Sun-Times Media Group (formerly Hollinger International) is a Chicago-based newspaper publisher.
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FDR and the Grace Tully Archive
Transcription
My name is Cynthia Koch and I’m the director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Grace Tully was FDR’s last personal secretary. She worked closely with him and was with FDR until the day he died in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945. We were long aware that this collection was there. I’ve had my eye on it for ten years. I’m Bob Clark, I’m the supervisory archivist. This collection is really unique. It’s not only Grace Tully’s papers, it’s also the papers of Missy Le Hand, who was her predecessor as FDR’s primary secretary. They’re handwritten notes that FDR jotted down that then either Miss Tully or Miss Le Hand would turn into official memos. “Secretary of War. General Pershing asks very strongly Colonel George C. Marshall (Infantry) be promoted to Brigadier. Can we put in list of next promotions?” And of course George Marshall would become the most important of Roosevelt’s military advisors during World War II. A fascinating document in this collection is a handwritten letter to FDR written around June of 1933. My dear Mr. President. I hope of meeting you some day in the near future in order to have the opportunity to discuss with you the outstanding world problems in which United States and Italy are mutually interested. I am, my dear Mr. President, very sincerely yours, Mussolini My predecessor in the 1980s wrote to Grace Tully when she was still alive and asked her to please consider donating her FDR letters. Miss Tully died in 1984 and we believe Grace Tully’s papers then passed from her heirs into private hands. They ultimately were sold a couple of times at auction, most recently reappearing for sale in 2004. Dear Grace, I’m in Cairo. Busy all times. Churchill here with his daughter Sarah. Also Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek! The conference goes fairly well. My role is that of peacemaker. I’ve seen the pyramids and made close friends with the Sphinx. Congress should know her. Much love, FDR Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, as many people know, had a brief affair with Franklin Roosevelt in the 19-teens. Grace’s papers contain many things that are very personal. And this letter to Grace is arranging for Lucy and her friend Elizabeth Shoumatoff to come to Warm Springs, Georgia, so that Elizabeth Shoumatoff could paint a portrait of FDR. With many thanks again for being so very understanding and thoughtful. If you change your mind and think it would be better for me not to come, call me up. I really am terribly worried, as I imagine you all are. Of course, Lucy and Madame Shoumatoff were there the day that FDR was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage that killed him. And the portrait that Elizabeth Shoumatoff was working on is now known as the “unfinished portrait.” We were so taken with the entire collection that we began the lengthy process of negotiation and ultimately an Act of Congress which paved the way for the donor. This is a collection of material never before seen by the public, never before seen by researchers. That collection has now become the property of the U.S. government and of the people of the United States.
History
Sun-Times Media Group was founded in 1986 under the name American Publishing Company, as a holding company for Hollinger Inc.'s American properties. It focused on newspapers, mostly in smaller markets. In February 1994, it acquired the Chicago Sun-Times, holding an initial public offering (IPO) to fund the acquisition. At the time, it was the fifteenth-largest U.S. newspaper group. It changed its name to Hollinger International in 1994.
Hollinger's non-American properties, which included The Daily Telegraph and The Jerusalem Post, were added to the company in 1996, and its Canadian papers in 1997. It created the National Post from the Financial Post in 1998.
That year, it began a process of shrinking the company, selling many of its small papers to the private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, who formed Liberty Group Publishing. In 2000, it sold most of the rest to four media companies (Bradford Publications Company, Community Newspaper Holdings, Paxton Media Group, and Forum Communications).[1] Its Canadian holdings, notably the National Post, several smaller papers, and a majority stake in the Southam newspaper chain, were sold to CanWest in 2000 in connection with Conrad Black renouncing his Canadian citizenship to gain a British peerage. That year, Hollinger International bought the Chicago-area publications of Copley Press (The Herald News, The Beacon-News, The Courier-News, and Lake County News-Sun, along with several smaller papers).
Conrad Black was fired by the Hollinger International board in 2004 for fraud.[2] He attempted to sell his stake to the Barclay brothers in January 2004 and the brothers launched a takeover bid for the rest of Hollinger International. However the sale was blocked by a judge in the United States after the company's board lodged a court action against the sale.
