1951 – The Wall Street Journal purchases the Chicago Journal of Commerce, turning it into its Midwest edition.
Vermont Royster was editor of the newspaper from 1958 to 1971, and he focused a lot of The Journal’s attention in the 1960s to politics and how the social unrest in the country was affecting the economy and business.
Along the way, The Journal expanded its reach. It started a Southwest edition in 1948 and added a Washington edition in 1955. In 1951, it purchased the Chicago Journal of Commerce, turning it into the Midwest edition of the paper. In 1962, The Journal started The National Observer, a weekly newspaper, although it folded in 1977 because of a lack of advertising.
In 1966, the newspaper passed the 1-million circulation mark. Kilgore had created the national newspaper that he believed would cater to a wider audience. Said Royster, “He looked at the nation and saw it crossed by a single newspaper.”