Marquis Childs
Marquis William Childs (March 17, 1903 – June 30, 1990) was a 20th-century American journalist, syndicated columnist, and author. Early life and education Childs was born on March 17, 1903, in Clinton, Iowa. He graduated from Lyons High School in Clinton in 1918, and received a B.A. in 1923 and Litt.D. in 1966 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After working for United Press in several Midwestern cities (including Chicago) since 1923, he attended the University of Iowa and completed his M.A. in 1925. In 1969, he obtained a second Litt.D. from the University of Iowa. Following his college graduation, Childs worked briefly for United Press. He then returned to the University of Iowa to teach English composition before rejoining United Press, this time in New York. "My father," wrote Childs, "was a lawyer and his father was a farmer, as his forebears apparently had been since the time of Adam. Why I wanted, from the age of thirteen or fourteen, to be a newspaperman I've never quite understood." Career Newspaperman In 1925, Childs rejoined United Press and then in 1926 joined the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where he would remain off and on until 1944, mostly serving as a feature writer