By making editorial excellence his priority in the management of the Louisville Courier-Journal, publisher Mark Foster Ethridge was able to turn the newspaper into one of the most respected dailies in the country. By focusing resources on the news-editorial content of the newspaper, he transformed the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times from money-losing ventures into excellent and profitable newspapers. His commitment to journalistic excellence, his courage in championing liberal causes in the segregated South in the first half of the twentieth century, and his participation on the national and international political stage made Ethridge one of America's best-known newspaper executives. A 1944 Chicago Sun editorial described him as "one of the most forceful, intelligent and progressive newspapermen in America."

Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Ethridge was one of nine children of William Nathaniel and Mary Howell Ethridge. Growing up in the South, Mark witnessed scenes of white mobs lynching blacks. William...