During a period when metropolitan newspapers were falling into the grasp of major newspaper chains and coming under fire for ignoring their community and social responsibilities, fiercely independent Palmer Hoyt resurrected the Portland Oregonian and the Denver Post, elevating them to national prominence. Hoyt's strategy was simple: separate news from opinion and reestablish the newspaper's connection with its community. His eight years at the Oregonian and twenty-four years at the Post established Hoyt as a leader in the struggle for credibility and viability in American journalism.

Edwin Palmer Hoyt was born on 10 March 1897 in Roseville, Illinois, the son of Edwin Palmer, a Baptist minister, and Annie Marie Tendler Hoyt. His father died of pneumonia in 1910, when Hoyt was thirteen. In the fall of the next year Hoyt's mother sent him to Baptist-sponsored William Jewell College Preparatory School in Liberty, Missouri. After finding out that many of his teachers...