Henry Luce

Life & Legacy

Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine publisher who founded Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. He was known as one of "the most influential [Americans] of his day".
Born in Shandong, China, to parents from the United States who were serving as Presbyterian missionaries, Luce moved to the US at the age of 15 and later attended Yale University. He launched and closely supervised a stable of magazines that transformed journalism and the reading habits of millions of Americans. Time summarized and interpreted the week's news; Life was a picture magazine of politics, culture, and society that dominated American visual perceptions in the era before television; Fortune reported on national and international business; and Sports Illustrated explored the world of sports.
Counting his radio projects and newsreels, Luce created the first multimedia corporation. He envisaged the United States as a world power, and in 1941 he declared the 20th century to be the "American Century".