Citizen Carl

Educator, lawyer, editor, inventor, entrepreneur, and civic booster, Carl Magee helped shape New Mexico and Oklahoma in the years after gaining statehood, garnering fame along the way. Jack McElroy's fascinating biography of Citizen Carl tells the story of a man whose exploits were as diverse and complex as the American Southwest he loved.

Magee purchased the Albuquerque Journal from the syndicate responsible for reelecting Senator Albert Bacon Fall, soon to become secretary of the Interior. Magee battled the Republican machine in New Mexico, a fight that sent Fall to prison in the Teapot Dome scandal and saw Magee repeatedly tried on charges of criminal libel, contempt of court, and even manslaughter. Forced to sell the Journal, he then started the newspaper that would become the Albuquerque Tribune.

Magee's fame prompted Scripps-Howard to buy the Tribune, retaining him as editor and adopting his motto: Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The company later transferred Magee to its struggling paper in Oklahoma City. There he solved the city's downtown parking problem by inventing the parking meter.

Now mostly forgotten, Magee's legacy lives on, and many of the issues he confronted--press freedom, gun violence, public corruption, and demagoguery--remain relevant today.