JOSEPH PULITZER
Name: Joseph Pulitzer
Born: 10 April 1847
Died:29 October 1911
Joseph Pulitzer (April 10, 1847 - October 29, 1911)
was a Hungarian-American publisher best known for posthumously
establishing the Pulitzer Prizes and (along with William Randolph Hearst) for
originating yellow journalism.
Pulitzer was born in Mako, Hungary as a son of a grain merchant of Magyar-Jewish
origin and a German mother who was a devout Roman Catholic. He sought a
military career, but was turned down by the Austrian army due to poor health and
eyesight. He instead emigrated to the United States in 1864 to serve in the
American Civil War.
After the war he settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where in 1868 he began working
for a German language daily newspaper, the Westliche Post. He joined the
Republican Party and was elected to the Missouri State Assembly in 1869. However,
after a failed attempt at electing Horace Greeley as president, the party
collapsed and Pulitzer switched to the Democrats. In 1872, Pulitzer purchased
the Post for $3,000, and then sold his stake in the paper for a profit in 1873.
Then, in 1879, he bought the St. Louis Dispatch, and the St. Louis Post and
merged the two papers, which became the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which remains
St. Louis' daily newspaper. It was at the Post-Dispatch that Pulitzer developed
his role as a champion of the common man with exposes and a hard-hitting
populist approach.
In 1882 Pulitzer, by then a wealthy man, purchased the New York World, a
newspaper that had been losing $40,000 a year, for $346,000 from Jay Gould.
Pulitzer shifted its focus to human-interest stories, scandal, and
sensationalism. In 1885, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives,
but resigned after a few months' service. In 1887, he recruited the famous
investigative journalist Nellie Bly. In 1895 the World introduced the immensely
popular The Yellow Kid comic by Richard F. Outcault, the first newspaper comic
printed with color. Under Pulitzer's leadership circulation grew from 15,000 to
600,000, making it the largest newspaper in the country.
The editor of the rival New York Sun attacked Pulitzer in print, calling him in
1890 "The Jew who abandoned his religion". This was intended to alienate
Pulitzer's Jewish readership. Pulitzer's already failing health deteriorated
rapidly and he withdrew from the daily management of the newspaper, although he
continued to actively manage the paper from his vacation retreat in Bar Harbor,
Maine, and his New York mansion.
In 1895, William Randolph Hearst purchased the rival New York Journal from
Pulitzer's own brother, Albert, which led to a circulation war. This competition
with Hearst, particularly the coverage before and during the Spanish-American
War, linked Pulitzer's name with yellow journalism.
After the World exposed a fraudulent payment of $40 million by the United States
to the French Panama Canal Company in 1909, Pulitzer was indicted for libeling
Theodore Roosevelt and J. P. Morgan. The courts dismissed the indictments in a
victory for freedom of the press.
In 1892, Pulitzer offered Columbia University's president, Seth Low, money to
set up the world's first school of journalism. The university initially turned
down the money, evidently unimpressed by Pulitzer's unscrupulous character. In
1902, Columbia's new president Nicholas Murray Butler was more receptive to the
plan for a school and prizes, but it would not be until after Pulitzer's death
that this dream would be fulfilled. Pulitzer left the university $2 million in
his will, which led to the creation in 1912 of the Columbia University Graduate
School of Journalism, but by then at Pulitzer's urging the Missouri School of
Journalism had been created at the University of Missouri. Columbia's Graduate
School of Journalism remains one of the most prestigious in the world.
Joseph Pulitzer died aboard his yacht in the harbor of Charleston, South
Carolina in 1911. He is interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.
Name: Joseph Pulitzer
Born: 10 April 1847
Died:29 October 1911
Joseph Pulitzer (April 10, 1847 - October 29, 1911)
was a Hungarian-American publisher best known for posthumously
establishing the Pulitzer Prizes and (along with William Randolph Hearst) for
originating yellow journalism.
Pulitzer was born in Mako, Hungary as a son of a grain merchant of Magyar-Jewish
origin and a German mother who was a devout Roman Catholic. He sought a
military career, but was turned down by the Austrian army due to poor health and
eyesight. He instead emigrated to the United States in 1864 to serve in the
American Civil War.
After the war he settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where in 1868 he began working
for a German language daily newspaper, the Westliche Post. He joined the
Republican Party and was elected to the Missouri State Assembly in 1869. However,
after a failed attempt at electing Horace Greeley as president, the party
collapsed and Pulitzer switched to the Democrats. In 1872, Pulitzer purchased
the Post for $3,000, and then sold his stake in the paper for a profit in 1873.
Then, in 1879, he bought the St. Louis Dispatch, and the St. Louis Post and
merged the two papers, which became the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which remains
St. Louis' daily newspaper. It was at the Post-Dispatch that Pulitzer developed
his role as a champion of the common man with exposes and a hard-hitting
populist approach.
In 1882 Pulitzer, by then a wealthy man, purchased the New York World, a
newspaper that had been losing $40,000 a year, for $346,000 from Jay Gould.
Pulitzer shifted its focus to human-interest stories, scandal, and
sensationalism. In 1885, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives,
but resigned after a few months' service. In 1887, he recruited the famous
investigative journalist Nellie Bly. In 1895 the World introduced the immensely
popular The Yellow Kid comic by Richard F. Outcault, the first newspaper comic
printed with color. Under Pulitzer's leadership circulation grew from 15,000 to
600,000, making it the largest newspaper in the country.
The editor of the rival New York Sun attacked Pulitzer in print, calling him in
1890 "The Jew who abandoned his religion". This was intended to alienate
Pulitzer's Jewish readership. Pulitzer's already failing health deteriorated
rapidly and he withdrew from the daily management of the newspaper, although he
continued to actively manage the paper from his vacation retreat in Bar Harbor,
Maine, and his New York mansion.
In 1895, William Randolph Hearst purchased the rival New York Journal from
Pulitzer's own brother, Albert, which led to a circulation war. This competition
with Hearst, particularly the coverage before and during the Spanish-American
War, linked Pulitzer's name with yellow journalism.
After the World exposed a fraudulent payment of $40 million by the United States
to the French Panama Canal Company in 1909, Pulitzer was indicted for libeling
Theodore Roosevelt and J. P. Morgan. The courts dismissed the indictments in a
victory for freedom of the press.
In 1892, Pulitzer offered Columbia University's president, Seth Low, money to
set up the world's first school of journalism. The university initially turned
down the money, evidently unimpressed by Pulitzer's unscrupulous character. In
1902, Columbia's new president Nicholas Murray Butler was more receptive to the
plan for a school and prizes, but it would not be until after Pulitzer's death
that this dream would be fulfilled. Pulitzer left the university $2 million in
his will, which led to the creation in 1912 of the Columbia University Graduate
School of Journalism, but by then at Pulitzer's urging the Missouri School of
Journalism had been created at the University of Missouri. Columbia's Graduate
School of Journalism remains one of the most prestigious in the world.
Joseph Pulitzer died aboard his yacht in the harbor of Charleston, South
Carolina in 1911. He is interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.