Amon G. Carter, Sr. (December 11, 1879–June 23, 1955) was the creator and publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and a nationally known civic booster for Fort Worth, Texas. A legacy in his will was used to create Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum. December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1879 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is the major daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. ... Fort Worth is the sixth-largest city in the state of Texas, located about 30 miles west of Dallas on the West Fork Trinity River. ...

Carter was born in Crafton, Texas. After his mother died in 1892, he moved away from his remaining family, to Bowie, Texas, where he supported himself with a variety of odd jobs. At those jobs, he learned salesmanship, and became a travelling salesman as a young man. 1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Bowie is a city located in Montague County, Texas. ...

In May 1905, Carter accepted a job as an advertising space salesman in Fort Worth. A few months later, he agreed to help finance and run a new newspaper in town. The Fort Worth Star printed its first newspaper on February 1, 1906, with Carter as the advertising manager. February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

The Star lost money, and was in danger of going bankrupt when Carter had an audacious idea: raise additional money and purchase his newspaper's main competition, the Fort Worth Telegram. In November 1908, the Star purchased the Telegram for $100,000, and the two newspapers combined on January 1, 1909 into the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

From 1923 until after World War II, the Star-Telegram had the largest circulation of any newspaper in the South, serving not just Fort Worth but also West Texas, New Mexico, and western Oklahoma. The newspaper created WBAP, the first radio station in Fort Worth, in 1922; and followed it with Texas' first television station, WBAP-TV, in 1948. This near-monopoly on news in such a large service area gave Carter, the Star-Telegram publisher and two-thirds owner, the money and power to become a major political force in both Fort Worth and Texas. 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945 after the Allied atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ... West Texas is a region in Texas which has more in common geographically with the Southwestern United States than it does with East Texas and North Texas. ... State nickname: Land of Enchantment Other U.S. States Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Governor Bill Richardson Official languages English and Spanish Area 315,194 km² (5th)  - Land 314,590 km²  - Water 607 km² (0. ... Oklahoma is a South Central state of the United States (with strong midwestern and western influences) and its U.S. postal abbreviation is OK; others abbreviate the states name Okla. ... 1922 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... KXAS-TV (NBC 5) is a local NBC owned and operated station based in Fort Worth. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Carter parlayed this money and power into celebrity as a national spokesman for Fort Worth and West Texas (Carter popularized the description of Fort Worth as "Where the West Begins"). During the 1920s and 1930s, Carter personified the image of the Texas cowboy in the national mind: an uninhibited story-teller, gambler, and drinker, generous with his money and quick to draw his six-shooters. Major magazines such as Time and the Saturday Evening Post ran profiles of Carter, and he counted Will Rogers and Walter Winchell among his friends. The well-publicized hospitality of his Shady Oak Farm near Lake Worth was open to any major celebrity or businessman passing through Fort Worth. Carter would also disdain Dallas by taking a sack lunch when he traveled there (not wanting to spend any of his money in Dallas). 8:17 am, August 6, 1945, Japanese time. ... There have been many publications called the Saturday Evening Post; several were/are local British newspapers. ... Will Rogers. ... Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was an American journalist who worked for the New York Daily Mirror for 34 years. ...

Carter used his national stage to drum up business and government spending for his home region. From the Texas state legislature, he got a four-year college (now Texas Tech University) for Lubbock. He persuaded Southern Air Transport (now American Airlines) to move its headquarters from Dallas to Fort Worth. Several oil companies moved or kept their headquarters in Fort Worth after personal interventions by Carter. Texas Tech University is a Nationally recognized doctoral/research university-extensive university located in Lubbock, Texas, established in 1923 originally as Texas Technological College. ... Lubbock is the ninth-largest city in the state of Texas, located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado. ... Note: For the arenas named after this company, see American Airlines Arena (Miami, Florida), or American Airlines Center (Dallas, Texas). ... Dallas is one of the ten largest cities in the United States and the heart of the largest metropolitan area in Texas. ...

After World War II, age and weariness led Carter to stop his barnstorming on behalf of Fort Worth. In 1953, he suffered the first of several heart attacks; the final one, two years later, was fatal. He was buried in Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Fort Worth.

References

Flemmons, Jerry. Amon: The Texan Who Played Cowboy for America. Lubbock, TX : Texas Tech, 1998.