Charles K. McClatchy and the Golden Era of American Journalism

Charles Kenny (C. K.) McClatchy had a vision for a dynamic and growing California that would lead to an economic empire. He did not live to see the state gain the economic and political prominence it holds today, but during his life as editor and publisher of the Sacramento Bee from 1883 until his death in 1966, he helped advance the development of the Central Valley. During his years, McClatchy expanded his daily paper into a media empire whose newspapers dominated their region. He framed issues in a way that heavily influenced the course of events as a crusading daily that railed against urban corruption, concentrations of power such as the Southern Pacific Railroad, and advocacy of isolationist policy in foreign affairs. He helped advance the development of the Central Valley, battling the environmentally destructive practice of hydraulic mining and promoting sound scientific agriculture.

Steven M. Avella has been an American History professor at Marquette University since 1991, where he teaches courses specializing in the American West and Roman Catholicism. A Sacramento native, he is the author of several works on the city, includingThe Good Life: Sacramento’s Consumer Culture and Sacramento and the Catholic Church: Shaping a Capital City.