Jack Long Tannehill was born into a politically active newspaper family in Winnfield, Louisiana, on May 20, 1913. His contributions have affected virtually every newspaper in Mississippi and his influence on individual journalists and the profession continues more than 30 years after his death on August 28, 1968.
Tannehill began his newspaper career at age 12 working for his older sister who owned the Winnfield News American. After attending Louisiana College he became editor of that publication, and was later editor of the St. Tammany Farmer in Covington, LA. In 1953 he moved his family to Philadelphia, MS when he and an absentee partner acquired The Neshoba Democrat from the late Duke Thornton.
The Democrat at the time was printed on a flatbed offset press—the first installed in Mississippi. Realizing the potential and future of offset printing before his contemporaries, Tannehill in 1960 purchased and installed a two-unit Fairchild News King press, the first web offset in the state. By the mid-1960’s his plant was printing several “camera-ready” newspapers.
Tannehill provided a calm voice during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. He utilized both his platform with The Neshoba Democrat and his personal influence with other community leaders to guide Philadelphia through its most turbulent days. He was able to maintain his integrity as a journalist while taking the role of community leader and, all too often, peacemaker. His editorials prevented the situation in Neshoba County from exploding in violence, lawlessness and, perhaps, insurrection.
Tannehill left a great legacy of helping young journalists break into the business, and would continue to advise them even after they left The Neshoba Democrat or The Union Appeal. His legacy lives on in his son, Jack, and others who worked under his mentoring, much of which was done around the light table where negatives were opaqued to fine tune the product of offset printing.
As a community leader, Tannehill spent more time outside of his newspaper than inside. He was an active member of the local industrial board which recruited Garan Inc. and U.S. Motors, the town’s two largest employers, and was a leader in the drive which passed a special bond issue to build a new elementary school with more than 80% of the vote following a school fire.
His son, Jack Rhea Tannehill, joined his father in the MPA Hall of Fame in 2021.
