Biography Wiggins – James Russell Wiggins (1903-2000) Father: James D. Wiggins (1868-1949) Mother: Edith Mae Binford (1879-1950) Birth Date: December 4, 1903 Born at: On a farm near Luverne Rock, Minnesota Significant Education: 1922: Luverne High School - edited the school paper, "The Echo." Spouse Name: Mabel E. Preston (1904-1990) Spouse Parents: William Elward Preston (1875-1952) and Frances E. Preston (1877-) Wedding Date: February 8, 1923 Wedding Place: Luverne Rock, Minnesota Occupation: Journalist Childhood Home: 317 Mckenzie Spring Street Home: Brooklin, Maine Death Date: November 19, 2000 Death Place: Brooklin, Maine Cemetery: Sedgwick Rural Cemetery, Sedgwick, Maine Vessels: Amity – Friendship Sloop-Maine Sloop Boat In 1925, James purchased the "Rock County Star" and became editor and publisher and in 1946 he became assistant to Arthur Hayes Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times. In 1947, Wiggins joined The Washington Post as managing editor, beginning an association with the paper that lasted two decades. In 1953, he was named executive editor and vice president, responsible for all news gathering and editorial operations. Two years later, he became editor. Wiggins had planned to leave the Post on his 65th birthday Dec. 4, 1968, but resigned earlier that year to accept an appointment by President Johnson as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations where he served until 1969. After his tenure as ambassador, Wiggins moved to Brooklin, Maine where he became editor and publisher of the "The Ellsworth American" of Ellsworth, Maine. He purchased the paper in 1966. A staunch defender of the public’s right to know what its government is doing, Wiggins was the author of “Freedom or Secrecy,” published by Oxford University Press in 1956, of which a second edition was printed in 1964. It dealt with secrecy in federal, state and local governments, and had wide use in journalism schools. Wiggins was for several years head of the Freedom of Information Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and worked to secure passage of the first Freedom of Information Act. He testified before congressional committees on subsequent amendments of the law. The Raymond H. Fogler Library at the University of Maine houses volumes of Wiggins’ correspondence with authors, politicians and the public, with all of whom he was engaged in an inexhaustible array of topics. The papers, which fill more than 70 boxes, contain information on all the major figures from the ’50s and ’60s. The bulk of them are from 1947 to 1968 when Wiggins was associated with the Post. – The last three paragraphs above are from - “James Russsell Wiggins Remembered,” The Ellsworth American web site, Accessed online 05/07/12; http://ellsworthamerican.com/jrw/ - where a complete dissertation on Wiggins’ life and career can be found. .