The city's population was 43,761 as of the 2010 United States Census. Titusville is located along the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and ...

, and raised in The Ozarks region in

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

."Wallace Turner." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2007. ''Gale Biography In Context''. Web. 20 Sept. 2010. He was one of three brothers in the family. After earning a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1943 from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, he was married in June and then briefly joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. That year he also started in the newspaper business, working for the '' Springfield News'' in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an esti ...

. Wallace was discharged from the Army due to his

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...

, and he and his new wife moved to Oregon, his wife Pearl Burk's home state. In 1943, they settled in Portland, Oregon, where he took a job as the night police reporter for the ''Daily Oregonian''.

Newspaper career

While working for ''

,'' Oregon's largest daily newspaper, he won his first of two Heywood Broun Awards in 1952 for his work helping expose a scam on the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Colum ...

that targeted Native Americans and their land and involved the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

. In

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

, Turner was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded since 1953, under one name or another, for a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series in a U.S. news publica ...

along with fellow ''Oregonian'' reporter William Lambert. The two writers uncovered widespread corruption in the local government that involved

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

officials, which helped lead to investigations into organized crime across the country. Turner even testified in 1957 before the U.S. Senate's Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, commonly known as the McClellan Committee, concerning the corruption. Turner then went to

Harvard University 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 highe ...

on a Nieman Fellowship for a year after winning the Pulitzer. Turner left ''The Oregonian'' in 1959 to become the news director at Portland television station

KPTV KPTV (channel 12) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States. affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Vancouver, Washington–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX (channel 49). Both stations ...

. He then left the station in 1961 to work as an Assistant Secretary of the

Department of Health, Education and Welfare The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

(HEW) in the administration of President John F. Kennedy. He served as an assistant secretary until 1962 when he became the press secretary to the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Abraham Ribicoff. Later that year he returned to journalism and worked for ''

''. With ''The Times'', Wallace worked as a correspondent in their

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

bureau from 1962 to 1970, and then as the bureau chief their from 1970 until 1985. While in San Francisco he covered the shootings of

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in ...

and George Moscone. Turner left San Francisco in 1985 to open ''The Times new

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

news bureau. He continued in that capacity until his retirement in 1988. Turner was the author of two books: ''Gamblers' Money — the New Force in American Life,'' published in 1965, followed by ''The Mormon Establishment'' in 1966.

Death and family

After leaving ''The New York Times'' he returned to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

where he settled in the Eugene area. Wallace Turner died on September 18, 2010, in

Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield ...

, at the age of 89 from medical complications associated with old age. With his wife Pearl, he had two daughters, Kathleen and Elizabeth.

References

External links

* Robert C. Donnelly
"Organizing Portland: Organized Crime, Municipal Corruption, and the Teamsters Union,"
''Oregon Historical Quarterly,'' vol. 104, no. 3 (Fall 2003), pp. 334–365. {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Wallace Journalists from Portland, Oregon 1921 births 2010 deaths Journalists from Missouri Writers from Seattle Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners The New York Times editors United States Department of Health and Human Services officials People from Titusville, Florida University of Missouri alumni Death in Oregon The Oregonian people United States Army personnel of World War II

Early life

Newspaper career

Death and family

See also

References

External links