St. Clair McKelway

St. Clair McKelway (February 13, 1905 - January 10, 1980) was a writer and editor for The New Yorker magazine beginning in 1933.

McKelway was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Alexander McKelway, a Presbyterian minister, journalist, and child labor reformer, and Lavinia Rutherford Smith. In 1909 the senior McKelway took a job with the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) and moved the family to Washington D.C. McKelway grew up in the Georgetown neighborhood and attended Western High School (now Duke Ellington School of the Arts).

He began his journalistic career at the Washington Herald before moving to New York City. He worked at the New York World and the New York Herald Tribune. While working at the New York Herald Tribune, he was described by Stanley Walker as, "One of the twelve best reporters in New York."

McKelway came to The New Yorker at the behest of Harold Ross who "was looking to infuse the magazine with a jolt of gritty reportage." He served as a managing editor for journalistic contributions at The New Yorker from 1936 to 1939. While editor he hired E.J. Kahn, Jr., Joseph Mitchell, Brendan Gill, Philip Hamburger and Margaret Case Harriman. During World War II, he held public relations posts for the Army Air Force, leaving the service with the rank of Lt. Colonel. After the war McKelway returned to The New Yorker and remained at the magazine for 47 years. According to William Shawn, McKelway "was one of the handful of people who, together with Harold Ross, The New Yorker's founding editor, set the magazine on its course."

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