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|surname=Emerson
|surname=Emerson
|first=William
|first=William
|middle=A.
|middle=Austin
|suffix=Jr
|suffix=Jr
|class_section=6A
|class_section=6A
|class_rank=Sgt
|class_rank=Sergeant
|birth_year=1923
|birth_year=1923
|death_year=2009
|death_year=2009
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|class_number=20
|class_number=20
|class_display=20
|class_display=20
|birth_date=28 February 1923
|death_date=25 August 2009
|birth_place=Charlotte, North Carolina
|death_place=Atlanta, Georgia
}}
}}


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William Austin "Bill" Emerson Jr. (February 28, 1923 &ndash; August 25, 2009) was an American journalist who covered the Civil Rights Movement as Newsweek's first bureau chief assigned to cover the Southern United States and was later editor in chief of The Saturday Evening Post.
'''William Austin "Bill" Emerson Jr.''' (28 February 1923 &ndash; 25 August 2009) was an American journalist and Ritchie Boy who trained at [[Camp Ritchie]] in [[:Category:Class 20|Class 20]], covered the civil rights movement as ''Newsweek''{{'}}s first bureau chief for the South, and was later editor-in-chief of ''The Saturday Evening Post''.
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
William Austin "Bill" Emerson Jr. (February 28, 1923 &ndash; August 25, 2009) was an American journalist who covered the Civil Rights Movement as Newsweek's first bureau chief assigned to cover the Southern United States and was later editor in chief of The Saturday Evening Post.
William Austin "Bill" Emerson Jr. was born on 28 February 1923 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and moved with his family to Atlanta, where he attended Boys High School and North Fulton High School. He studied for two years at Davidson College.


Emerson enlisted in the United States Army and trained, in part, at Camp Ritchie among the Ritchie Boys. In War time, he served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II.
Emerson enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort McPherson, Atlanta, and trained, in part, at Camp Ritchie among the Ritchie Boys with [[:Category:Class 20|Class 20]], holding the rank of sergeant. During the war he served in the China Burma India Theater.


In 1953, the year before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Emerson was named by Newsweek as its first bureau chief responsible for covering the South. In that role, Emerson witnessed the "years of resistance and violence" that ensued following the end of segregation in public schools and the start of the fight for civil rights for African Americans. In that role, Emerson covered school integration battles across the South, including in such cities as New Orleans and Memphis, Tennessee, and provided his direct observations of a woman trying to take her child to school and encountering a crowd spitting and yelling at them. He wrote about Ku Klux Klan cross burnings in Florida and followed the Montgomery bus boycott that began in 1955 with the ascension of Martin Luther King Jr. As a leader in the movement. A few months later, he reworked the magazine's issue covering the John F. Kennedy assassination to include recollections by his predecessor Dwight D. Eisenhower and by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., with a cover portrait of Kennedy by Norman Rockwell, all completed to publish the issue on time. As part of the New Journalism of the 1960s, Emerson had articles from such non-traditional authors as James Meredith, who wrote about his experiences as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. In a meeting with employees after the magazine's closure had been announced, Emerson thanked the staff for their professional work and promised "to stay here and see that everyone finds a job". At a March 1969 postmortem on the magazine's closing, Emerson stated that The Post "was a damn good vehicle for advertising" with competitive renewal rates and readership reports and expressed what The New York Times called "understandable bitterness" in wishing "that all the one-eyed critics will lose their other eye".
After his military service Emerson attended Harvard University and then joined ''Collier's'' magazine in New York City. In 1953, the year before the Supreme Court's decision in ''Brown v. Board of Education'', ''Newsweek'' named him its first bureau chief responsible for covering the South. He witnessed the "years of resistance and violence" that followed school desegregation, covering integration battles in cities such as New Orleans and Memphis, Tennessee—including a mother trying to take her child to school through a crowd that spat and yelled at them—as well as Ku Klux Klan cross burnings in Florida and the Montgomery bus boycott that began in 1955 and brought Martin Luther King Jr. to the fore. Hoping to enlist William Faulkner for a cover story, he ignored a warning sign at the author's Mississippi home, was met first by dogs and then by Faulkner, who "calmly told someone to get his shotgun."


Emerson later joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina, where he taught journalism.
In September 1963 the Curtis Publishing Company promoted Emerson from assistant managing editor to executive editor of ''The Saturday Evening Post''. A few months later he reworked the issue covering the assassination of John F. Kennedy to include recollections by Dwight D. Eisenhower and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. and a Norman Rockwell cover portrait of Kennedy, all completed in time for publication. As part of the New Journalism of the 1960s he ran articles by nontraditional authors such as James Meredith, who wrote about being the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. Emerson became editor-in-chief in 1965 and remained until the magazine closed with its 8 February 1969 issue. After the closure was announced he thanked the staff and promised "to stay here and see that everyone finds a job," and at a March 1969 postmortem he insisted the ''Post'' "was a damn good vehicle for advertising," expressing what ''The New York Times'' called "understandable bitterness" in wishing "that all the one-eyed critics will lose their other eye."
 
Emerson later taught journalism at the University of South Carolina. He married Lucy Kiser, who died in 2005. Emerson died after a stroke at his home in Atlanta on 25 August 2009, at the age of 86.


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
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