Volume 21, Number 6 · April 18, 1974
Portrait of a Southern Liberal
By George McMillan
Ralph McGill: Reporter
by Harold H. Martin
Atlantic-Little Brown, 344 pp., $10.95
Around Ralph McGill, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, an aura of sainthood formed long before he died, and it is probably too soon after his death in 1969 to try to penetrate it. But one can see now that McGill's reputation is built on something that never was. He was a thoroughly likable, friendly man, a good talker and a good listener, but he was neither a fearless, uncompromising editor nor a powerful influence for good in the South. In fact, McGill had no following in the South. Although he wrote a daily column on the front page of the Atlanta Constitution for many years, there is no evidence that anything he said there made even a small change in southern life. Ironically, in fact, his influence in the South declined as his national, even international, reputation flourished. As often happens, his influence was least when it was most widely thought to be at its height.
Review, 2142 words
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