Barry Bingham, Sr. guided the Courier-Journal and the Louisville Times to greater national prominence starting in 1937 when he succeeded his father as chief officer of the newspaper company. Under his leadership, the papers received six Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other national awards, including rankings in the top 10 newspapers of America. He established WHAS-TV and built Standard Gravure Corporation as printer of Sunday newspaper magazines. Bingham served 39 months overseas as U.S. Navy officer during World War II; he received a Bronze Star twice. Bingham made study missions to Europe to report on occupation conditions; he was given rank of Commandeur, Legion d’Honneur, by French government for service. He was the Fulbright lecturer at Oxford, England, in 1955. Bingham was Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He holds honorary degrees from eight colleges and universities. Bingham has been twice elected overseer of Harvard University. He was chairman  for the American Press Institute advisory board from 1962 to 1968. He was apart of the Advisory Board for Pulitzer Prizes between 1956 and 1968. Bingham was also Honorary President of Sigma Delta Chi, from 1956 to 1957 and Chairman of International Press Institute from 1964 to 1966. He is a strong supporter of human rights, conservation and enrichment of arts. He is now chairman of the board of family companies.