Thomas More Storke (November 23, 1876 – October 12, 1971) was an American journalist, politician, postmaster, and publisher. He was awarded with the famous Pulitzer Prize for Journalism in 1962. Storke also served as an interim United States Senator, appointed to serve between the resignation of William Gibbs McAdoo in November 1938 and the January 1939 swearing-in of Sheridan Downey, who had been elected to succeed McAdoo. Early life and journalism career Born in Santa Barbara, Storke was an only child who grew up bilingual in Spanish and English and was born to eminent local citizen and politician Charles A. Storke and Martha Storke. Through his mother he was descended from the Ortega and Olivera families. As a child he attended public schools and moved on to Stanford University one year early with a degree in Economics. Storke graduated in 1898 at age 22. In 1900, Storke borrowed $2,000 and went on to buy the Santa Barbara Daily Independent, the least favored newspaper in town. In 1909 he sold the outlet to get into the oil business and later purchased the Santa Barbara Daily News in 1913. The spring prior, he was appointed as the Santa Barbara postmaster. Storke readopted the Daily Independent and combined that with the Daily News to birth the Santa Barbara Daily News & Independent. Years later, Storke bought The Morning Press, Santa Barbara's third paper. He later combined the two making The News-Press. After 23 years, it was sold for near 10 million dollars to the publisher of The Philadelphia Bulletin. Later life and political career A Democrat in politics, on November 9, 1938, Storke was appointed as to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Gibbs McAdoo. Storke had not been a candidate in the 1938 election, and served until the January 3, 1939 swearing-in of Sheridan Downey, who had been elected as McAdoo's successor. Storke flew to Washington and was sworn in by Edwin H. Halsey, the Secretary of the Senate. However, Congress was not in session during the time he was in office, so Storke never authored any legislation or cast a Senate vote. He returned home and resumed working in the media, merging his newspaper the Santa Barbara News with the Morning Press to create the Santa Barbara News-Press. He also founded AM radio station KTMS. He was a member of the California Crime