Brown & White at the Trib

As boss of the New York Herald Tribune, Helen Rogers Reid, 72, has long been the grande dame of U.S. journalism. Even before her husband Ogden Reid died in 1947, leaving her control of the paper, Helen Reid had a strong claim to the title. Once social secretary to Ogden Reid's mother, Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, she began helping her husband on the Tribune in 1918 after $15 million of the family's money had been poured into the ailing daily.

She sold advertising, worked on the editorial side, turned herself into a well-rounded newspaper executive. After she took over, she added to the Trib's prestige by such activities as the annual Herald Tribune Forum and a host of civic activities. Of all her plans, Helen Reid has been most determined about one. At the right time she wanted to step out and let her two sons, Whitelaw and Ogden, take over.

"Whitey" and "Brownie" Reid are as different as the colors of their nicknames. Slender, sandy-haired Whitey (Yale '36) is a quiet, thoughtful ex-Navy aviator; he has been editor for the past eight years. Stocky, dark-haired Brownie (yale '49) is a driving, fast-talking ex-paratrooper; he has worked in a variety of jobs, mostly on the business side. For years Trib staffers have tried to guess which one--Whitey or Brownie--would end up as boss. Last week Helen Reid ended the guessing game.

Paris-Bound. She announced her resignation as chairman of the board of the Herald Tribune in order "to give the younger generation a chance at running the paper" (but she will stay on as a board member). Into her place as chairman, to carry on the great Tribune tradition, went Editor Whitey Reid, 41. Into the job of president and publisher went Brownie Reid, 29.

Brownie Reid has been moving closer and closer to the job he calls the "chief executive officer" of the Trib ever since he went to work summers as a photographer on the paper. From the photo staff he went on at the paper to become a mail clerk, reporter and columnist, writing a weekly column ("The Red Underground"). But he made his biggest mark on the business side. Shipped to Paris two years ago to shore up the Trib's Paris edition, he revamped the budget, got more ads and circulation and put it handsomely in the black.

Changes Ahead. Last year, after he returned to New York, the ailing Trib began taking a new prescription. The Herald Tribune started a "Tangle Towns" contest (TIME, Jan. 10), which added 70,000 circulation (it held between 20% and 30% after the contest). It also reset its editorial sights in many ways, began to compete more with Manhattan's breezy morning tabloids and less with the entrenched New York Times.

Although Trib editorial staffers and many an old reader balked at the change, the new plan seemed to work. In the first three months of this year, daily circulation reached an estimated alltime high (387,000). and the Trib is operating in the black. Brownie Reid, who is considered a "business-office" type by Trib editorial staffers, does not have Whitey's popularity with the staff. But some feel that his aggressive ways are just what the paper needs. As for Helen Reid, she expects a "team operation," each son doing what he can do best.

Brownie expects to revamp the Sunday Trib, bring out a new radio and TV magazine, increase the paper's business and financial news. He also hopes to step up coverage of local and state news, using task forces of reporters to work on "stories behind the stories." Said he: "We are launching a major program, which will be financed out of operating capital, that will move the paper ahead in a number of ways."

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