New Cash for an Old Bostonian

Mort Zuckerman, a non-Yankee, buys the Atlantic

Some fellows named Lowell, Emerson, Longfellow and Holmes thrashed out the idea with several others over oysters, steak and Burgundy at the Parker House in Boston. Their aim was a truly American magazine that would "concentrate the efforts of the best writers upon literature and politics, under the light of the highest morals." They succeeded admirably. In the 123 years since that founding dinner, the Atlantic Monthly has been a bastion of Yankee rectitude and high literary purpose.

Thus it might have come as something of a jolt for the Atlantic's readers to learn that their august, old-Boston publication will soon be in the hands of a smooth non-Yankee who has made millions in real estate development. By May, after a few minor details are worked out, Mortimer Zuckerman, 42, will take over as president and chairman of the Atlantic Company, which includes the magazine and its book publishing division, the Atlantic Monthly Press.* Says he: "I hope to combine the magazine's very special place in American letters with a solid financial base and good business management."

The Atlantic (circ. 340,000) has been slaloming in and out of the red for years and is plainly in need of an infusion of fresh capital. Marion Danielsen Campbell, 58, a New Yorker whose family has owned the magazine since 1938, spurned numerous corporate suitors while waiting for the right buyer to come along. Zuckerman had the requisite cash and professed no desire to tamper with the Atlantic 's venerable formula.

Some rock-ribbed readers were not so sure. A few Bostonians even suggested that Zuckerman coveted the Atlantic chiefly for its stately, if somewhat crumbling, brownstone headquarters at 8 Arlington Street, a prime property overlooking the Boston Public Garden and just an olive's throw from the Ritz-Carlton. Fumes Zuckerman: "That's preposterous."

Born and raised in Montreal (he became a U.S. citizen in 1977), Zuckerman earned degrees at McGill University, Harvard Law School and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. After a stint with Cabot, Cabot and Forbes, the large Boston real estate development firm, Zuckerman formed his own company, Boston Properties, whose holdings around the U.S. are now worth some $200 million. He also became an associate professor of city and regional planning at Harvard. A friend of four-term Boston Mayor Kevin White, Zuckerman was White's choice to build two large-scale renewal projects that were bitterly opposed by some community groups. His involvement in these controversies and his high profile in Boston political circles have earned him a reputation as a shrewd operator. Says a city official: "He skates very well, so you better have your blades sharpened when dealing with Mort."

Zuckerman describes himself as a "newspaper and magazine junkie" who would "drive 30 miles for a New York Times." He counts as friends such journalistic heavies as Writers Richard Goodwin and Doris Kearns and New Republic Editor and Publisher Martin Peretz. "Acquiring the Atlantic expands my personal life into more of a professional involvement," says Zuckerman. A man who has worked with him suggests he also wants the magazine for its cachet: "He's very bright and very insecure, and has an overwhelming need for acceptance within a certain circle of society."

Under Editor in Chief Robert Manning, 60, who took the magazine's helm in 1966, the once retiring Atlantic has become more aggressive, topical and visually pleasing. A former Assistant Secretary of State, TIME senior editor and Sunday editor of the old New York Herald Tribune, Manning has also broadened the magazine's coverage of political affairs. A notable example was last year's "The Passionless Presidency," a devastating two-part memoir of the Carter Administration by Washington Editor James Fallows, a former White House speechwriter.

The Atlantic has not lost its calm, its intelligent voice or its reputation for literary excellence. Except for The New Yorker, it remains the foremost showcase for serious fiction and poetry in the U.S. Among recent contributors: John Earth, Bernard Malamud, John Updike, Joyce Carol Gates and John Gardner. The March issue features an essay by Archibald MacLeish, a memoir by Isaac Bashevis Singer and a poem by Robert Perm Warren.

The Atlantic's chief rival is Harper's (circ. 301,000). Since 1952 the two publications have sold advertising jointly, an arrangement made possible by their similar circulation and demographics. Editorially the two monthlies go their separate ways. Harper's, founded seven years before the Atlantic, is usually feistier. Harper's tone is set by the crotchety essays of Editor Lewis H. Lapham, 45, who slays the fashions of the moment with 18th century prose. Circulation is down 68,000 since 1970, however, and Harper's owner for the past 15 years, John Cowles Jr. of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune Co., is said to be ready to unload it.

With the additional resources promised by his new boss, Manning hopes to beef up the Atlantic's coverage of science, business and law. Zuckerman promises to steer clear of editorial matters, but even Manning admits: "He's a very active, aggressive guy. I expect we'll be on the phone with him a lot."

Like hemlines and movie attendance, the fortunes of thoughtful publications tend to rise in bad times. At the weekly New Republic, circulation dropped by half after the turbulent days of Viet Nam and Watergate, but is now on the upswing (at 92,000). Its rival, the Nation (circ. 48,000), has more than doubled its readership since Author Victor Navasky (Kennedy Justice) took over as editor in 1977. "The deterioration of the world situation and the domestic economy happens to be a boon for serious magazines," says the New Republic's Peretz. Adds Zuckerman: "Social trends are changing so rapidly that television and newspapers can capture only the most superficial aspects. The Atlantic gives a fuller, more reflective context for serious issues. I think the audience will be there." Stay tuned.

*Atlantic titles are published jointly with Little, Brown and Co., a subsidiary of Time Inc.

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