James S. Copley

Who is James S. Copley?

James Strohn Copley was a journalist and newspaper publisher. He published the San Diego Union The San Diego Union-Tribune and the San Diego Evening Tribune from 1947 until his death in 1973, and was President of the Inter American Press Association. His politics was "unabashedly conservative, Republican and pro-American". He had close associations with leading Republican of the era, including Barry Goldwater, Richard M. Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Copley's presence was a chief reason that the Republican National Convention of 1972 was originally planned to be in San Diego.

Copley was born in St. Johnsville, New York, the son of Flora and John Lodwell. His parents died in the Influenza epidemic of 1917-1918. Copley was adopted at age four by Col. Ira Clifton Copley, who later bought The San Diego Union and the San Diego Evening Tribune. Copley graduated from Yale in 1939, and went into journalism, becoming the CEO of the Union-Tribune group on Ira Copley's death in 1947. He remained CEO until his death in 1973, when his wife, Helen K. Copley, took over. The Union and the Tribune merged in 1992 to become The San Diego Union-Tribune.