Louis Isaac Jaffe
Encyclopedia
Louis Isaac Jaffe was editorial page editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot from 1919 to 1950. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
in 1929 for An Unspeakable Act of Savagery, which condemned lynching
.
Jaffe spent his early life in Durham NC where his parents, Lithuanian immigrants, were shopkeepers. He attended Durham High School and Trinity College, the forerunner of Duke University. After U.S. Army service in World War I he headed the Red Cross News Service, headquartered in Paris, and toured the Balkans reporting on postwar devastation.
He returned to the United States in 1920 to accept an offer to become editor of the Virginian-Pilot and held this post for thirty years until his death. He was a progressive force in state and local politics and won national recognition for his campaign against lynching.
A biography titled Editor for Justice: The Life of Louis I. Jaffe by Alexander S. Leidholdt, was published in 2002
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion in what the writer conceives to be the right direction...
in 1929 for An Unspeakable Act of Savagery, which condemned lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
.
Jaffe spent his early life in Durham NC where his parents, Lithuanian immigrants, were shopkeepers. He attended Durham High School and Trinity College, the forerunner of Duke University. After U.S. Army service in World War I he headed the Red Cross News Service, headquartered in Paris, and toured the Balkans reporting on postwar devastation.
He returned to the United States in 1920 to accept an offer to become editor of the Virginian-Pilot and held this post for thirty years until his death. He was a progressive force in state and local politics and won national recognition for his campaign against lynching.
A biography titled Editor for Justice: The Life of Louis I. Jaffe by Alexander S. Leidholdt, was published in 2002