| John Boyle | |
| Office: | 19th Public Printer of the United States |
| President: | Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan |
| Term Start: | November 1, 1977 |
| Term End: | February 29, 1980 |
| Predecessor: | Thomas F. McCormick |
| Successor: | Danford L. Sawyer, Jr. |
| Birth Name: | John Joseph Boyle |
| Birth Date: | 19 January 1919 |
| Birth Place: | Honesdale, Pennsylvania |
| Death Place: | Silver Spring, Maryland |
| Party: | Democratic |
John Joseph Boyle was the 19th Public Printer of the United States, the head of the U.S. Government Printing Office[1] (GPO), which produces and distributes information products for all branches of the U.S. Government.[2]
Boyle was born January 19, 1919, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.[3] He graduated from Hawley High School in Hawley, Pennsylvania, in 1936; he did not obtain a college degree.[3] After high school, he worked in a print shop and for a local weekly newspaper.[4] He joined the United States Army during World War II, serving in the First Armored Division.[4] He served in the North African campaign, where he was captured by spending two and a half years in German prison camps.[4] After the end of the war, he resumed his printing career, working for the O'Brana Press and the Scranton Tribune in Scranton in 1945, and then in a large printing plant for the publisher Haddon Craftsmen from 1945 to 1952.[4] [3]
In 1952, Public Printer Thomas F. McCormick hired Boyle to work in the Government Printing Office as a proofreader.[4] He rose through the ranks, becoming deputy production manager for electronics and then production manager,[5] and establishing the GPO's Electronic Photocomposition Division.[2] In 1973, he was named Deputy Public Printer, the GPO's number-two position.[6]
Upon McCormick's resignation, President Jimmy Carter nominated Boyle to be Public Printer of the United States.[6] Boyle was confirmed by the Senate on October 27, and sworn in on November 1.[4] He was the first Public Printer to rise through the ranks of agency craftsmen.[5]
Boyle's term as Public Printer was marked by an acceleration of the GPO's computerization and electronic publication, and movement from manual metal typesetting to photocomposition.[4] During his term, most congressional committee hearing proceedings were photocomposed, and all congressional bill printing had been converted to being electronically processed.[4]
Boyle retired from the GPO February 29, 1980.[4]
Boyle died from a stroke on December 29, 2003, at the Holy Cross Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.[5] He was 84 years old.[5]