Irving Dilliard – 2006
Irving Dilliard created a national reputation for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch during his tenure as its editorial page editor from 1949-1957, capping a 30-year career. From the Great Depression through the years of the Eisenhower presidency, Dilliard wrote over 10,000 editorials, and after he retired in 1960 he went on to teach constitutional law at Princeton. A lifelong resident of Collinsville, IL, Dilliard went on to write and edit books based on the papers of Supreme Court Justices Louis D. Brandeis and Hugo L. Black. In 1975, Supreme Court Justice William Douglas was asked which journalists knew the court best. Douglas replied, “There is only one. His name is Irving Dilliard.”