Bill Baggs

William Calhoun "Bill" Baggs (b. 1922-1969) was an American journalist and editor of The Miami News (1957 to 1969). He was one of a small group of Southern newspaper editors who campaigned for civil rights for African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Baggs became an early opponent of the Vietnam War.

William Calhoun Baggs, called "Bill", was born and grew up in Miami, Florida. He went to local schools, which were still racially segregated at the time. He got interested in journalism and newspapers in high school.

Baggs started work in journalism as a reporter. Although it was unknown at the time, Baggs was one of the journalists involved in the CIA's Operation Mockingbird, an effort to influence American media, which was organized by Cord Meyer. Together with previous attacks on the State Department and other government agencies, in the late 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy began to target the CIA, which he claimed harbored more than 100 closeted Communists. Baggs joined philosophically with both Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner of the CIA at Operation Mockingbird in supporting and defending Cord Meyer, who had organized much of the programs. American mainstream journalists attacked McCarthy.

Selected as editor of The Miami News in 1957, Baggs held that position until his death at age 48 in 1969. He became involved in some of the biggest social issues of the era.

As African Americans increased their activism in the civil rights movement, Baggs was among a small group of white Southern editors who supported them and covered events in the South. Others in this group included Ralph McGill at The Atlanta Constitution, Hodding Carter at the Greenville Delta Democrat-Times, and Harry Ashmore at the Arkansas Gazette.

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