Margaret Dixon
Encyclopedia
Margaret Richardson Dixon, usually known as Maggie Dixon (1908 - June 22, 1970), was perhaps the most influential woman journalist of 20th century Louisiana
. She was the managing editor
of her state's capital city newspaper, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, from 1949 until her death some two decades later. She was also an active Democrat
who championed prison reform
, assistance to the mentally ill, and organized labor. She once addressed a Louisiana AFL-CIO
convention at the invitation of president Victor V. Bussie
of Baton Rouge.
Dixon was born in New Orleans to Roger W. Richardson and the former Josephine Pettit. In 1928, she obtained her bachelor's degree
from Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge. That same year, she married J. Muncia Dixon.
She began her career in 1928 as a reporter for the defunct Baton Rouge State-Times, an afternoon daily. In 1931, she moved to the morning New Orleans Times-Picayune as women's editor and general assignment reporter, a position that she held until 1937. Thereafter she spent a year as the parttime public relations assistant for the Louisiana State Library and as the pivotal Baton Rouge correspondent for the former New Orleans Item and the wire service United Press International
.
In 1938, Dixon became city editor of the Morning Advocate, a position that she retained until 1942, when she became assistant managing editor for some seven years. In 1949, she was promoted to her final position of managing editor. In her last three years at the Advocate, Kenneth L. Dixon
(no relation) was the editor of the editorial page.
In 1955, Dixon headed the Louisiana-Mississippi
Associated Press
Association. She was close to Governor Earl Kemp Long
and often advised him on press and political strategy, according to Long's former lieutenant governor, William J. "Bill" Dodd. In 1956 and 1964, she was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. The former met in Chicago to renominate former Illinois
Governor Adlai Stevenson, as the presidential candidate, with U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver
of Tennessee
as his running-mate. In 1964, the convention met in Atlantic City, New Jersey
, to nominate U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson
and U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey
of Minnesota
for the presidency and vice presidency, respectively. Humphrey had Baton Rouge ties, having been a graduate student at Dixon's LSU. Dixon also served on the LSU Board of Supervisors from 1951-1960, on the initial appointment of Governor Long.
She was a former president of the Capitol Correspondents Association. In 1965, she was secretary to the Mississippi River
Parkway Commission. In 1966, she was elected to membership in the American Society of Newspaper Editors
. She won the "Headliner Award" from Theta Sigma Phi, the professional journalism society, and the "Women of Achievement Award" from the Federation of Press Women. Shortly before her death, she was initiated into the Southeastern Louisiana chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism fraternity. She also received the "First Lady of the Year Award" from Beta Sigma Phi
.
Dixon's papers from 1922-1969 are located at the LSU Archives. Dixon is commemorated by the Margaret Dixon Award given annually to a senior female student majoring in mass communication
at LSU.
Dixon is further remembered for her work in prison reform through the Margaret Dixon Correctional Institute, which opened on April 1, 1976, in Jackson
(East Feliciana Parish), halfway between Baton Rouge and the Mississippi state line. The prison grounds had once been part of the East Louisiana State (Mental) Hospital and were revamped to accommodate the new facility, a part of the state's attempt to decentralize inmates from the mammoth Louisiana State Penitentiary
in Angola (West Feliciana Parish).
In his memoirs entitled Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics, Bill Dodd described Dixon as "the only reporter I knew who had Earl's confidence and could influence him to embrace any kind of reform program. She was wholly responsible for Earl's changing our state prison system from abrutal and neglected stepchild to a fairly well-operated program. . . . "
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. She was the managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
of her state's capital city newspaper, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, from 1949 until her death some two decades later. She was also an active Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
who championed prison reform
Prison reform
Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, aiming at a more effective penal system.-History:Prisons have only been used as the primary punishment for criminal acts in the last couple of centuries...
, assistance to the mentally ill, and organized labor. She once addressed a Louisiana AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
convention at the invitation of president Victor V. Bussie
Victor Bussie
Victor V. Bussie was until his retirement in 1997 the 41-year unopposed president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO, having first assumed the mantle of union leadership in 1956. Journalists often described him as the most significant non-elected "official" in his state's politics...
of Baton Rouge.
