Joseph Judge

Joseph Judge (February 4, 1928 - April 20, 1996) was a writer and editor for National Geographic Magazine, retiring as Senior Associate Editor in 1990 after 25 years of service.

Judge was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were Joe Judge, the baseball player and Alma Gauvreau Judge. He attended Gonzaga College High School and then The Catholic University of America. He served in the United States Army and subsequently worked for Life Magazine in New York. He married Phyllis Mitchell of Scituate, Massachusetts in 1956.

Judge returned to Washington to work as a special assistant at the United States Department of Labor, working in the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations.

As a writer for the magazine, Judge wrote articles on Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home); Williamsburg; Washington, D.C.; Boston, Massachusetts; New Orleans, Louisiana; Florence, Italy; South Africa; Australia and many other places.

During his tenure as Senior Associate Editor (1985–1990), Judge was noted for taking on controversial topics, including disputes about the discovery of America and the discovery of the North Pole. Under his leadership, the magazine also made efforts to attract a younger and more urbanized audience. Judge was ousted from National Geographic in April 1990 (along with many other members of the editorial staff, including editor Wilbur E. Garrett) as Gilbert M. Grosvenor, grandson of one of the Society's founders, took personal charge of the magazine.

In November 1986, after five years of research, Judge wrote and published "Columbus's First Landfall in the New World," which advocated Samana Cay in the Bahamas as the true location of Guanahani, the first island seen by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to America. (This idea had first been proposed by Gustavus Fox in 1882). Prior to that time, official National Geographic maps had shown San Salvador Island as the first landfall. While Judge's theory attracted some support, and drew attention to the many shortcomings of San Salvador, the issue remains unsettled.

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