the Ewings met Walter Paine, and in October 1954, they purchased the Keene Evening Sentinel from the family of John Prentiss, who had recently died. In 1956 the Ewings and Paine purchased the Valley News in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and five years later they purchased the Argus-Champion in New London, New Hampshire. In 1961, Ewing received Honorable Mention in the Svellon Brown Awards, the award recognizes an individual for producing journalism of distinction. The Ewings sold their interest in the Valley News in 1980 and took over full ownership of the Sentinel; In 1981 they sold their interest in the Argus-Champion. James and Ruth retired from the newspaper business in 1993, after selling the Sentinel to their nephew, Thomas Ewing. Politics and philosophy James Ewing was a strong supporter of Edmund S. Muskie and earlier, in the 1952 primary, the Bangor Commercial was the only area newspaper to voice opposition to Ralph Owen Brewster. In a 1999 interview, Ewing was asked to describe his political philosophy; the conversation was in the context of the Bangor Commercial and his opposition to Brewster. Ewing responded that he considered himself as an independent but on the liberal side and added that the more forward, or liberal thinking came from the Republicans at that time, not from the Democratic Party. He went on to describe how his newspaper went after Brewster "hammer and tongs" in opposition to him, and a lot of what they had printed was picked up and reprinted by the opposing campaign. Brewster, himself, cited Ewing as a significant contributor to his defeat. In an interview, Kay Cutler, a good friend of the Ewings, referred to the defeat as the Bangor Daily Commercial's "shining hour". Time magazine described the Commercial as "an independent, liberal voice in the conservative woods of Maine journalism." During his time with the Sentinel, he successfully pushed for improvements to the New Hampshire welfare department, public housing, and revisions to Keene's city charter, including freedom of information laws. Ewing believed that a newspaper had an obligation to inform its readers and help them make responsible decisions. He maintained a larger newsroom that was outside of industry standards and insisted on printing a large share of international articles, in adherence to his belief that the readers should be exposed to other parts of a "shrinking world". Awards and recognition 1961 Honorable Mention in the Svellon Brown Awards, for