William Randolph Hearst was a renowned American newspaper publisher, in addition to holding the political position of a representative in the U.S. House of Representatives, running for the Mayor of New York, and creating the Independent Party. Growing up in an extremely wealthy family provided much motivation for him to be successful throughout the course of his life. This lead to many outstanding achievements and a legacy that will never be forgotten.
William was born in San Francisco, California to his mining millionaire father George Hearst and mother Phoebe Apperson Hearst on April 29, 1863. His grandparents had immigrated from Ireland, under the motivation of Protestant immigration. His father was actively involved in working in some of the greatest mines in American history such as the Anaconda, Homestake, and Comstock mines. This provided great sums of money for the Hearst family, causing William to go through primary schooling and later went to Harvard University where he studied journalism. He worked on the Harvard Lampoon, which was the school’s undergraduate humor publication and social organization. In addition to this, he was also an apprentice under Joseph Pulitzer.
It was due to his training that William took over the management of his father’s newspaper company in 1887 that he had previously purchased in 1880 known as the San Francisco Examiner and later on, presented it with the nickname “Monarch of the Dailies.” It was during this time that he obtained the best equipment and the most talented writers of that day and age, which consisted of mean like Mark Twain and Jack London. As a self-proclaimed populist, Hearst carried on in this career and published stories of both municipal and financial corruption. He did this by way of attacking companies, and within a few years, his paper dominated the San Francisco market.
In 1896, with the financial aid of his mother, he bought the failing New York Morning Journal, and hired writers such as Stephen Crane and Julian Hawthorne. This caused him to get engaged in an intense circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer, who was the owner and publisher of the New York World. As a consequence the price of the Journal was reduced to one cent per copy, and in addition to the newspaper's attention grabbing headlines and interesting stories on popular subjects like crime and pseudoscience (a style referred to as yellow journalism, or a type of journalism that is not accurate in the news it presents, but rather uses intriguing headlines in order to make more money.) allowed the newspaper to maintain successfully high levels when it came to popularity from the general public.
After having a career in the newspaper business, Hearst moved on to being a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1907. After serving this term, he continued on and failed in the attempts to become mayor of New York City in both 1905 and 1909, and campaigned for governor of New York in 1906, but was defeated by Charles Evans Hughes. However, he still remained a devote Democrat, and even created the Independence Party. A change in Hearst's writings caused him to have a different reputation in the 1930s as his political views changed. In 1932, he was a loyal supporter of Roosevelt, and his newspapers vigorously supported the New Deal throughout 1933 and 1934. Hearst then supported FDR in spring 1935 when the President vetoed the Patman Bonus Bill, which caused his papers to be more dramatic, as portrayed by all-capital-letters editorials. Despite this, but he no longer hired energetic reporters and editorialists who had the opportunity to make serious attacks.
William Randolph Hearst died in Beverly Hills on August 14, 1951 when he was 88. In today’s modern times, the Hearst printing company owns 12 newspaper and 25 magazines (including the Cosmopolitan), and also manage other media corporations. This is due to his sons following in his footsteps and emerging themselves in the media industry. Hearst's impressive 90,000 square foot castle at San Simeon, California stands as a landmark as a reminder of his great achievements throughout his life. While his name is not familiar to those who do not know much about the history of journalism, and is renown to many of those who are familiar with its past. William Randolph Hearst's legacy still remains to this day, being that he was a superbly good businessman and successful politician.
