James R. Shepley
James R. Shepley | |
---|---|
Houston, Texas, U.S. | |
Nationality | American |
Education | Dickinson College no degree |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1936–82 |
Notable credits | |
Title | President, Time Inc.1969–1980 |
Spouses |
|
Children | 8 |
James Robinson Shepley (August 16, 1917 – November 2, 1988) was an American journalist and businessman who was president of Time Inc. from 1969 to 1980 and was CEO of The Washington Star from 1978 until the paper was shut down in 1981.[1] Shepley was given credit for having expanded Time Inc. into different areas of publishing and into television and video.[2]
Early life and career
Shepley was born on August 16, 1917, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[3] He attended Camp Hill High School in the Harrisburg area,[4] from where he was graduated in 1935.[3]
He then was admitted to nearby Dickinson College, where he was in the class of 1939.[5][6] There he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.[4]
Shepley had found a first position in newspapers at the local
In 1937 he married the former Jean Stevens from Camp Hill.[4] They had two sons and two daughters together.[1][8]
Following his time in Pittsburgh, he got a job working for
World War II and aftermath
In 1942 he began working for Time magazine's Washington bureau.[2] He then became a war correspondent for Time and Life magazine.[7]
He covered the South-East Asian theatre of World War II.[1] In January 1944 he and several other reporters went to Deogarh, Madhya Pradesh, to meet with Brigadier General Frank Merrill, who was showcasing a new U.S. Army long-range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit that had been training in India.[9] The reporters sat around trying to think of an appealing name for the unit that would enthuse the American public; Shepley suggested "Merrill's Marauders",[9] and that name became the one the unit has always been known by.[2][1] Shepley did not join Merrill's unit for its insertion into the Burma campaign, however, instead moving on to a different assignment.[9]
Shepley also reported from the South West Pacific theatre of World War II,[5] as well as the European theatre of World War II, where he covered the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.[1] During that battle he was briefly caught behind German lines.[3]
In 1945 he was commissioned as a captain in the Army,
Bureau chief and book author
Subsequently, in 1946 Shepley returned to Time Inc. as a diplomatic correspondent[7] back in Washington.[1] In 1948 he became chief of the Washington bureau,[5] a position he continued to hold into the 1950s.[10] The prominence of his position, his wartime reporting, and his past association with Marshall, all combined to give Shepley unusual access to the U.S. defense and diplomatic establishments.[11][7]
By 1953, American physicist
This work then grew into a book that Shepley wrote together with a former submariner who was a reporter on his staff,
In 1956, Shepley interviewed Secretary of State
Shepley left the Washington bureau chief position in 1957 to run Time's North American news service.[7]
On a Time-Life photo shoot in 1957 Shepley met model Yvonne Hudson, originally from California.
As the
Publishing executive
Following Nixon's defeat, Shepley returned to Time Inc., but this time to the business side of the publishing enterprise.[2] He had no business training of any formal nature.[32] He became an executive, first being assistant publisher of Life magazine.[33] Then by 1964, he was publisher of Fortune magazine.[25] Following that, he became publisher of Time magazine,[33] which he was by 1967.[27] Finally in 1969 he became president of Time Inc.[33] During this period he lived in Port Washington, New York,[25] and then in Sands Point, New York.[27][34]
As an executive, he was known as "Brass Knuckles Shepley" for his blunt and aggressive management style.[30] Indeed, Time Inc.'s own acknowledgement of his passing called him a "brusque but decisive manager".[32] Well-known Time-Life political correspondent Hugh Sidey said that "Shepley was a great boss – tough, curt, no-nonsense but absolutely loyal. He put his faith in reporters and let them go."[7]
During his time as president, Shepley worked closely with chairman of the board
Most significantly, during the mid-1970s Time Inc. cultivated
Not all of Shepley's actions worked out. Shepley was the motivating force behind Time Inc.'s purchase of the money-losing Washington Star for $28 million in 1978, convincing Time's board of directors that owning a daily newspaper in the capital would bring a unique sense of prestige.[1] Despite the paper's labor unions agreeing to work concessions that Shepley demanded, the acquisition failed, as the Star lost a further $85 million before the board shut it down in 1981.[1]
Shepley stepped down as president of Time Inc. in 1980.[33] He remained on the board of directors,[2] serving as chair of the board's executive committee, until he retired in 1982.[33]
Final years and death
Shepley lived in
Shepley died at age 71 of cancer at the
Awards and honors
Shepley received an honorary degree from, and gave a commencement address at, Dickinson College in 1959.
