The Press: Trouble for the Mercury

When William Bradford Huie took over the American Mercury two years ago, he promised to “recreate” the magazine in the great tradition of its first editor, Henry L. Mencken. But Bill Huie, who has been in hot water before with his books and articles (TIME, May 30, 1949 et seq.), found himself in trouble again. Almost at the start, he fell out with his backer, Manhattan Millionaire Clendenin Ryan. Five months ago the Mercury owed so much money that Huie was ready to close down. In time’s nick, Huie found an angel: J. (for John) Russell Maguire, of Greenwich, Conn., who was operating principally as a Wall Street broker until the SEC forced him out for “flagrant violations” of the law. Later he made millions in manufacturing (Thompson submachine guns, electrical equipment, etc.) and oil. Last week Maguire’s backing cost Huie the top section of his staff.

Mercury’s editors Martin Greenberg, 34, and Gunther Stuhlmann, 26, resigned. Said their joint statement: “It had been our understanding that the magazine would strive to represent dynamic and sophisticated conservatism—in Mencken’s words, ‘Tory, but civilized Tory’—and that was the direction in which we sought to guide it.” But in view of [Maguire’s] lack of sympathy [with these views], we feel it impossible to continue.”

Recently Maguire put up money to help distribute Iron Curtain over America, by Southern Methodist University Professor John Beaty, a book that the oldest Methodist Church periodical in the U.S., Zion’s Herald, calls the “most extensive piece of racist propaganda in the history of the anti-Semitic movement in America.” He has also been a supporter of such propagandists as Merwin K. Hart, and worked with Allen A. Zoll, whose American Patriots, Inc. was listed by the U.S. Attorney General as a “Fascist” organization. Zoll at first was an account executive handling the Mercury’s ads, later turned up soliciting subscriptions for the Mercury.

To Editor Huie, Maguire’s acquaintances came as no surprise. “I knew I was taking a calculated risk,” says he. “I knew about Maguire’s indiscretions and operations with the Christian Front crowd. But money to me is impersonal. If suddenly I heard Adolf Hitler was alive in South America and wanted to give a million dollars to the American Mercury, I would go down and get it—or Stalin.” No matter who the backer is, Huie maintains he can control the Mercury’s editorial policy, expects the magazine will ride out this storm, as it has so many others.