Creation On November 9, 1861, during the
Civil War, soldiers of the 11th, 18th, and 29th
Illinois Regiments set up camp in the
Missouri city of
Bloomfield. Finding the local newspaper's office empty, they decided to print a newspaper about their activities. They called it the
Stars and Stripes. Tradition holds this as the origin story for the newspaper, and the Stars and Stripes Museum/Library Association is located in Bloomfield.
World War I During
World War I, the staff, roving reporters, and illustrators of the
Stars and Stripes were veteran reporters or young soldiers who would later become such in the post-war years. It was published by the
American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) from February 8, 1918, to June 13, 1919.
Harold Ross, editor of the
Stars and Stripes, returned home to found
The New Yorker magazine.
Cyrus Baldridge, its art director and principal illustrator, became a major illustrator of books and magazines, as well as a writer, print maker and stage designer. Sports page editor
Grantland Rice had a long career in journalism and founded a motion picture studio called Grantland Rice Sportlight. Drama critic
Alexander Woollcott's essays for
Stars and Stripes were collected in his 1919 book,
The Command Is Forward. The
Stars and Stripes was then an eight-page weekly which reached a peak of 526,000 readers, relying on the improvisational efforts of its staff to get it printed in France and distributed to U.S. troops.
World War II . During
World War II, the newspaper was printed in dozens of editions in several operating theaters. Again, both newspapermen in uniform and young soldiers, some of whom would later become important journalists, filled the staffs. Some of the editions were assembled and printed very close to the
front in order to get the latest information to the most troops. Also, during the war, the newspaper published the 53-book series
G.I. Stories. The Rome edition closed in 1945 and its printing press was transferred to the new
Rome Daily American in an arrangement facilitated by the
CIA. After
Bill Mauldin did his popular "Up Front" cartoons for the World War II
Stars and Stripes, he returned home to a successful career as an editorial cartoonist and two-time winner of the
Pulitzer Prize. Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and
war correspondent Ernie Pyle was regularly published in the
Stars and Stripes before he was killed by a Japanese
machine-gunner on
Iejima during the
Battle of Okinawa. The magazine frequently posted photographs of a young
Marilyn Monroe, then known as Norma Jeane Dougherty, which later led her as being named "Miss Cheesecake 1952" by
Stars and Stripes.
Modern era Funding and relevance in the
digital age have threatened the paper's budget. In 2013, the paper faced job cuts, printing-schedule changes, a pay-raise freeze and travel limitations for staff under the
Federal budget sequestration. The print newspapers provide the news back home to service members who are
forward-deployed in areas lacking reliable internet access. Coverage of pay and benefits is of direct concern to service members and their families along with life on base and in the field. The paper helps them be better-informed citizens about global
geopolitics. Budget cuts by
the Pentagon were again considered in 2016. The
Wall Street Journal reported in February 2020, that a draft budget would reduce the newspaper's federal support in 2021 under a $5 billion shift to higher priorities in the defense budget. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense
Elaine McCusker indicated its funding would be cut and said: "We have essentially decided that, you know, kind of coming into the modern age that newspaper is probably not the best way that we communicate any longer." The subsidy is more than $15 million a year, which represents approximately half the publication's budget and roughly 0.002 percent of the Department of Defense budget, which was $721.5 billion in 2020. It was described by the
Stars and Stripes ombudsman as "a fatal cut". In September, Defense Secretary
Mark Esper justified the decision to discontinue publication of the paper as a result of his department-wide budget review. An order for the newspaper to shutter was issued, specifically by presenting a plan for it to dissolve by September 15,
including "specific timeline for vacating government owned/leased space worldwide" and to end publication by September 30, 2020. Senator
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) led a bipartisan group opposed to the move, including
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a veteran, and
Susan Collins (R-ME). On September 4, US president
Donald Trump appeared to reverse this position by tweeting that funding would not be cut. On September 30 the order to close was rescinded. In January 2026,
The Washington Post reported that job applicants to the newspaper were being asked to answer partisan questions under directives issued by the
Office of Personnel Management. The next day, the Pentagon announced an overhaul of the newspaper's editorial policies. Pentagon spokesman
Sean Parnell said that
Stars and Stripes content would be refocused "away from woke distractions that syphon morale."
The Daily Wire, a conservative publication, reported that the goal is for the publication's content to be written by active-duty service members rather than civilian staff members. Half of the website's content will be composed of Defense Department-generated materials, including images captured by combat cameras. Jacqueline Smith, the newspaper's ombudsman, called the plans "contrary to the news organization's mission." The Pentagon fired Smith in April 2026 without explanation. Smith surmised it had to do with her criticism of the administration's plans. In March 2026, the Pentagon issued a memo ordering Stars & Stripes to stop publishing certain types of content to adhere to interim military policies, including most stories from wire services like the
Associated Press and
Reuters. The memo states content must be "consistent with good order and discipline," a phrase found in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. ==Operations==