Robert Rutherford McCormick (1880-1955)

He was a nephew of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical reaper, and a grandson of Joseph Medill, founder of the Chicago Tribune. He studied at Groton School and Yale University before graduating from Northwestern University Law School. He served with distinction in World War I, rising to the rank of colonel - a title he was proud to use for the rest of his life. He became the dominant force behind the Chicago Tribune, which he ran for decades, transforming it into one of the most widely read and influential newspapers in the United States. He used the paper as a platform for his staunchly isolationist, anti-communist, and anti-New Deal views, making him one of the most outspoken conservative voices in mid-20th century America. He was a fierce critic of Franklin D. Roosevelt and strongly opposed American involvement in World War II before Pearl Harbor. He also founded/acquired several other media outlets, notably the New York Daily News and WGN radio, and lived at Cantigny Park (see images) built by his maternal grandfather in Wheaton, Illinois. He and two of his cousins - Cissy Patterson of the Washington Times-Herald and her brother Joseph Medill Patterson of the New York Daily News - were collectively dubbed by their critics as the "Three Foes of Liberalism".