John S. Knight's Pulitzer-winning work and tools of the trade.
On Monday, President Obama announced that the U.S. will lift its embargo on lethal arms sales to Vietnam, signaling increased cooperation between the two countries on defense.
A few decades ago, such an action would have been unimaginable.
In 1967, John S. Knight wrote in one of the editorials that won him a Pulitzer: “We cannot conquer the North Vietnamese nor the Viet Cong. Even if North Vietnam is totally bombed and a victory of sorts achieved, the United States would have to garrison the country for a long period of years.”
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has republished its founder’s prize-winning series on a new microsite, making the work more accessible to scholars and members of the public interested in his thought-provoking writing.
Already in his 70s and a newspaper magnate, Knight took up his pen and composed the impassioned editorials that appeared in publications across the Knight empire, including the Akron Beacon Journal, his first paper, which he inherited from his father.
Under the heading “The Editor’s Notebook,” Knight argued that questioning America’s involvement in Vietnam did not compromise one’s patriotism.
“Vietnam is no blithe adventure, nor is it being fought for a cause which all Americans can conscientiously defend,” he wrote on April 9, 1967, as U.S. planes prepared to fly the first bombing runs over Haiphong.
Later that month, General William Westmoreland would tell reporters that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily."
By the time of Knight’s death in 1981, his 33 newspapers had won a total of 85 Pulitzer Prizes.