George Creel
| George Edward Creel | |
|---|---|
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| Born | December 1, 1876 |
| Died | October 2, 1953 (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Title | Head of the United States Committee on Public Information |
| Spouse(s) | Blanche Bates Alice May Rosseter |
George Edward Creel (December 1, 1876 – October 2, 1953) was an investigative journalist and writer, a politician and government official. He served as the head of the United States Committee on Public Information, a propaganda organization created by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I.
Creel was born on December 1, 1876 in Lafayette County, Missouri, to Henry Clay Creel and Virginia Fackler Creel, who had three sons, Wylie, George, and Richard Henry (Hal). His father came to Missouri from Parkersburg, Virginia and bought land in Osage County, Missouri; he was college educated, and served in Virginia legislature. A captain of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War, he did not succeed in Missourian post-war economy as a farmer and rancher. After he developed alcohol dependence, his wife did not abandon him until his death in 1906. She provided her family by keeping a boarding house in Kansas City, was sewing and kept a large garden in Odessa, Missouri. All her children became productive members of society, Wylie Creel — a businessman, George — a journalist and writer, and Richard — a doctor, who served as Assistant Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service.
His alcoholic father have not left as deep an impression on Creel as his mother, who inspired his passion for women's suffrage. The family moved frequently around west-central Missouri in Creel's early years, living for a time in Wheatland, Hickory County, Missouri then Kansas City before finally settling in Odessa, Missouri in 1888. He often said that, "I knew my mother had more character, brains, and competence than any man that ever lived." His mother also encouraged his love for literature. Although Creel did not receive much formal education as his mother pulled him out of school system, and was mainly home-schooled, he credited his mother for his fair knowledge of history and literature including classics, such as the Iliad. In 1891, the then fifteen-year-old Creel ran away from home for a year, supporting himself by working at a succession of county fairs across Missouri and odd jobs when available. Despite his resistance and rebellion, Creel did manage to receive some formal schooling, while attending Kansas City Central High School, Odessa High School, and Odessa College for one year in Odessa, Missouri. He said of himself that, "an open mind is not part of my inheritance. I took in prejudices with mother's milk and was weaned on partisanship."
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