Dixon was born in New Orleans to Roger W. Richardson and the former Josephine Pettit. In 1928, she obtained her bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge. That same year, she married J. Muncia Dixon.
She began her career in 1928 as a reporter for the defunct Baton Rouge State-Times, an afternoon daily. In 1931, she moved to the morning New Orleans Times-Picayune as women's editor and general assignment reporter, a position that she held until 1937. Thereafter she spent a year as the parttime public relations assistant for the Louisiana State Library and as the pivotal Baton Rouge correspondent for the former New Orleans Item and the wire service United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
.
In 1938, Dixon became city editor of the Morning Advocate, a position that she retained until 1942, when she became assistant managing editor for some seven years. In 1949, she was promoted to her final position of managing editor. In her last three years at the Advocate, Kenneth L. Dixon
Kenneth L. Dixon
Kenneth Lee "Ken" Dixon , was a prominent journalist who reported, edited, and penned columns for seven newspapers, including two in Louisiana -- Lake Charles and Baton Rouge. He was also a war correspondent during World War II....
(no relation) was the editor of the editorial page.
In 1955, Dixon headed the Louisiana-Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Association. She was close to Governor Earl Kemp Long
Earl Long
Earl Kemp Long was an American politician and the 45th Governor of Louisiana for three non-consecutive terms. Long termed himself the "last of the red hot poppas" of politics, referring to his stump-speaking skills...
and often advised him on press and political strategy, according to Long's former lieutenant governor, William J. "Bill" Dodd. In 1956 and 1964, she was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. The former met in Chicago to renominate former Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
Governor Adlai Stevenson, as the presidential candidate, with U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
as his running-mate. In 1964, the convention met in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, to nominate U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
for the presidency and vice presidency, respectively. Humphrey had Baton Rouge ties, having been a graduate student at Dixon's LSU. Dixon also served on the LSU Board of Supervisors from 1951-1960, on the initial appointment of Governor Long.
She was a former president of the Capitol Correspondents Association. In 1965, she was secretary to the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
Parkway Commission. In 1966, she was elected to membership in the American Society of Newspaper Editors
American Society of Newspaper Editors
The American Society of News Editors is a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of media-related foundations and training organizations...
. She won the "Headliner Award" from Theta Sigma Phi, the professional journalism society, and the "Women of Achievement Award" from the Federation of Press Women. Shortly before her death, she was initiated into the Southeastern Louisiana chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism fraternity. She also received the "First Lady of the Year Award" from Beta Sigma Phi
Beta Sigma Phi
is a non-academic sorority with 200,000 members in chapters around the world. Founded in Abilene, Kansas in 1931 by Walter W. Ross, the organization has spread to every state of the United States, to every Canadian province, and to 30 other countries. The sorority was founded for the social,...
.
Dixon's papers from 1922-1969 are located at the LSU Archives. Dixon is commemorated by the Margaret Dixon Award given annually to a senior female student majoring in mass communication
Mass communication
Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time...
at LSU.
Dixon is further remembered for her work in prison reform through the Margaret Dixon Correctional Institute, which opened on April 1, 1976, in Jackson
Jackson, Louisiana
Jackson is a town in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,130 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
(East Feliciana Parish), halfway between Baton Rouge and the Mississippi state line. The prison grounds had once been part of the East Louisiana State (Mental) Hospital and were revamped to accommodate the new facility, a part of the state's attempt to decentralize inmates from the mammoth Louisiana State Penitentiary
Louisiana State Penitentiary
The Louisiana State Penitentiary is a prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is the largest maximum security prison in the United States with 5,000 offenders and 1,800 staff...
in Angola (West Feliciana Parish).
In his memoirs entitled Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics, Bill Dodd described Dixon as "the only reporter I knew who had Earl's confidence and could influence him to embrace any kind of reform program. She was wholly responsible for Earl's changing our state prison system from abrutal and neglected stepchild to a fairly well-operated program. . . . "