John Heiskell, born in Rogersville while his parents were visiting from Memphis, was the grandson of Frederick Heiskell, publisher of the Knoxville Register. In 1890 he entered UT. Before he had completed his freshman year, Dr. Thomas Jordan suggested that he enter the junior class for the next year, which he did, graduating in three years with the class of 1893 (even though he had entered with a “conditional” in mathematics).
He won the debater’s medal for his victory in representing Chi Delta in the annual Chi Delta v. Philomathesian debate. He also won the orator’s medal and the essayist’s medal. The day following his graduation, he went to work for the Knoxville Tribune and then worked for the Knoxville Sentinel before joining the staff of Memphis’ Commercial Appeal. He left the Memphis paper as city editor to take a position with the Associated Press in Chicago. A year later, the Associated Press sent him to Louisville, Kentucky, as head of the bureau.
In 1902 his father (Carrick White Heiskell), his brother (Fred) and he, joined Fred W. Allsopp in buying the Arkansas Gazette, and he served as its editor for more than 65 years. For its stand in the Little Rock school crisis of 1957, the Gazette won a Pulitzer Prize in 1958 (and Harry Asmore’s editorials, which were inspected and edited by Heiskell, won an additional Pulitzer).
In 1913 Heiskell was appointed to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate created by the death of incumbent Jeff Davis. He served from January 6 to January 29, 1913, until a successor could be elected and was not a candidate for election to a full term. In 1958 he received a medal and citation from Syracuse University School of Journalism for Distinguished Service to Journalism. The University of Missouri awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal in 1962, and in 1965 he received the John Peter Zenger Freedom of the Press award from the University of Arizona. Sigma Delta Chi professional journalism society awarded him a citation for journalistic excellence and editorial integrity in 1966, and he was elected a Fellow of Sigma Delta Chi in 1968.