Thornton Leigh Hunt 1860s. Hunt was also editor of "The Spectator" from around 1859 to January 1861. James Buchanan was at that time President of the United States and was attempting to counter civil war over the issue of slavery, mostly by adopting a vacillatory position. Two Americans based in London - a businessman called John McHenry and an Assistant Secretary to ambassador George M. Dallas, called Benjamin Moran - determined to use the magazine as a counter to the generally anti-Buchanan position of the British press. Hunt had assisted Robert Stephen Rintoul at "The Spectator" and appears to have stayed on after
Railroad Magazine in 1937. Through the 1930s, the magazine helped grow the organized railfan movement by encouraging communication between enthusiasts, organizing special "fan trip" excursions with the railroads, and reporting on the activities of various clubs and museums around the country. After December 1942, "Railroad Magazine" was published by Popular Publications, which purchased the Munsey Company. It dropped railroad fiction after January 1979. At mid-century, the magazine staff consisted of editor Henry B. Comstock, associate editors K.M. Campbell and Ted Sanchargin, art editor George H. Mabie, and "Electric Lines" editor Stephen B. Maguire. By the 1970s, the magazine staff consisted of editor