Title Page & Abstract
An Interview with William ‘Bill’ Barnhart
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Illinois Statecraft – Journalists View Oral History project
Interview # ISJ-A-L-2012-028
William Lockhart, business journalist for the Chicago Tribune from 1979 to 2008, was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Illinois Statecraft – Journalist’s View Oral History project.
Interview dates & location:
Date: Jun 14, 2012 Location: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Date: June 15, 2012 Location: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Date: Jul 18, 2012 Location: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Date: Jul 18, 2012 Location: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Date: Sep 4, 2012 Location: Pritzker Military Library, Chicago, Illinois
Date: Sep 6, 2012 Location: Pritzker Military Library, Chicago, Illinois
Interview Format: Digital audio
Interviewer: Mark R. DePue, Director of Oral History, ALPL
Transcript being processed.
Transcription by: _________________________
Edited by: Jan Culp
Total Pages: ______ Total Time: 2:27 + 2:29 + 1:09 + 2:22 + 1:59 + 2:06 / 2.45 + 2.48 + 1.15 + 2.37 + 1.98 + 2.1 = 12.53 hrs.
Session 1: Early life through Barnhart’s work at the Suburban Trib and local beat
Session 2: Covering Walker administration from 1974-76 & early business reporting
Session 3: Barnhart’s early years as a business reporter for the Chicago Tribune
Session 4: Barnhart’s career as a business journalist with Chicago Tribune thru 2008
Session 5: Barnhart discusses his book on Governor Otto Kerner
Session 6: Otto Kerner’s trial and conviction, and Justice John Paul Stevens
Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on February 14, 2013.
The interviews are archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.
© 2012 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Abstract
William Barnhart, Illinois Statecraft, ISJ-A-L-2012-028
Biographical Information Overview of Interview: William ‘Bill’ Barnhart was born on August 26, 1946 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a various communities, as his father, a salesman, was frequently reassigned. He attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and in 1968, attended the University of Chicago, where he earned a teaching degree. He began teaching at Glenview, Illinois, but in 1970, moved to journalism, initially for the Chicago based City News Bureau. By 1972, he was working for the Suburban Tribune and covered the state capitol beat in Springfield for that paper from 1974 to 1976. He returned to Chicago in that year to write for the business section of the Chicago Daily News and ultimately ended up writing for the business section of the Chicago Tribune, from 1979 to 2008. For many of those years, he wrote a daily column for the Tribune’s business section, entitled “Market Report,” where he focused on stock, bond and market stories.
Much of the interview focuses on Barnhart’s reflections on the highlights of American business and economic news over the past thirty years. In the early 1990s, Barnhart also began authoring a book, with former state legislator Gene Schlickman, on Governor Otto Kerner, entitled, Kerner: The Conflict of Intangible Rights. The book is a thorough-going assessment of Kerner’s life and career, woven into a detailed historical tapestry that includes some of Illinois’s more interesting and important historical events. The two followed that book with a biography of Justice John Paul Stevens’ long judicial career.
Subject Headings/Key Words: Governor Otto Kerner; Governor Dan Walker; Chicago Tribune; Chicago Sun-Times; Suburban Tribune; Mike Royko; Kerner: The Conflict of Intangible Rights; John Paul Stevens: An Independent Life; Gene Schlickman; Anton Cermak; Helena Cermak; National Accelerator Lab (Fermilab); Richard J. Daley;
Note to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.
COPYRIGHT
The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955