Editing George Dealey

{{short description|American journalist}}

{{More citations needed|date=April 2013}}
[[File:George Dealy statue.jpg|thumb|George Dealey at [[West End Historic District (Dallas, Texas)|West End Historic District]]]]
'''George Bannerman Dealey''' (September 18, 1859 &ndash; February 26, 1946) was a [[Dallas, Texas]], businessman. Dealey was the long-time [[publisher]] of ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'' and owner of the [[DallasNews Corporation|A. H. Belo Corporation]]. A [[Dealey Plaza|plaza in Dallas]] is named in his honor and became instantly world-famous when it was the site of the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] in 1963.
[[File:Texas Centennial 1936 press pass.jpg|thumb|George Dealey's press pass for the [[Texas Centennial Exposition]] in 1936]]

==Childhood==
Dealey was born on September 18, 1859, at the home of his parents, George Dealey (1829–1894) and Mary Ann Nellins (1829–1913), on Queen St., [[Rusholme]], [[Manchester]], [[England]].  He was the fifth of 10 children.

In the mid-1860s the family moved to [[Liverpool, England]], where he began his schooling and worked as a grocer's apprentice. In 1870 his family immigrated to [[Galveston, Texas]], where he continued in public school and worked at various odd jobs.

==Newspaper career==
On October 12, 1874, Dealey assumed an older brother's job as an office boy at ''[[The Galveston County Daily News|The Galveston News]]'' at $3.00 per week, for the owner, [[A. H. Belo|Alfred H. Belo]]. Dealey took evening classes at the Island City Business College and rose steadily at the News. As a traveling correspondent, he sent both news stories and newspaper-business reports back to Galveston.

In 1884, Dealey determined that Dallas would be the best market for a new Belo company newspaper. In 1885, ''The Dallas Morning News'' debuted.  He became the paper's manager in 1895, a board member in 1902, vice president and general manager of the corporation in 1906, and president in 1919.

Dealey refused advertising that he considered dishonest or immoral, including ads for hard liquor. He refused ads for oilfield ventures since he could not determine which were sound businesses. The News also opposed the [[Ku Klux Klan]]'s influence in the 1920s.

Dealey also owned the ''G. B. Dealey Land Co.'' and the ''West Commerce Realty Co.'' He founded an early newspaper-owned radio station, [[WFAA]], in 1922.

In 1926, Dealey bought ''The Dallas Morning News'', the ''Journal'' (an evening edition), the ''Semi-Weekly Farm News'', and the ''[[Texas Almanac]]'' from the heirs of A. H. Belo, along with a majority of the company stock.

==Civic activities==
Under Dealey, the News was enlisted in the cause of civic planning. A campaign of 1899 led to the foundation of the ''Cleaner Dallas League'', which became the ''Dallas Civic Improvement League'' in 1902. He was instrumental in the adoption of the 1910 [[Kessler Plan]] to improve Dallas and provide for its growth.

Dealey helped establish [[Southern Methodist University]] and was instrumental in bringing a [[Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas|Federal Reserve]] branch to Dallas.

Dealey served on the board of governors of the [[American Institute of Planners|American City Planning Institute]] (1920–21), as vice president of the [[National Civic League|National Municipal League]] (1923–24), on the advisory council of the American Planning and Civic Association, and on the national committee of the [[Commission on Interracial Cooperation]]. He was a director of the Children's Hospital of Texas and was president of the Family Bureau, a Dallas social agency, from its inception in 1908. He was also president of the ''Philosophical Society of Texas'', a member of the ''Texas Press Association'', an honorary life member of the [[Texas State Historical Association]], founder (1922) and lifetime president (from 1933) of the [[Dallas Historical Society]], and second vice president of the [[Associated Press]] (1923–24).

