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But The Flint Journal’s editorial positions also have shown insight and leadership, and consistently have reflected a deep caring for the welfare of the area. A good economy, good local government and good schools have always been interests the paper has promoted, at least since 1898 — the earliest editions of The Journal on file. At the dawn of the auto age, Journal editors called for more spending on area roads, and as the city mushroomed, pointed out the need for more classrooms. The paper championed changes in Flint government, first (1929) to dilute the power of a strong mayor system considered corrupt, and later (1974) to re-establish an elected chief executive in search of leadership. It has supported a host of civic projects, most notably the development of the Cultural Center in the 1950s, and in the 1960s took up the cause of open housing and urban renewal. It continued to promote revitalization of Flint in the 1970s by championing a plan to relocate the University of Michigan-Flint campus downtown. But The Journal’s editorial pages have been far from parochial. They’ve offered thoughts on events around the state, and around the world. Days after World War II broke out in Europe, editors indicated they felt America might eventually become involved, though the country was staunchly isolationist at the time. “Our neutrality is imperative until sober judgment and indisputable argument dictate otherwise,” the paper said on Sept. 17, 1939, more than two years before Pearl Harbor. The Journal began as a Democratic paper when founded in 1876, according to Edwin O. Wood’s “History of Genesee County,” but there was no sign of those roots as the 20th century approached. The paper was passionately Republican in the 1898 election: “Do the farmers of the sixth congressional district wish to return to eight and ten cent wool and dollar sheep? If so you can help the cause and hasten the day by voting for Charles Fishbeck, the Democratic nominee for Congress, who has always been a pronounced free trader.”
That GOP bent continued for most of the 20th century, with the newspaper regularly supporting Republicans for president. The Journal liked Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover and wasn’t fond of Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR’s bid for a third term brought a thunderous denunciation in 1940. The Journal also opposed Roosevelt for re-election in 1944, as World War II was winding down. “Prolonged incumbency begets the very evils the founders of our government sought to avoid,” the paper said on Nov. 5. The newspaper’s discomfort with the legendary president was understandable. The Roosevelt landslide in 1932 caused a sea change in Genesee County politics, which had been Republican. Democrats have controlled the county ever since, aided in no small measure by the UAW, which gained recognition from General Motors through the Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37. The Journal opposed the strike — though the editorials seem mild compared to the newspaper’s sentiments reflected in the news columns. That stand tagged the paper as being anti-union, a feeling that has stayed with many autoworkers, even though in later decades The Journal endorsed numerous Democrats, for president on down, and took other positions frequently in line with labor. Some conservatives now place the paper among the “liberal media,” but probably the most accurate reading of The Journal’s current politics is middle-of-the road. The opinions venture on both sides of the political center. The Journal’s editorials also have become more local, dealing almost exclusively with the Flint area and state matters. The emphasis parallels the local-coverage priority in the newspaper in general. Excerpts from editorials at key moments: • Sept. 12, 1903, the fledgling Buick corporation moving to Flint: “The time is ripe now for the manufacture of automobiles and while at the outset the new concern will not build the entire machine ... it is fair to presume that this is but the forerunner of something greater in this line. ... The Journal believes that the time is not so very far away that every part connected with an auto will be manufactured here and when an immense industry will have been developed.” • April 25, 1908, campaign finance reform: “We all have a right to know what influences are back of a certain candidate, and whether any of these have an improper interest in his success.” • Nov. 2, 1916, Henry Ford paying men and women the same wages for the same work: “If a woman sweeps a given number of square feet of factory floor in a day and does it adequately, it seems that she should be paid on a basis which recognizes the quantity of floor space and the degree of cleanliness achieved, and no other factors.’’ • Feb. 9, 1917, higher pay for teachers: “It is by no means a pleasant situation for a girl to ... secure the training necessary to become a teacher, only to find that after completing her course and securing employment she must continue to depend to an extent at least upon her relatives in order to exist.” • Oct. 31, 1929, two days after the stock market crash: “The speculative excesses of the last three years are to blame for the precipitous break, despite whatever contributing causes there may have been. We know now that a more even keel in stocks would have been vastly better in the past, although Washington officials say that if stocks had to come down, and they did, it was better to have it over quickly than for the country to pass through months of gradual decline.” • Nov. 4, 1932, German election: “The Hitlerites claim they will make a small gain and the government claims the Nazis will suffer a small loss. From this one may deduce that at least the peak of the Nazi movement has been reached.” • Oct. 27, 1936, creation of Social Security: “No one imputes the motives of the social security act. That there are millions of homes in which fear lurks in the background is sufficient reason for study and enlightened action to remedy the cause. But how can it best be done? Will security offered through public agencies bring about an ‘aggregate security’ — or merely stifle the American system of enterprise with superior return for superior merit?” • Feb. 12, 1937, settlement of the Sit-Down Strike: “Flint is glad that this chapter in its history is finished. It is no way typical of its romantic story of industrial progress.” • Aug. 8, 1945, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima: “There are great economic possibilities in this development. ... So what emerges as a threat to civilization likewise can be a boon in two vital directions. Again, a prayer is in order that mankind can be given the wisdom and character to use it properly.” • Jan. 23, 1955, establishment of the Flint College of the University of Michigan: “A great university, one of the greatest in the world, will be brought to our doorstep.” • Nov. 23, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy: “His underlying policy was clear. It was forged from a deep conviction that only in a world in which there is room for equality and freedom can we hope to preserve for ourselves and others the only way of life which Americans believe to be worth living.” • Aug. 15, 1967, open housing and the mayorship of Floyd J. McCree: “We recognize that McCree is likely to be charged with using his resignation as an attempt to blackmail the city into adopting open occupancy. But we are certain this is not the case. It was a demonstration of one man standing up for that in which he believes — and in which we all should believe.” • April 5, 1968, assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Flint joins in the mourning across our land. For we, too, have a dream of a land in which brotherhood and social justice between all men of all color and creeds will thrive.” • Aug. 6, 1974, calling for Nixon’s resignation: “He has been stripped of most of his clout. ... Even the most staunch Nixon defender now must ask whether the nation can be allowed to flounder until the President’s fate is decided.” • May 1, 1975, the day after the Vietnam War ended: “The most important part of being rid of the actual war is being rid of the overwhelming preoccupation with the war. To be haunted by the past is not to spend all of our time reliving it.” • June 27, 1982, a front-page open letter urging the Mott Foundation to go ahead with AutoWorld: “AutoWorld will create jobs, result in a venture not only historic in nature but capable of expansion by future combinations of public and private investors, and serve as an essential catalyst to community betterment.” • Dec. 29, 1998, impeachment of President Bill Clinton: “The patriotic faction of the American public — people long grown weary of the witch hunt against President Clinton — now look to the U.S. Senate to put an end to this tawdry, tiresome crusade.” • June 6, 1999, closing of the Buick City Assembly Center: “Finally, with the last remnants of Buick being removed from its birthplace with the expected demolition of the assembly center, and a GM countywide workforce down to 25,000 from 75,000, the message should now be clear: the days of a prominent GM presence providing high-wage, low-skilled jobs are over.” Opinion Editor Michael J. Riha started at The Journal in 1968. He can be reached at (810) 766-6189 or mriha@flintjournal.com. 
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