Royce Howes
Royce Bucknam Howes (January 3, 1901 – March 18, 1973) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author who also published a biography of Edgar Guest and a number of crime novels. He worked for the "Detroit Free Press" from 1927–1966 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1955 for an editorial on the cause of an unauthorized strike by an autoworkers local that idled 45,000 Chrysler workers. Newspaper career. Writer and editorial director. Born in 1901 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Royce Howes moved to Detroit and began a long career with the "Detroit Free Press" in 1927. He remained with  the "Free Press" for 39 years until his retirement in 1966. Howes eventually served as the editorial director of the paper. In 1955, Howes wrote an editorial that was covered in other papers about the role of the newspaper in American society. He began with a dissection of the tangible things in a newspaper—paper and ink. But he concluded that news "is all things to all men. What it is depends on who is defining it. And it is YOUR definition, not the editor's, which matters." Howes's colleague at the "Free Press", columnist Malcolm Bingay, said of  Howes: "My friend and colleague, Col. Royce Howes, knows a great deal about a surprising number of things that ordinary mortals never think about. That is why he is such a successful novelist and short story writer." Pulitzer Prize. Howes received the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for an editorial published July 16, 1954, titled "". He also won the National Headliner Award for editorial writing. Howes's award-winning editorial concerned an unauthorized July 1954 strike by a local of the United Automobile Workers' union. The strike shut down production at Chrysler Corporation and put 45,000 Chrysler workers out  of work. In awarding the prize to Howes, the Pulitzer organization noted that Howes's editorial impartially and clearly assessed the shared responsibility of both labor and management. The Pulitzer Prize organization found that the editorial made a notable contribution to public understanding of the whole program of the respective responsibilities and relationships of labor and management in this field. Military service. Howes also served in the U.S. Army during World War II, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and receiving the Bronze Star. He was an editor for the Army newspaper "Stars and Stripes." Author. Biographer of Edgar Guest . Howes was a close friend for many years of the prolific American poet, Edgar A. Guest. Guest published his poetry in the Detroit Free Press, and Howes served as Guest's long-time editor and eventually as his biographer. The "Los Angeles Times" said of Howes's biography of Guest: "His editor and longtime friend Royce Howes has written the biography Guest deserves ... Royce Howes has done a biography of a likeable and human man in not too adulatory a fashion; and it is readable." The Yuma Daily Sun noted: "Hearty friendship and mutuality of association combined with author competence  have produced a book which, in the most vital sense, will be of interest to all Americans." Crime novelist. In the 1930s and 1940s, Howes also wrote and published numerous crime novels, many for the "Crime Club". The "Crime Club" novels were popular in the 1930s and were described as "a mark which always signifies, if not a masterpiece of detective fiction, at least an entertaining one." His crime novels include: Mr. Howes rings the bell with a vengeance in this his fourth murder thriller. It is five-star in every respect: the plot is grimly exciting ...; the characters are  rounded and full-bodied men and women ...; and there are sparkles of humor, just a dash of spice, and the whole thing is excellently written. Indeed, "Death Dupes a Lady" is the murder thriller pick of those that have come this way this season. You can't beat these murder-thrillers about Capt. Ben Lucias for good solid workmanlike killing, catching and confessing. ... (Howes) misses no opportunities, produces clues effectively, and runs them to earth with equal satisfaction for all concerned but the murderer—he, she or they strike three times here. Death. Howes died on March 18, 1973, at  William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. He is buried at Detroit's Elmwood Cemetery.