Dealey had honorary roles with [[Sigma Delta Chi]] (1940–41) and [[Phi Beta Kappa]] (1943). He received honorary doctoral degrees from Southern Methodist University (1921), Austin College (1924), and the University of Missouri (1925), the last of which invited him to accept a gift to its school of journalism from the British Empire Press Union.<ref name=MiamiNewsMissouriGift>{{cite news|last=Associated Press|title=Missouri State School Obtains Historic Stone: British Journalists Present Gift as Salutation of International Friendship|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t1EtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=d9cFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4959%2C2294138|accessdate=15 April 2014|newspaper=The Miami News|date=18 November 1925|page=N-19|quote=The St. Paul's stone was accepted for the university by George Dealey of Dallas, president of the Dallas News, and former vice president of the Associated Press}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[Dealey Plaza]] in Downtown Dallas was named for him upon commencement of its construction in 1934 (for the 1936 [[Texas Centennial Exposition|Texas Centennial]]). He initially thought to decline the honor, but was persuaded to accept it by his son. A {{vanchor|statue}} of G.B. Dealey was made and erected in Dealey Plaza in 1949.

==Personal life==
Dealey married Olivia Allen at her home in [[Lexington, Missouri]], on April 9, 1884.  She was born in Lexington on November 14, 1863, and died at her home in Dallas on January 28, 1960.  Allen had succeeded her husband as chairman of the board of [[Belo Corporation|A. H. Belo Corporation]] and was serving in that capacity when she died.

The Dealeys had three daughters and two sons. The sons were Walter Allen Dealey and [[Edward Musgrove (Ted) Dealey]]. Ted Dealey succeeded his father as publisher of the ''Morning News'' and became known for his strident conservatism and anti-communism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Edward H. |title=Nut Country: Right-Wing Dallas and the Birth of the Southern Strategy |date=22 September 2015 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-20538-0 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5ApCwAAQBAJ&q=%22ted+dealey%22 |access-date=26 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref> A younger brother, James Q. Dealey (1861–1937), was a professor of political science at [[Brown University]] and later editor of the ''Morning News''.  A nephew, [[Samuel David Dealey]] (1906–1944), was a [[World War II]] naval submarine officer who received the [[Medal of Honor]]<ref name=MilTimesSamDealeyMOH>{{cite web|title=Samuel David Dealey|url=https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/2848|work=Military Times Hall of Valor|publisher=Gannett Company|access-date=15 April 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105195809/http://projects.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=2848|archive-date=5 November 2014}}</ref> and for whom the [[USS Dealey (DE-1006)]] was named.<ref name=DANFS>{{cite web|title=Dealey|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d2/dealey.htm|work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|publisher=U.S. Navy|accessdate=15 April 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222064753/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d2/dealey.htm|archivedate=22 February 2014}}</ref> Another grandson, Dr. Walter Allen (Al) Dealey Jr. became a Christian minister and studied under [[Norman Vincent Peale]].

[[Robert Decherd]], CEO of A. H. Belo Corporation from 1987 to 2013, and James M. Moroney III, Belo CEO from 2013 to 2018, are each Dealey's great-grandson.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jim Moroney {{!}} Moody College of Communication |url=https://moody.utexas.edu/alumni/advisory-council/jim-moroney |website=moody.utexas.edu |access-date=26 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Robinson-Jacobs |first1=Karen |title=Grant Moise to become eighth publisher of The Dallas Morning News |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/business/local-companies/2018/03/01/grant-moise-to-become-eighth-publisher-of-the-dallas-morning-news/ |accessdate=12 March 2020 |work=The Dallas Morning News |publisher=A. H. Belo Corporation |date=1 March 2018 |ref=eighthpublisher}}</ref> 

Dealey was a thirty-third-degree Scottish Rite Mason, Knight Templar, Shriner, and member of the Red Cross of Constantine.{{fact|date=December 2024}} He was a Presbyterian and Democrat.{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for each element in preceding two sentences|date=March 2020}} ''[[The New York Times]]'' called him the "dean of American newspaper publishers" for his 71 consecutive years of service to a single newspaper.<ref>{{cite news |title=G.B. DEALEY, 86, DIES; DEAN OF PUBLISHERS; Served Dallas Morning News Organization for 71 Years-- Honored by Those in Field CHAMPION OF CLEAN NEWS Refused Oil Stock Advertising During Boom--Fought Rise of Ku Klux Klan in Texas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/02/27/archives/gb-dealey-86-dies-dean-of-publishers-served-dallas-morning-news.html |accessdate=12 March 2020 |publisher=Arthur Hays Sulzberger |date=27 February 1946 |ref=timesobit}}</ref>

