Wikipedia

Gardner Cowles Jr.

Gardner "Mike" Cowles Jr. (1903–1985) was an American newspaper and magazine publisher. He was co-owner of the Cowles Media Company, whose assets included the Minneapolis Star, the Minneapolis Tribune, the Des Moines Register, Look magazine, and a half-interest in Harper's Magazine.[3]

Gardner "Mike" Cowles Jr.
Mike Cowles, photographed some time between 1940 and 1946
Born(1903-01-31)January 31, 1903[1]
Algona, Iowa, U.S.
DiedJuly 8, 1985(1985-07-08) (aged 82)
Southampton, New York, U.S.
Alma materHarvard University
OccupationPublisher
Known forCowles Media Company
Political party
Republican
Spouse(s)
Lois Thornburg
​
​
(m. 1933; div. 1946)​
[2]
​
​
(m. 1946; div. 1955)​

Jan Hochstraser (also known as Jan Streate Cox)
​
​
(m. 1956)​
[2]
ChildrenLois Cowles Harrison, Kate Nichols, Gardner ("Pat") Cowles III, Jane, Virginia Kurtis, stepson Charles[2]
Parent(s)Gardner Cowles Sr. and Florence Call

Biography

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Cowles was a descendant of Hannah Bushoup (c. 1613–1683) of Hartford, Connecticut, and John Cowles (1598–1675) of Gloucestershire, England. His father Gardner Cowles Sr. was a banker, publisher, and politician who purchased The Des Moines Register and the Des Moines Tribune.

Cowles Jr. was born in Algona, Iowa.[4] He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University.[4]

He became co-owner with his brother John of the Cowles Media Company (established in 1935), and in 1937 became co-founder, co-publisher, and editor of Look magazine. He also served as executive editor of The Des Moines Register and The Des Moines Tribune.

In 1939, Mike and John, along with entrepreneur Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, became owners of the newly formed Comic Magazines, Inc., the corporate entity that would publish the Quality Comics comic book line. (Quality was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books).

In the 1940 Republican Party presidential primaries, Cowles and his brother supported Wendell Willkie in their newspapers and magazines. Cowles later accompanied Willkie on a world tour, and helped him write the bestseller One World.[1]

In 1942 Cowles had been appointed to wartime duty as assistant director of the Office of War Information.[5] His responsibilities in the OWI were to direct a domestic news bureau, coordinating information from non-military government agencies. Cowles served in the OWI under the leadership of Elmer Davis for about a year and then returned to Des Moines.[2]

Molotov, Barnes, Stalin, Willkie and Cowles on the right

In the fall of 1942 Cowles and Barnes accompanied Willkie, who was serving as special representative of President Roosevelt, in his international tour (North Africa - Beirut - Jerusalem - Soviet Union - Siberia - China). They visited Stalin in Moscow on September 23, 1942[6] Returned to USA Cowles had 2-hours press conference in November 1942 and told how Stalin allegedly expressed anti-British sentiment.[7] Stalin denied the accusation.[8]

In his 1985 memoir Mike Looks Back Cowles claimed Willkie had asked him to cover for him during an assignation with Madame Chiang. The two had absented themselves from a banquet, Cowles said, leaving him to confront an angry generalissimo and three of his gun-wielding bodyguards—later inflated to 'sixty' in Washington gossip circles—who searched the guesthouse and found nothing.[9]

In the 1950s, Cowles was involved with the propaganda campaign Crusade for Freedom.[10] He was a delegate to the 1954 Bilderberg Conference, the first meeting of the conference.

In 1959 during state visit by Nikita Khrushchev to the United States Cowles asked Khrushchev about freedom of information and the jamming of radio broadcasts in the USSR.[11][12]

In April 1962 Cowles had an exclusive, three-hour interview with Khrushchev in Moscow.[13][14][15]

For a time, Cowles owned the infamous "petrified man" the Cardiff Giant, which he bought to adorn his basement rumpus room as a coffee table and conversation piece.[16] During 1947, he sold it to the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where it is still displayed.[17]

Cowles was a donor to the Gardner Cowles Foundation,[18][19] an executive of the Farfield Foundation (supposedly a CIA front),[20] and sponsor of the journal History.

Personal life and death

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Cowles was married to writer, editor, and artist Fleur Cowles from 1946 to 1955, ending in divorce.[4] His daughter Lois Cowles Harrison (1934–2013) was a civic leader, women's rights activist, and philanthropist. He was married to Jan Hochstraser (also known as Jan Streate Cox) from May 1956 until his death and had a daughter Virginia and stepson Charles, an art dealer.[21]

Cowles Jr. died at age 82 on July 8, 1985, from cardiac arrest in Southampton, New York.[4]

His memoirs were published in 1985.[22]

References

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  1. 1 2 Associated Press. "Look Magazine Founder Gardner Cowles," Los Angeles Times (July 9, 1985).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Strentz, Herb."Gardner Cowles Jr. (Mike)", Cowles Family Publishing Legacy, Drake University, Cowles Library. Accessed January 15, 2018.
  3. ↑ Domhoff, G. William. (1967). Who Rules America?. Prentice Hall, Inc. (Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 67-25926). pp. 67, 82.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Gardner Cowles Jr. Is Dead at 82; Helped Build Publishing Empire", The New York Times (July 9, 1985).
  5. ↑ "Victory: Official Weekly Bulletin of the Office of War Information". 1942.
  6. ↑ United States Department of State / Foreign relations of the United States diplomatic papers, 1942. Europe, pp.640-641
  7. ↑ RGASPI. F.558. Op.11. D.385. L.120
  8. ↑ RGASPI. F.558. Op.11. D.385. L.122
  9. ↑ Samuel Zipp, The Idealist: Wendell Willkie’s Wartime Quest to Build One World, Harvard University Press, 2020, page 197.
  10. ↑ Saunders, Frances Stonor (1999). The Cultural Cold War: the CIA and the World of Arts and Letters. New York: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-596-X, p. 137.
  11. ↑ Schwartz, Harry (September 20, 1959). "KHRUSHCHEV SHOWS HE HAS SENSITIVE SIDE; Answers to Two Questions Make It Clear What Angers Him". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Historical Documents - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  13. ↑ "KHRUSHCHEV DROPS SUMMIT PRESSURE; Premier, in Talk With U.S. Publisher, Says Careful Preparation Is Vital KHRUSHCHEV DROPS SUMMIT PRESSURE Talk Confirms U.S. View". The New York Times. April 25, 1962. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  14. ↑ The text of Gardner Cowlesʼ interview with Khrushchev on April 20 is printed in Pravda, April 27, 1962.
  15. ↑ "Memorandum for record: DCI Lunch with Mr. Gardner Cowles, Editor of Look Magazine" (PDF). CIA. May 16, 1962. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  16. ↑ Letter to Paul M. Paine, dated August 28, 1939. OCLC 910726243.
  17. ↑ "The Cardiff Giant". Farmer's Museum. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  18. ↑ "CHARITY FUND SET UP BY GARDNER COWLES; Des Moines Publisher Gives $500,000 for Benevolent Institutions". The New York Times. May 20, 1934. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  19. ↑ "History + Mission". The Cowles Charitable Trust. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  20. ↑ Menand, Louis (October 17, 2005). "Unpopular Front: American art and the Cold War". The New Yorker.
  21. ↑ Cowles Family Publishing Legacy, Drake University, Cowles Library. Accessed Jan. 15, 2018
  22. ↑ Cowles, Gardner. Mike Looks Back: The Memoirs of Gardner Cowles, Founder of Look Magazine. New York: 1985. ISBN 0961399708
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