John McNaught had an extensive journalistic career in which he developed a knowledge of national and state affairs. On January 24, 1903, McNaught gave a eulogy for the 144th anniversary of the birth of Scottish poet and lyricist
Robert Burns. Some five thousand people were present at the
Mechanics' Pavilion, representing four Scottish societies. On December 9, 1903, McNaught, as manager of the
San Francisco Call, spoke on the topic, "Why San Francisco Should Make a Special Display at the
St. Louis Exposition." Mayor
Eugene Schmitz and
M. H. de Young also spoke. McNaught said that a display at the Exposition would "be necessary to demonstrate to the world the importance of the city as a commercial and an industrial center." McNaught was a speaker when the
William McKinley Memorial was unveiled on November 24, 1904, at the entrance to the
Panhandle at
Golden Gate Park. More than five thousand people attended. On October 19, 1905, McNaught traveled to New York to give a speech at the Astor Gallery of the
Waldorf-Astoria for the International Advertising Association. McNaught spoke about having a convention in San Francisco and how world politics were centering in the Pacific. McNaught retired from the
San Francisco Call in 1906 after a dozen years at the newspaper. During the
1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, McNaught became a member of Mayor Eugene Schmitz's
Committee of Fifty. Afterward, he worked on other newspapers in Alaska and went to New York to work under
Joseph Pulitzer of the
New York World from 1907 to 1912. He traveled to many countries as Pulitzer's personal secretary. After he left
The Evening World, he became editor of the
New York Morning World, through 1915. In February 1916 McNaught gave a series of lectures on journalism at the
University of California. McNaught was a member of the
Bohemian Club ==Death==