The Barclay brothers later bought The Telegraph Group which included The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, and The Spectator. On November 16, 2004, the sale of The Jerusalem Post to Mirkaei Tikshoret, a Tel Aviv–based publisher of Israeli newspapers, was announced. CanWest Global Communications, Canada's biggest media concern, announced it has agreed to take a 50 percent stake in The Jerusalem Post after Mirkaei buys the property. In February 2006, Hollinger sold substantially all of its Canadian assets.[3]
The corporation's name was changed to Sun-Times Media Group on July 17, 2006.[4]
On March 31, 2009, the company filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Code.
In September 2009, Chicago financier James C. Tyree and a team of investors had a $5 million bid accepted to purchase the Sun-Times Media Group, contingent on the paper's unions accepting deep compensation cuts and work-rule changes. The purchase was completed the next month.
Tyree died suddenly in March 2011. Jeremy Halbreich, chief executive, said that Tyree will be greatly missed and that his death will make no changes in the media company's strategy.[5]
Since the Tyree-Halbreich takeover, the organization has shown accelerating declines in circulation, advertising revenue and quality of editorial content. Industry analysts have repeatedly pointed to the group's failure to craft a competitive online product as evidence of continued decline. On December 6, 2011, the company announced it will institute a paywall to access its online content from December 8, 2011.
Later in December 2011, Chicago investment group Wrapports, L.L.C., led by Chairman Michael W. Ferro Jr. & CEO Timothy Knight, bought the properties of Sun-Times Media Holdings.[6]
Corporate governance
- November 17, 2003
- Conrad Black resigns as chairman after an internal inquiry alleges that Black had received more than $7 million in unauthorized payments of company funds.
- January 14, 2004
- Hollinger International files a US$200 million lawsuit against Conrad Black and David Radler.
- October 2005
- Gordon A. Paris, chairman of the board of directors, president, chief executive officer and director
- Paul B. Healy, vice president, corporate development and investor relations
- Peter K. Lane, vice president, chief financial officer
- Robert T. Smith, treasurer
- James R. Van Horn, vice president, general counsel and secretary
- John Cruickshank, chief operating officer, head of the Chicago group
- Members of the board of directors: Gordon Paris, Richard Burt, Daniel Colson, Cyrus Freidheim, Henry Kissinger, Shmuel Meitar, John O'Brien, Richard Perle, Graham Savage, Raymond G. H. Seitz, and James R. Thompson.
- November 2006
- Cyrus Freidheim is hired as president and CEO.
- February 2009
- Cyrus Freidheim resigns as CEO after New York–based hedge fund Davidson Kempner forces the ousting of all but one member of the board of directors.
- Jeremy Halbreich becomes the new chairman and interim chief executive.
See also
References
- ^ Jones, Tim (August 4, 2000). "Hollinger's Crash Diet Stops Short Of Chicago". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Beasley, Mark S.; Frank A. Buckless; Steven M. Glover; Douglas F. Prawitt (2015). Auditing Cases: Instructor Resource Manual (PDF) (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. ISBN 978-0134422701. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ "Hollinger International Completes Sale of Substantially All of Its Canadian Assets" (Press release). Sun-Times Media Group. February 6, 2006. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ "Hollinger International Today Becomes Sun-Times Media Group" (Press release). Sun-Times Media Group. July 17, 2006. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Roeder, David (March 20, 2011). "Tyree's vision will be missed, but newspaper will follow course". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2011.
- ^ Channick, Robert; Michael Oneal; Becky Yerak. "Sun-Times sold to local investor group". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
External links
- Sun-Times Media Group official site
- Pioneer Press, local newspapers' site (part of Chicago Tribune)
- Ketupa.net – Media Profiles: Hollinger, Black & the Barclays Extensive background information, including past and present media holdings.
- U.S. SEC – Breeden Report Complete 512-page copy of the Report of Investigation by the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Hollinger International Inc.
- A Hollinger company history
This page was last edited on 13 October 2023, at 13:02