James, Weldon

W.B. James (1912-1985) was a reporter, editor, U.S. Marine Corps Colonel, and native of Sumter County, S.C.; graduate, 1933, of Furman University, and Nieman Fellow, 1939-1940, at Harvard; high school teacher in Greenville, S.C., 1933-1934; reporter for "Greenville Piedmont" newspaper, 1934-1937; in 1937, joined United Press staff in Shanghai, China; appointed bureau manager in Nanking; aboard the USS Panay when bombed by Japanese in 1937; transferred to Spain and Washington, D.C.; Night Foreign Editor for "PM", New York commentator for BBC, 1940-1942.

Weldon served in Marines during WWII in Europe, Japan, and China, 1942-1946; Far Eastern editor, "Collier's", 1946-1948; Associate Editor, Louisville, Ky. "Courier-Journal," 1948-1966; Kentucky correspondent for "Southern School News," 1954-1965; Carnegie Fellow in Europe and Africa, 1960-1961; Director of Public Affairs, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, Honolulu, 1966-1968; Assistant Director of Information and Head of Public Affairs Branch, Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., 1968-1970; Assistant Administrator for Public Administration, National Credit Union Administration, 1970-1972.

Received Navy Expeditionary Medal for "services rendered" aboard the Panay; with Omer Carmichael, wrote "The Louisville Story" (1957); wrote section entitled "General's General" in "Men Who Make Your World" (1949), section entitled "The South's Own Civil War" in "With All Deliberate Speed" (1957), and section entitled "Buildings and Equipment" in "Southern Schools: Progress and Problems" (1959).

Married Margaret Glennie North, widow of Lord North, in 1943; children Sarah Margaret James, Philip Weldon James, and Charles Ronald Glennie James; cousin of J. Mitchell Reames (1920-1987); grandson of Sebastian Wilkerson James (1850-1934).

From the description of Weldon James papers, 1864-1985. (University of South Carolina). WorldCat record id: 56601983