John D. Paulson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota on October 1, 1915. He was the son of a newspaper man. His father, H.D. Paulson, worked in the newsroom of the Grand Forks Herald, as the Herald’s legislative reporter, and was part owner/editor of the Fargo Forum. After graduating from high school, Paulson attended the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota where he received his B.A. in journalism. He then worked for the Minneapolis Star Tribune before accepting his father’s offer to be a copy editor for the Forum. In 1939 Gerald Movius, the Forum’s legislative reporter, took a job with United States Senator Gerald Nye and Paulson became the Forum’s new legislative correspondence. He covered the 1939 and 1941 legislative sessions before joining in the war effort. After serving four years in the U.S. Army Paulson returned to his reporting duties at the state capital in 1947. In 1952 Paulson became the managing editor, and when his father retired in 1957 Paulson became the Forum’s editor. In 1957 the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the tornado that destroyed a large part of north Fargo. Paulson was a delegate to the 1972 North Dakota Constitutional Convention held in Bismarck. He retired in 1981, remaining on the board of directors until 1985, when the corporation purchased all the stocks he owned. The same year Governor Allen Olson appointed Paulson to the North Dakota Centennial Committee.

Mr. Paulson married Zoe Bean in 1946. They had five children. She died Aug. 12, 1993 and he died January 21, 2001.