board then named John T. Jones, nephew of Jesse H. Jones, as editor of the Chronicle. Houston Endowment president, J. Howard Creekmore, was named publisher. In effect, John Jones was the hands-on boss of the newspaper, while Creekmore, as president of the Houston Endowment board, was Jones' boss. According to the Handbook of Texas Online," the paper generally represented very conservative political views during the 1950s: "...the Chronicle generally represented the very conservative political interests of the Houston business establishment. As such, it eschewed controversial political topics, such as integration or the impacts of rapid economic growth on life in the city. It did not perform investigative journalism. This resulted in a stodgy newspaper that failed to capture the interests of newcomers to the city. By 1959, circulation of the rival Houston Post had pulled ahead of the Chronicle." The Atlantic Monthly reported that in 1959, the rival Houston Post had 218,000 subscribers, while the Houston Chronicle had 205,000. In 1961, John T. Jones hired Steven as editor, in hopes that he would turn around the paper's declining circulation as he had done in Tulsa and Minneapolis. One of his innovations at the Chronicle was the creation of a regular help column called "Watchem," where ordinary citizens could voice their complaints. The Chicago Tribune later called this column a pioneer and prototype of the modern newspaper "Action Line." Steven's progressive views soon created conflict with the Houston Endowment board, especially when he editorially supported the election of Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democratic candidate for president in 1964. In 1964, the Chronicle purchased the assets of its evening newspaper competitor, the Houston Press, becoming the only evening newspaper in the city. By then, the Chronicle had a circulation of 254,000 - the largest of any paper in Texas. The Atlantic Monthly credited the growth to the changes instigated by Steven. Steven named Robert T. Cochran as chief of the paper's editorial page. Cochran opened the page to leading national columnists, such as James Reston and Max Freedman, replacing more conservative columnists, such as Fulton Lewis, Jr. and Paul Harvey. In the summer of 1965, Jones decided to buy a local television station that was already owned by the Houston Endowment. He resigned from the Houston Endowment board to avoid a conflict of interest, though he remained as publisher of the Chronicle. On September 2, 1965, Jones made a late-night visit to