H.+L.+Mencken

=H. L. Mencken = lllllllllll H. L. Mencken was born 1880 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was August Mencken who owned a tobacco company in which H. L. Mencken was expected to follow into his father’s footsteps. At 8 years he discovered Mark Twain who had a big influence on his life. His father bought him a printing press that helped form an interest in printing and newspapers. He graduated the highest ranked in his class of 1896. After graduation he wanted to be a reporter. But his dad gave him two choices go to collage or work in the cigar factory, so he chose the factory. Two years later Mencken’s father died of a stroke and Mencken went to the Baltimore Morning Herald city room every day until the editor gave him a job

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lllllllllll Mencken became the paper’s drama critic less than two years later. Another three years he was the city editor. Next year he became its managing editor. Mencken went to work for the Baltimore Sunpapers when the Herald closed down. He was writing a regular column called The Free Lance in 1910. When the U.S. entered WWI Mencken left the Sunpapers and did not return until 1920. George Jean Nathan and Mencken in 1924 founded and edited The America Mercury. The newspaper was banned in 1926 in Boston. Mencken got himself deliberately arrested for selling the Mercury in Boston. In 1930 he got married to Sara Haardt. Many people were surprised that he got married since Mencken had called marriage the end of hope and because he was marring an Alabama Native even though having written mocking stories about the south. Many people asked him why and he said “The Holy Spirit informed and inspired me, like all other infidels, I am superstitious and always follow hunches: this one seemed to be a superb one." In 1948 He suffered a stroke that left him unable to read or write. Mencken Died 1956.

lllllllllll “I know of no other man who believes in liberty more than I do.” Mencken demonstrated this quote in many ways. It was as early as 1917 that he was addressing concerns for African-Americans. In the 1930s his anti-lynching articles caused boycotting of the Baltimore goods and threats against his life. When Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis were shut out of the U.S. Mencken was one of the first journalists to criticize that action.Rush Limbaugh is a lot like H. L. Mencken. They both were political critics and both were a major influence during a time period.

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