Pine Straw in an Evil Wind: A Study of James Boyd and the Pilot of Southern Pines, NC, 1941–1944

Abstract

This study of novelist James Boyd and the Pilot of Southern Pines, North Carolina, during the World War II years widens the notion of what a country weekly editor can be or can do. In the shadow of Pinehurst, the renowned and tradition-bound golf resort, Boyd rescued his failing hometown weekly newspaper, editorializing in favor of an early entry into the war, civil rights for blacks, and equal rights for women. He also called for adherence to free speech and the Bill of Rights amid a national climate increasingly intolerant of dissent. Contrary to previous scholarship on the southern country weekly, this article about the Pilot shows that not all were conservative and anti-New Deal. It also shows that noteworthy journalism and commentary were not the exclusive province of the nation's major metropolitan dailies. Boyd's newspaper work during the pivotal pre-Pearl Harbor period in 1941 through his death in 1944 at age 55 is illuminating, demonstrating how an editor might negotiate the proper role between journalism and the government and readers in wartime.