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Born in Altha, Florida, Bowden attended Florida State University, where he studied journalism and wrote for the ''Florida Flambeau'' newspaper, before joining the U.S. Air Force. He was a military journalist stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho during the Korean War, after which he moved to Pensacola to begin his journalism career at the ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]'' on [[September 30]], [[1953]].
Initially a sports writer until 1958, Bowden replaced [[Marion T. Gaines]] as editor of the ''News Journal'''s editorial page in [[1965]] and served as editor-in-chief and vice president of the paper from [[1966]] to [[1997]]. He was also the paper's main political cartoonist for decades, caricaturing local figures in a distinctive [[Wikipedia:hedcut|hedcut]] style inspired by [[Wikipedia:William Hogarth|William Hogarth]] and [[Wikipedia:Thomas Nast|Thomas Nast]]. [[Andy Marlette]] took over as the main cartoonist in [[2007]], but Bowden remains a columnist and occasional cartoonist for the opinion section. Staff at the University of West Florida's Pace Library are in the process of archiving and [http://archives.uwf.edu/Bowden/ digitizing many of Bowden's original cartoon drawings]. He has taught journalistic writing since [[1983]] at the [[University of West Florida]], which awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in [[1985]].
As editor of the ''News Journal'', Bowden began campaigning in [[1965]] to establish the [[Gulf Islands National Seashore]], which was authorized on [[January 8]], [[1971]], and signed into law by President Nixon. For his efforts, Bowden was named an Honorary Park Ranger by the Secretary of the Interior in {{date needed}}. State Road 399 on [[Santa Rosa Island]], which connects eastern [[Pensacola Beach]] to [[Navarre Beach]], was named [[J. Earle Bowden Way]] in [[1998]]. Much of the road was washed away in [[Hurricane Ivan]].
