Smyser, Richard D. (Richard David), 1923-2005

Richard David Smyser became the founding editor of the Oak Ridger in Oakridge, Tenn., in 1949 and retired from that position in 1993. Smyser served as president of both the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editors Association. He was dedicated to increasing the employment of minorities in the field of journalism and to making publications more inclusive of minorities. As leader of the Minorities Committee of ASNE in the late 1970s, Smyser established the goal of bringing newspaper workforces into parity with the population of the United States by the year 2000.

Richard David Smyser was born on 19 August 1923 in York, Pa. The 1944 graduate of Penn State University began his career at the Chester (Pa.) Times (now the Delaware County Daily Times ), and in 1949 became the founding editor of the Oak Ridger . He served as managing editor and editor of the Oak Ridge, Tenn., newspaper for over 40 years, retiring in 1993. Smyser held terms as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and as president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, and chaired numerous committees of each organization during his career, focusing especially on issues of minorities and journalism. He was dedicated to increasing the employment of minorities in the field of journalism and to making publications more inclusive of minorities. As leader of the Minorities Committee of ASNE in the late 1970s, Smyser established the goal of bringing newspaper workforces into parity with the population of the United States by the year 2000.

The Penn State Board of Trustees awarded Smyser its Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985, and in 1986-1987 he held the position of Atwood Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage Department of Journalism and Public Communications. Smyser is perhaps most well known for being credited, erroneously, with eliciting President Richard M. Nixon's I am not a crook declaration at an APME convention in Orlando, Fla., on 11 November 1973. Nixon made this statement at the end of his answer to a question posed by Smyser; however, he was referring to a previous question, in which he had been asked if his income taxes were properly reported. Smyser died on 14 March 2005 at the age of 81.