- Otis, Harrison Gray
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born Oct. 8, 1765, Boston, Mass.died Oct. 28, 1848, Boston, Mass., U.S.U.S. politician.A nephew of James Otis, he practiced law and served in the Massachusetts legislature (1796–97, 1802–05), the U.S. House of Representatives (1797–1801), the state senate (1805–13, 1814–17), and the U.S. Senate (1817–22). He was later mayor of Boston (1829–32). A Federalist, he opposed the War of 1812 and was a leader of the Hartford Convention.
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▪ American journalistborn February 10, 1837, near Marietta, Ohio, U.S.died July 30, 1917, Los Angeles, CaliforniaAmerican newspaper publisher who directed the Los Angeles Times from 1886 until after World War I.Otis was a descendant of the colonial political activist James Otis (Otis, James). He received little formal education but worked as a printer's apprentice in his teens and studied briefly at a commercial college in Columbus, Ohio. After moving to Kentucky he became a member of the new Republican Party, and in 1860 he served as a delegate to its national convention, which nominated Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War he served in the eastern theatre, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.He held a variety of jobs in Ohio and Washington, D.C., before migrating in l876 to Santa Barbara, California, where he edited the Santa Barbara Press for several years. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he acquired part interest (1882) and then full control (1886) of the Los Angeles Times, which he edited with an iron hand for the next three decades, becoming one of the most powerful figures in southern California. He made his newspaper a voice of Republican interests, and he opposed labour unions. On October 1, 1910, the offices of his paper were bombed, killing 21 employees. Three union radicals, including two brothers, James B. and John L. McNamara, eventually confessed to the crime. Otis headlined the case. He also championed the declaration of war on Spain in 1898 (as did newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst (Hearst, William Randolph)) and served briefly in the Spanish-American War as a major general.In 1914 Otis transferred his controlling interest in the newspaper to his daughter and son-in-law, Marian and Harry Chandler, but he continued in practice to direct the day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles Times until his death. His descendants continued to control the newspaper and the Times Mirror Company until June 2000, when the company was acquired by the Tribune Company.▪ American politicianborn Oct. 8, 1765, Boston, Mass. [U.S.]died Oct. 28, 1848, BostonFederalist political leader who championed the Hartford Convention in its opposition to mercantilist policies and the War of 1812.He was a nephew of James Otis and the son of Samuel Allyne Otis (1740–1814), who was a member of the Confederation Congress in 1787–88 and secretary of the U.S. Senate from its first session in 1789 until his death. Young Otis graduated from Harvard College in 1783, was admitted to the bar in 1786, and soon became prominent as a Federalist in politics. An outstanding example of Boston's mercantile aristocracy, he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1796–97 and 1802–05, in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1797–1801, as a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1805–13 and 1814–17, as a member of the U.S. Senate in 1817–1822, and as mayor of Boston in 1829–32. Otis was strongly opposed to the War of 1812 and was a leader in the states' rights Hartford Convention, which he defended in a series of open letters published in 1824 and in his inaugural address as mayor of Boston.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
