Paul Simon (born 1928) was a newspaper publisher, state legislator, lieutenant governor, and U.S. representative and senator, serving a total of 22 years in Congress. He was a "self-made" man who rose from being a "boy-wonder" in journalism and politics to a candidate for president of the United States.

Paul Simon was born November 29, 1928, in Eugene, Oregon. His parents, the Rev. Martin Paul and Ruth (Troemel) Simon, had only recently returned to the United States from Lutheran missionary work in China so that their child could be born in America.

Simon grew up in Eugene and entered the University of Oregon at age 16 to study journalism. In 1946 he transferred to Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, after his parents moved to Illinois to publish a religious periodical.

At age 19, Simon became the youngest editor-publisher in America. In 1948 he dropped out of college to purchase the Troy Tribune, a defunct weekly...