Dealey was still working as a publisher when he died of a massive [[coronary occlusion]] at his Dallas home, February 26, 1946,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rosser|first1=John E.|title=G. B. Dealey of The "News"|journal=Southwest Review|date=1946|volume=31|issue=4|pages=327–332|jstor=43463145}}</ref> at the age of 86.  He was buried in Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas.

==Legacy==
* The [[Dallas Independent School District]] (DISD) operates [[List of schools of the Dallas Independent School District|George Bannerman Dealey Montessori School]], an elementary school named for him in the Preston Royal area of [[North Dallas]].<ref>{{cite web |title=George Bannerman Dealey Montessori Academy / George Bannerman Dealey Montessori Academy |url=https://tx01001475.schoolwires.net/dealey |website=Dallas Independent School District |access-date=26 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
* In 2021, the Belo Center for New Media on the UT Austin campus was renamed the G. B. Dealey Center for New Media to honor his legacy as "a legend in journalism and media."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Breed |first=Eleanor |date=2021-06-10 |title=UT's Belo Center for New Media Renamed the G. B. Dealey Center for New Media |url=https://news.utexas.edu/2021/06/10/uts-belo-center-for-new-media-renamed-the-g-b-dealey-center-for-new-media/ |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=UT News |language=en-US}}</ref>
* A statue of Dealey was erected in Dealey Plaza in 1949, three years after his death.<ref>{{cite web |title=George Bannerman Dealey Memorial in Dallas, TX |url=https://publicartarchive.org/art/George-Bannerman-Dealey-Memorial/a9b92d9d |website=Public Art Archive |access-date=26 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Acheson, Sam.  ''35,000 Days in Texas: A History of the Dallas News and Its Forbears''.  New York: MacMillan, 1938.
* Cox, Patrick.  ''The First Texas News Barons''.  Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005.  {{ISBN|0-292-70977-3}}.
* Dealey, Jerry T.  ''D in the Heart of Texas''.  Dallas: JEDI Management Group, 2002.  {{ISBN|0-9723913-0-4}}.
* Funeral Rites Set for Mrs. Dealey.  ''Dallas Morning News'', Jan. 30, 1960, sec. 1, p.&nbsp;4.
* G. B. Dealey, 86, Publisher of The News, Dies.  ''Dallas Morning News'', Feb. 27, 1946, sec. 1, p.&nbsp;1.
* Sharpe, Ernest.  ''G. B. Dealey of The Dallas News''.  Henry Holt, 1955.
* Sam Hanna Acheson, "George Bannerman Dealey," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 50 (January 1947). Texas Almanac, 1947–48. * Who's Who in America, 1946–47. 
* Handbook of Texas Online, "DEALEY, GEORGE BANNERMAN," (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde21), accessed June 19, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography|Journalism}}
* [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde21 George Bannerman Dealey] in ''[[Handbook of Texas]]'' Online
* [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde20 E. M. (Ted) Dealey] in ''[[Handbook of Texas]]'' Online
* [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fdeht Joseph MacDonald Dealey] in ''[[Handbook of Texas]]'' Online
* [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde22 James Q. Dealey] in ''[[Handbook of Texas]]'' Online
* [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde76 Samuel David Dealey] in ''[[Handbook of Texas]]'' Online
* [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eed12 ''Dallas Morning News''] in ''[[Handbook of Texas]]'' Online
* {{Find a Grave|18856|name=George Bannerman Dealey}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dealey, George}}
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:American newspaper publishers (people)]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Dallas]]
[[Category:People from Rusholme]]
[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:The Dallas Morning News people]]
[[Category:Journalists from Texas]]