"B" is for Ball, William Watts [1868-1952]. Newspaper Editor. A native of Laurens County, he was the first editor of the Laurens Advertiser and later worked for several out-of-state newspapers. He served as editor of The State in Columbia, the Greenville News, and the Evening Post and News and Courier in Charleston. As editor of The State Ball championed the aging ideals of Wade Hampton's Bourbons and denounced populists and reformers. After a four-year stint as the first dean of USC's College of Journalism, he moved to Charleston where he won national recognition for his editorial fight to repeal prohibition. He then spent more than two decades attacking Franklin Roosevelt, the New Deal, and a changing America. William Watts Ball's contempt for 20th century America is best revealed in his 1932 book, The State That Forgot.
"B" is for Ball, William Watts [1868-1952]
