WSJ’s Royster wrote in a reasoned, respectful tone

John Drescher, the executive editor of The (Raleigh) News & Observer, writes about Vermont Royster, who was the editor of The Wall Street Journal from 1958 to 1971 and is the subject of a new biography, “Thinking Things Over: Vermont Royster’s Legacy at The Wall Street Journal.”

Drescher writes, “Royster’s editorial voice was more moderate than today’s Wall Street Journal, which is emphatically conservative. Royster supported the Brown school desegregation decision in 1954 and wrote a pivotal editorial in 1968 questioning U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

“‘I was really surprised at how in front of all of the other media he was on these issues,’ Roush told me this week. ‘People think of The Wall Street Journal as a very conservative editorial page and yet he was very progressive with his beliefs.’

“Royster’s writing was even-handed, perceptive and accessible. He won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1953. The committee praised Royster’s work for its ‘clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion.’ He won his second Pulitzer in 1984.

“Today’s style often is in-your-face. ‘At a time when American political and economic discussion seems as divided as it has ever been,’ Roush wrote, ‘Royster’s calm, reasoned way of arguing points is sorely missed.'”