A trio of local siblings have utilized their shared experience in the realm of journalism to produce a book in honor of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
“Hail to the Chiefs: Fascinating Facts About Every U.S. President” was recently released as a publication of the Daily Herald newspaper in Provo and the Standard-Examiner newspaper in Ogden. The 154-page hardback book’s content was compiled, written and edited by Mapleton resident Christi Conover Babbitt, and the book’s design was created by graphic designer and Springville resident Marcia Conover Harris.
The two sisters work as contractors for their brother Craig Conover, who manages the Daily Herald. Craig oversaw the business portion of the book production process, including working with the printer, coordinating book advertising and assisting in fulfilling early book orders.
The three Conover siblings grew up in the newspaper business; their parents, Martin and Pat Conover, owned and operated the Springville Herald newspaper for many years, and their three children worked at the paper doing everything from paper routes to running the press, folding print jobs, stuffing flyers into papers and sweeping up at the end of the day.
Craig, Christi and Marcia have had the opportunity to continue to work together over the years, even after their family’s newspaper was purchased by the Daily Herald and then later shut down. Together, the three of them have all the skills needed to complete successful printing projects: Craig has the business expertise and in-depth knowledge of the printing process, Christi is a writer and editor with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, and Marcia is a skilled graphic designer with experience creating newspapers, magazines, advertisements, books and online content.
The idea for their latest book project came from their boss Jim Konig, who is publisher of the Daily Herald and the Standard-Examiner. Both newspapers are owned by Ogden Newspapers, a company that owns more than 50 daily newspapers nationwide.
“Jim wanted us to create a book that somehow honored the 250th birthday of the nation, and he suggested focusing on the presidents,” Christi Babbitt said. “We took that idea and ran with it.”
There are sections in the book dedicated to each of the U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Donald Trump. Two presidents – Grover Cleveland and Trump – have two entries as both of them served nonconsecutive terms in office.
Babbitt said she picked a few highlights from each president’s time in office and put together short write ups about them, focusing on keeping the write ups brief, interesting and accessible.
“I wanted it to be a book that someone can browse through and enjoy easily reading and learning about these fascinating men and the struggles and victories they experienced,” Babbitt said.
“Hail to the Chiefs” includes everything from political challenges and assassination attempts to quirky historic firsts, such as who was the first to have a car at the White House and who was sworn into office in the middle of the night by his father. It reveals which president didn’t speak English as his primary language, which president was the only president to be married in the White House and which president was declared the winner of the national election the day before he was sworn into office.
The book is also filled with historic photos of and illustrations depicting the presidents and their activities.
“For the most part, I tried to pick photos of the presidents that were not well known in order to give readers a new, fresh look at them, although there are a few famous images, such as the swearing in of President Lyndon B. Johnson after John F. Kennedy was assassinated,” Babbitt said.
“Hail to the Chiefs: Fascinating Facts About Every U.S. President” may be purchased at deals.heraldextra.com. Also available at that site is the book “Utah’s Temple Trail,” which features each temple in Utah and was also a project accomplished by all three Conover siblings.
Purchase the book by going to links.servedaily.com/chiefs.
Submitted by Christi Babbitt
