BENJAMIN MOSBY MCKELWAY EDITORIAL CHAIRMAN OF THE WASHINGTON STAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R001700030002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2003
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 24, 1965
• Content Type: BR

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Benjamin Mosby McKelway
Editorial Chairman of the WASHINGTON STAR
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The DCIts luncheon guest for Monday (12:15 P.M.), 27 September 1965,
Mr. Benjamin M. McKelway, was a luncheon guest of the then Director Allen
Welsh Dulles on 18 November 1957. Others from CIA at the 1957 luncheon
were: the Deputy Director, General Cabell; the DDP, Frank Wisner; the
DDI, Robert Amory, the DDS, Lawrence K. White; and the Assistant to the
Director, Mr. McKelway had in October, 1957, been
elected to be 1in the President of the ASSOCIATED PRESS. Mr.
McKelway, with other newspaper leaders, has attended some background
Mr. McKelway is now the Editorial Chairman of the WASHINGTON
EVENING STAR. He has been with the STAR since 1921 as copy reader,
news reporter, City Editor, Managing Editor, Associate Editor, and
Editor. He started his newspaper career as a reporter on the NEW
BRITON (Conn.) HERALD in 1916 and also worked on the WASHINGTON TIMES
until he went to the STAR. On 8 April 1963, after 16 years as Editor
of the STAR, he was elected by the Board of Directors to be Senior Vice
President and Editorial Chairman.
He became President of the ASSOCIATED PRESS in 1958 and resigned in
January 1963 at which time he was praised by the ASSOCIATED PRESS Board
of Directors for his "intelligent and courageous leadership when it was
needed to maintain freedom of the press." He also was a Director of the
ASSOCIATED PRESS, of the Washington Board of Trade, of the National
Geographic Society, of the District of Columbia Public Library, of the
Rockefeller Foundation, and of the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board.
In World War I, he served. as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army and
as a 1st lieutenant was aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. L. M. Brett from 1917
to 1918.
In addition to his having been President of the ASSOCIATED PRESS,
he was also President of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He
is a member of Delta Tau Delta, the Cosmos Club, the National Press Club,
the Metropolitan Club, the Chevy Chase Club, the Alibi Club, and is a
former President of the Gridiron Club.
Mr. McKelwayts home is ati Washington, D.C.
He summered at Sorrento, Maine, where the Noyes family of the STAR also
summers. He is the son of the late Reverend Alexander Jeffrey McKelway
and Lavina Rutherford Smith McKelway. His father was a preacher and an
editor. He had an uncle who was editor of the BROOKLYN EAGLE. Two of
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 Approved For Release 2003/06/26 : CIA-RDP80B01676R001700030002-1
his sons are in journalism; one of them, John, is on the STAR. Ben
McKelway was a student in agriculture at the George Washington University
here but gave up his future as a farmer to become a newspaperman. He
was born.in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on 2 October 1895, so within
the next few days he. will be 70 years of age. He also attended Virginia
Polytechnic Institute. He is a very level-headed newspaper executive
who is respected and admired by his associates and by leaders in the
Government. General Marshall considered him not only a good reporter
but a good friend.
I have known Ben McKelway for many years and consider him a most
satisfactory person, a man of honor, integrity, and courage, plus high
intelligence.
21. September 1965
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