David S. Barry

{{Short description|American journalist}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}

{{Infobox person

| birth_name = David Sheldon Barry

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| image = David S. Barry in 1916 - LCCN2014702296 (cropped).tif

| caption = Barry in 1916

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1859|5|25}}

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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1936|2|10|1859|5|25}}

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| children = David S. Barry. Jr.

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| nationality = American

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}}

David Sheldon Barry Sr. (May 25, 1859 – February 10, 1936){{cite news |title=David S. Barry, Former Senate Official, Dies |work=Chicago Daily Tribune |date=February 11, 1936 |page=18 }} was an American journalist who became the 17th Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate, serving from 1919 to 1933.{{cite book |title=The Senate of the United States: its history and practice, Volume 1 |last=Haynes |first=George Henry |page=264 |year=1960 |publisher=Russell & Russell |oclc=225372015 }}

Barry's first-hand experience of politics began at the age of twelve as a page in the Michigan Legislature, where he served from 1871 to 1873,{{cite book |title=Official Congressional Directory |last=Matson |first=Francis G. |page=231 |year=1921 |publisher=United States Congress |oclc=48473297 }} going on to become a United States Senate Page in 1875.{{cite news |title=Live Pages in Political Affairs |work=Boys' Life |date=August 1922 |page=48 }} He then entered a career in journalism which included stints as Washington correspondent for Detroit's Post and Tribune,{{cite book |title=Newspapers, a reference guide |last=Schwarzlose |first=Richard Allen |page=[https://archive.org/details/newspapersrefere0000schw/page/71 71] |year=1987 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-23613-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/newspapersrefere0000schw/page/71 }} editor-in-chief of The Providence Journal (1904–1906){{cite book |title=Journal-bulletin Rhode Island almanac |page=210 |year=1998 |publisher=Providence Journal Bulletin |oclc=228293898 }} and Washington bureau chief for The New York Sun, where he was known as a strong supporter of Theodore Roosevelt.{{cite book |title=Managing the Press: Origins of the Media Presidency, 1897–1933 |last=Ponder |first=Stephen |page=22 |year=2000 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-23507-9 }} He drew upon his experiences as a Washington correspondent for his 1924 book, Forty Years in Washington.{{cite news |title=Forty Years in the Paradise of American Politicians; David S. Barry Tells a Little of All He Knows About Them |work=The New York Times |date=March 30, 1924 |page=BR13 }}

Barry was appointed Sergeant at Arms to the United States Senate in 1919, and was dismissed in 1933 after accusations that an article that he wrote for the journal New Outlook{{cite journal |last=Barry |first=David S. |date=February 1933 |title=Over the Hill to Demagoguery |journal=New Outlook |volume=161 |pages=40–43 |oclc=5361148 }} libelled the Senate with claims that some members were well known to sell their votes.{{cite book |title=George W. Norris: the persistence of a progressive, 1913–1933, Volume 2 |last=Lowitt |first=Richard |page=[https://archive.org/details/georgewnorrisper0000lowi/page/566 566] |year=1971 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-00176-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/georgewnorrisper0000lowi/page/566 }}

He was the father of Col. David S. Barry. Jr., an officer in the United States Marines,{{cite news |title=Col. David Barry, Marine 32 Years; Retired Officer, a Leader of Honor Guard When Harding's Body Lay in State, Dies |work=The New York Times |date=July 2, 1951 |page=18 }} and great-grandfather of Julia Thorne and Ambassador David Thorne.{{cite web |url=http://www.wargs.com/political/thorne.html |title=The Ancestors of Julia Stimson Thorne (b. 1945) |work=wargs.com |publisher=William Addams Reitwiesner |access-date=May 11, 2010 }}{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2010}}