Saturday Evening Post newspaper
The Saturday Evening Post is a historic American magazine that was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1728. Known for its alternating periods of success and decline, it became one of the most beloved publications in the early nineteenth century but faced challenges post-Civil War, nearly becoming defunct by the century's end. A significant revival occurred in the early twentieth century under publisher Cyrus H. K. Curtis and editor George Horace Latimer, achieving a circulation of over three million by 1937, despite the Great Depression. During this time, the magazine cultivated a moderate-conservative image emphasizing patriotism and tradition, strongly associated with the artwork of Norman Rockwell, whose illustrations became iconic representations of middle-American values.
The magazine's popularity surged during World War II, fueled by a wave of nationalism and Rockwell's "Four Freedoms" series, though financial struggles persisted due to high production costs. Post-war, the Saturday Evening Post adapted to the economic boom by relying more on advertising, reflecting the desires of a middle-class audience seeking familiarity and comfort after years of turmoil. While it enjoyed success through the 1950s, the rise of television led to a decline in magazine readership. The Post ultimately ceased publication in 1969 but was revived in 1971, continuing to exist in a modified format that focuses on health and lifestyle topics into the twenty-first century.
Saturday Evening Post newspaper
Identification Weekly general-interest magazine
The oldest magazine in the United States, the Saturday Evening Post served as a familiar voice of patriotism during World War II and an icon of a growing American middle class in the years following the war.
Founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1728, the Saturday Evening Post experienced alternating periods of success and decline prior to the twentieth century. One of the most popular periodicals in the United States during the early nineteenth century, the Post faltered after the Civil War and was nearly defunct by the end of the century. The magazine was revived during the early twentieth century under publisher Cyrus H. K. Curtis and editor George Horace Latimer, achieving a circulation of more than three million issues by 1937 despite the effects of the Great Depression. During this period, the Post cultivated a moderate-conservative image that avoided controversy and emphasized patriotism and tradition. The cover illustrations of artist Norman Rockwell became the most prominent symbol of the magazine’s middle-American image during the prewar years.
The outbreak of World War II and the wave of patriotism that accompanied the American war effort proved a boon to the popularity of the Post during the early 1940’s. Faced with the uncertainty of war and fueled by nationalism, many Americans turned to the familiar scenes and symbols that had revived the reputation of the Post in prior decades. Rockwell continued to play a critical role in the magazine’s popularity; his “Four Freedoms” series of paintings based on the speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and published in the Post in 1943 became one of the most famous symbols of World War II-era culture in the United States.
Despite the popularity of the Post during the war, the magazine continued to struggle financially, its profitability hindered by production costs resulting from its characteristically large size and abundance of photographs and illustrations. Unable to operate the magazine on circulation revenue alone, the publishers of the Post relied increasingly upon advertising money during the postwar years. Colorful advertisements for automobiles, home appliances, clothing, and other consumer goods appeared prominently in the pages of the magazine just as a postwar economic boom swelled the ranks of the middle class and fueled demand for these goods. The Post thus became both a reflection of and a prominent participant in the boom, fulfilling the desires for familiarity, normality, and material comfort that permeated an American public whose lives had been disrupted by war and economic depression.
Impact
The advertising-laden format and middle-American editorial policy that the Saturday Evening Post adopted during the 1940’s mirrored the collective national spirit of the Eisenhower era, ensuring the magazine’s popularity through the 1950’s. Other magazines mimicked the format of the Post with varying success, and the colorful advertisements published in the magazine became icons of 1950’s culture, attracting the interest of scholars and collectors in subsequent decades and influencing popular culture and art, most notably in the work of Andy Warhol. The Post would later fall upon hard times, as the increasing popularity of television lessened general interest in magazines and the quaint Americana that the Post espoused assumed a diminished role in the national culture. The magazine folded in 1969 and was revived in a modified format in 1971, remaining in publication into the twenty-first century as a bimonthly magazine emphasizing health and lifestyle issues.
Bibliography
Cohn, Jan. Creating America: George Horace Lorimer and the “Saturday Evening Post.” Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989.
Kawai, Ken, ed. The “Saturday Evening Post” Magazine Covers from 1945 to 1962: An Untroubled Season—Ordinary Life in Mid-Century America. Translated by Setsuko Ohchi. Los Angeles: Books Nippan, 1995.