Clayton, Charles C. (Charles Curtis), 1902-1988

Charles C. Clayton (1902-1988) was an American journalist and author.

Charles C. Clayton (1902-1988) was a journalist, editor, and professor of journalism. Clayton worked at the St. Louis Globe-Tribune between 1925 and 1955, and then as a professor at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale between 1956 and 1972.

Charles C. Clayton, a former journalism professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, was born in Cambridge, Nebraska in 1903. He started his journalism career by reporting at The Star in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he worked until 1923 and later graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1925. He was hired as a reporter at the St. Louis Glove-Democrat, where he worked for more than 30 years. Mr. Clayton was named assistant city editor in 1929 and soon rose through the ranks, becoming literary editor from 1937 to 1939, city editor from 1939 to 1940, and an editorial writer from 1940 to 1954. He served one year as executive assistant to the publisher at that newspaper before coming to Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1955, where he taught until 1970. Mr. Clayton also taught journalism as a Fulbright journalism exchange professor at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan, and founded the journalism school at the Hongkong Chinese University in 1965-66. Mr. Clayton was past president of The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, and also served as an editor of The Quill from 1956 to 1961. He wrote four books: "Fifty Years for Freedom," "Newspaper Reporting Today," "The Asian Newspapers", "Reluctant Revolution, "and "A Twinge of Nostalgia." He died at the age of 85 in Carbondale, Illinois on April 29, 1988.