In April 1930 Frank R. Birdsall, editor and publisher of the Yazoo City Sentinel in Mississippi, was shot and killed by Mayor John T. Stricklin because Birdsall had published damaging reports about Stricklin just before the local mayoral election in February.

In February 1937 Walter J. Black introduced Book Digest magazine, which published condensed versions of nonfiction best-sellers; he developed the idea after noticing the immense popularity of Reader's Digest condensed books.

In 1938 O'Brien Boldt, editor of the Daily Dartmouth, developed a plan to send Adolf Hitler a Christmas present of four test tubes containing samples of Jewish, Negro, Mongolian, and "Aryan" blood contributed by undergraduates and to challenge Hitler to tell the difference. The plan fell through when no "pure Aryan" blood could be found.

In July 1939 colorful, well-known New York World- Telegram columnist Heywood Broun advertised for a job because his contract...