In 1967, Shepley served as national chair for Dickinson College's fund-raising challenge program in association with the Ford Foundation.[6]
The James R. Shepley HBO Communications Center in Hauppauge, New York, is where HBO program signals are sent up to a communications satellite.[40]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnes, Bart (November 3, 1988). "Ex-Time Inc., Washington Star Executive James Shepley Dies". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "James R. Shepley, 71; Former Time Inc. Writer, Executive". Los Angeles Times. November 3, 1988.
- ^ a b c d Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. (1998), The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives: 1986-1990, Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 773
- ^ a b c d e "Wedded in Maryland". Harrisburg Telegraph. April 5, 1937. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f Vuilleumier, E. A. (December 1954). "The Hydrogen Bomb Raises Many Questions". The Dickinson Alumnus. p. 9.
- ^ a b "Shepley Announces $500,000 Donation". The Dickinsonian. May 6, 1967. p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Anderson, Susan Heller (November 3, 1988). "James R. Shepley Is Dead at 71; Chief of Time Inc. From '69 to '80". The New York Times. p. B12.
- ^ a b "Yvonne Hudson Shepley". Obitcentral.com. February 2001. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- ^ OCLC 827257198.
- ^ a b Bird, Kai; Sherwin, Martin J. (2005). American Prometheus: The Triump and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 465–468.
- ^ Young, Ken; Schilling, Warner R. (2019). Super Bomb: Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 139–140.
- ^ Young and Schilling, Super Bomb, pp. 127ff.
- OCLC 57342111.
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (December 20, 1998). "Clay Blair, 73, Navy Veteran and an Expert on Submarines". The New York Times. p. 67.
- ^ Young and Schilling, Super Bomb, p. 141.
- ^ Galison, Peter; Bernstein, Barton (1989). "In Any Light: Scientists and the Decision to Build the Superbomb, 1952–1954". Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences. 19 (2): 333.
- ^ Young and Schilling, Super Bomb, pp. 142, 144, 189n61.
- ^ Young and Schilling, Super Bomb, pp. 139–143.
- ^ Goodchild, Peter (2004). Edward Teller: the Real Dr. Strangelove. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 253–255.
- ^ Young and Schilling, Super Bomb, pp. 144–147.
- ^ McMillan, Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 245–247, 312n10, 312–313n15.
- ^ Shepley, James (January 16, 1956). "How Dulles Averted War". Life. pp. 70–72, 77–78, 80.
- ^ a b Ambrose, Stephen E. (1971). Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy 1938–1970. Penguin Books. pp. 225, 227, 237.
- ^ See resulting photographs of Yvonne McCuskey at this Life page, photographer Hank Walker. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Publisher Escapes Injury in Emergency Landing". The Daily Oklahoman. Associated Press. August 6, 1964. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Cosdon, Christina K. (June 17, 1997). "Ace pilot and professor E. Scott McCuskey, 82". St. Petersburg Times. p. 7B – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Sheryl Shepley Engaged to Wed Francis T. Deane" (PDF). The New York Times. November 26, 1967.
- ^ Who was who in America: Volume 9: 1985–1989. Marquis. p. 325.
- ^ "Real Pros, Just Friends, Work behind Political Scenes". Daily News-Journal. Wilmington, Ohio. Associated Press. June 27, 1960. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Maraniss, David (2012). Barack Obama: The Story. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 176–177.
- ^ "John F. Kennedy and the Student Airlift". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
- ^ a b "James R. Shepley, 71, retired Time Inc. chief". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Associated Press. November 4, 1988. p. 13-D – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g "James R. Shepley, ex-chief of Time". Asbury Park Press. Associated Press. November 3, 1988. p. A25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Notes on People". The New York Times. May 28, 1975. p. 51.
- ^ "Time Financing First Pay TV In Three Areas". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. February 22, 1973. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Munk, Nina (2004). Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner. HarperBusiness. p. 315.
- ^ "James R. Shepley Receives Honorary Degree". Dickinson College. June 7, 1959. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
- ^ "Past Recipients". Clarkson University. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". University of Florida. Archived from the original on June 29, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2010.
- ^ "How Captain Midnight Stepped on HBO". The Orlando Sentinel. July 23, 1986. p. A1 – via Newspapers.com.