Editor of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (1954-55), and chairman of ASNE’s FOI committee, James Pope began advocating the concept of the FOIA a decade before it was enacted.

Along with J. Russell Wiggins, he pushed strenuously for adoption of legislation, mobilizing editors through ASNE and testifying constantly before Congress. Pope and Wiggins rejected many attempts to create laws that did not live up to their dream, until satisfactory legislation emerged.

James Pope died in 1985.