Professor H L Mencken

Writings in the Baltimore Evening Sun, April-June 1910 Professor H L Mencken

In the spring of 1910, H. L. Mencken helped to found the Baltimore Evening Sun, since he believed that the evening newspaper-which could report on events that had occurred earlier that day, and could be read by people coming home from work-was the wave of the future. In the first several months of the paper's publication, he devoted an enormous amount of effort in establishing the general thrust of the paper, writing many articles and columns on a variety of subjects. These included discussions of writers such as Joseph Conrad, William Shakepeare, and contemporary dramatists; articles on politics, law, and society, including a provocative discussion of the possibility of setting up a "Negro state"; and whimsies such as a short play, The Vestry Room, arguing against marriage. Mencken also wrote an immense article on the character and political career of Theodore Roosevelt. As the author of numerous unsigned editorials that articulated the paper's policy, Mencken wrote on such subjects as the presidency of William Howard Taft, the peccadilloes of local politicians, and the new industry of aviation. In all, Mencken reveals his customary wit, perspicacity, and outspokenness in this diverse array of journalism.