Willis J. Abbot recalled his half-century newspaper career in an autobiography entitled Watching the World Go By (1933), but his legacy amounts to far more than an impartial reminiscence of the passing scene. His life was one of total commitment--to journalism, to citizenship, and above all to the ethical principles that marked his deeds as well as his words. His instinct for decency and truth belies the seeming paradox of a career that moved successfully from service in Hearst's "yellow" press to leadership of the idealistic and "clean" Christian Science Monitor.

The only child of Waldo and Julia Holmes Abbot, Willis John Abbot was born 16 March 1863 in New Haven, Connecticut. Literary and journalistic expression was a family tradition: Abbot's grandfather, the Reverend John S. C. Abbott, was honored by Napoleon III for his "Life of Napoleon Bonaparte," serialized in Harper's Monthly; with his brother Jacob, John Abbott (both had...