Major James Calvin Hemphill, from Abbeville, succeeded Francis Dawson. At first, The News And Courier was impressed by Benjamin Ryan Tillman’s lambasting of “bourbon do-nothings” in power, but Tillman turned on his friends, and the relationship between him and The News And Courier grew stale. Another revolutionary technology adopted by The News And Courier was the use of linotype.
With the transition into the 20th century, and the election of Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, the national progressive era began. Hemphill saw progressivism as a powerful tool against Tillman. In 1910, Hemphill resigned as editor, and was succeeded by Robert Lathan, who at the age of 29, became the youngest editor of any nationally known newspaper. Robert Lathan modernized the look of the The News And Courier, and introduced sports, comics, society news, and photographs into the papers, but in 1926, the owners of The Evening Post purchased The News And Courier, and Robert Smith Manigault became the owner of both papers.
