Herbert Bayard Swope was called the greatest reporter of his time by Lord Northcliffe of the London Daily Mail. The accolade is all the more impressive when one considers that Swope's illustrious colleagues included Walter Lippmann, Damon Runyon, Heywood Broun, Alexander Woollcott, Franklin P. Adams, William Henry Chamberlin, Arthur Brisbane, and Richard Harding Davis. That Swope had a special impact upon journalism in his time is undeniable. He rose rapidly from obscurity to become a journalistic legend.

Herbert Bayard (pronounced "by-ard") Swope was born 5 January 1882 in St. Louis, Missouri, which was at that time the fourth largest city in the United States. His parents were Isaac and Ida Cohn Swope, both immigrants from Germany. He was the youngest of four children. As a child, Swope was something of a loner. His brother, Gerard, was nine years older, and his interests were widely different from Swope's. Yet, as...