Howell, Clark, 1863-1936

Clark Howell, editor, legislator, and politician, was born September 21,1863, in Barnwell County, South Carolina, and died November 14, 1936 in Atlanta, Georgia. After his father (Evan Park Howell) retired as publisher of the Atlanta Constitution, he replaced him and bought control of the newspaper in 1901, becoming editor-in-chief for 35 years. He served as a Georgia legislator, 1885-1891 (Speaker 1891), and again 1900-1906, but his 1907 gubernatorial bid was unsuccessful. He was chairman of three national commissions, a trustee of University of Georgia (1896-1927); wrote History of Georgia (1926) and helped the Constitution win the 1931 Pulitzer Prize by exposing Atlanta city graft.

Clark Howell (1863-1936), journalist, politician, and owner of the Atlanta Constitution. Married Harriet G. Barrett in 1887, children included Clark Howell, Jr.

Clark Howell was a prominent state politician and, for fifty-three years, an editorial executive and owner of the Atlanta Constitution. A talented and dedicated journalist, Howell served as a bridge from Georgia to the rest of the nation in matters political and journalistic. Clark Howell was born in Erwinton, South Carolina, on September 21, 1863, to Julia A. Erwin and Evan P. Howell, a Confederate artillery captain. After the Civil War (1861-65), Howell's father cut and sold timber from his own father's land in Atlanta for two years, then entered the newspaper field as a reporter and city editor for the Atlanta Intelligencer. Leaving that newspaper briefly, he bought a half interest in the Atlanta Constitution in 1876. Evan Howell lured Henry W. Grady away from a new job at an Augusta newspaper, and Grady later recommended that Evan Howell hire Joel Chandler Harris, thus putting in place the keystones of the newspaper during that period. After graduating from the University of Georgia (UGA) in 1883, Clark Howell served a brief apprenticeship at the New York Times before moving to the Philadelphia Press. By 1884 Howell was back in Atlanta, where he worked as night editor at the Constitution under Grady and Harris. In 1887 he married Harriet Glascock Barrett of Augusta. The couple had two children, Clark Jr. and Susie. Howell's wife died in 1898. Howell was assistant managing editor of the Constitution in 1889, the year that Grady died. He soon stepped into Grady's job while continuing to be active in politics. As managing editor he campaigned against the state's notorious convict lease system, supported Atlanta's acceptance of evacuees from a yellow fever epidemic in several southern states, and stood with the governor when he vetoed a bill outlawing football at UGA in the wake of a player's death. In 1892 he became a Democratic national committeeman and in 1896 a member of the UGA Board of Trustees. Howell's final foray into public office came in 1906, when he lost a bitterly fought campaign for the governorship. The primary issue of the election was the debate over disenfranchising black Georgians, and the tensions resulting from these debates were partly responsible for the outbreak of the Atlanta race riot in September of that year. Howell's opponent, Hoke Smith, one-time Atlanta Journal owner and secretary of the interior under U.S. president Grover Cleveland, was more strident in his opposition to suffrage for blacks than Howell and won handily. Though this was his last attempt at elective office, Howell remained an active Democrat and confidant of presidents. Howell was said to be working on an editorial congratulating Roosevelt on the November 1936 reelection when he died at his Atlanta home. His papers are housed in the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University. Clark Howell (1863-1936) - New Georgia Encyclopedia http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org (Retrieved February 24, 2009)