For nearly thirty years, Franklin P. Adams pounded out a daily column of wit and erudition, "The Conning Tower," which successively enriched the op-ed pages of the New York Tribune, the New York World, the New York Herald Tribune, and the New York Post. As he scrutinized news events, reviewed plays and books, and generally opined on the American scene in satirical light verse and prose, Adams--or F.P.A., as he always signed his work--gained an enormous following.

Born in Chicago on 15 November 1881 to Moses and Clara Schlossberg Adams, Franklin Pierce Adams graduated from the Armour Scientific Academy there in 1899. He then attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for less than a year before setting out to earn a living. In June 1900, Adams started as an insurance supply clerk with Adolph Loeb and Sons in Chicago. When he became an insurance solicitor about six months...