John Howard "Jack" Nelson (October 11, 1929 - October 21, 2009) was an American journalist. He was praised for his coverage of the Watergate scandal, in particular, and he was described by New York Times editor Gene Roberts as "one of the most effective reporters in the civil rights era." He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1960. Born in Talladega, Alabama, Nelson's father ran a fruit store during the Great Depression. He moved with his family to Georgia and eventually to Biloxi, Mississippi, where he graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1947. After graduating from high school Nelson began his journalism career with the Biloxi Daily Herald. There he earned the nickname 'Scoop' for his aggressive reporting. He then worked for the U.S. Army writing press releases before taking a job with the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 1952. He won the Pulitzer for local reporting under deadline in 1960, citing "the excellent reporting in his series of articles on mental institutions in Georgia." He joined the Los Angeles Times in 1965 and led its Washington, D.C. bureau for 21 years after being named bureau chief in 1975. He led the paper's coverage at the time of the Watergate scandal. In 1970 Nelson wrote a story about how the Federal Bureau of Investigation and police in Meridian, Mississippi shot two Ku Klux Klan members in a sting bankrolled by the local Jewish community. One of the Klan members, a woman, died in the ambush. The head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, tried to kill the story, which appeared on Page One, by smearing Nelson, falsely, as an alcoholic. Nelson played an important role in uncovering the truth about the Orangeburg Massacre. Jack Nelson died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Bethesda, Maryland on October 21, 2009, aged 80. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Nelson_(journalist) Meridian is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Mississippi.[1] It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area. Along major highways, the city is 93 mi (150 km) east of Jackson, Mississippi; 154 mi (248 km) west of Birmingham, Alabama; 202 mi (325 km) northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana; and 231 mi (372 km) southeast of Memphis, Tennessee. Among the city's many arts organizations and historic buildings are the Riley Center, the Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian Little Theatre, and the Meridian Symphony Orchestra. Meridian was also home to two Carnegie libraries, one for African Americans and one for whites. Residents organized to build the African American library, the only Carnegie library built for blacks in the country. The city has been selected as the future location of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center (MAEC). Jimmie Rodgers, the "Father of Country Music", was born in Meridian. Highland Park houses a museum which displays memorabilia of his life and career, as well as railroad equipment from the steam-engine era. The park is also home to the Highland Park Dentzel Carousel, a National Historic Landmark -- the world's only two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in existence. Other notable natives include Miss America 1986 Susan Akin, James Chaney -- one of the victims of the Mississippi civil rights workers murders in 1964, and Hartley Peavey, founder of Peavey Electronics which is headquartered in Meridian. The federal courthouse was the site of the 1966-1967 trial of suspects in the murder of Chaney and two other activists; it was the first time a white jury convicted a white official of a civil rights killing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian,_Mississippi

• published: 04 Apr 2014
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