WATTERSON, HENRY (184o-1921), American journal ist, was born in Washington (D.C.), Feb. 16, 1840. His father, Harvey McGee Watterson, who succeeded James K. Polk as a Democratic representative in Congress, was a journalist and lawyer. The son as a youth had literary ambitions, and turned to journalism, acting for a short time as music critic on the New York Times, serving on the Washington daily States, etc. Dur ing the Civil War he was attached to the staffs of Generals Forrest, Polk, and Hood; was chief of scouts in the Johnston-Sherman campaign, and edited the Rebel in Chattanooga. After further newspaper work and the first of many trips abroad he became editor of the Journal at Louisville (Ky.). In 1868, with W. N. Haldeman, he founded and became editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, a consolidation of the Courier, the Democrat, and the Journal. Haldeman and Watterson adopted a policy of business integrity and interest in the public service which soon made the Courier-Journal one of the most influential of southern newspapers. It had its unpopular days, however, in such times
as the Reconstruction period, when it stood for conciliation be tween the two sections, and during the Free Silver and Greenback agitations when it advocated, a sound currency. Watterson was Democratic representative in Congress for a short term (1876– ,7). In general he sought no office for himself. In Aug. 1918 he became "editor-emeritus." In April 1919 he resigned from the paper because of its support of the League of Nations. He died at Jacksonville (Fla.), Dec. 22, 1921. He wrote History of the Spanish American War (1898), The Compromises of Life and Other Lectures and Addresses (1903), and "Morse Henry"; an Autobiography (1919). Some of his Editorials were collected by Arthur Krock in 1923.
See "Henry Watterson and His " in 0. G. Villard's Some Newspapers and Newspaper-Men (1926).