WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
Name: William Randolph Hearst
Born: 29 April 1863 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died: 14 August 1951 Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
William Randolph Hearst I (16 April 1863 - 14 August 1951) was an American
newspaper magnate.
Hearst was a leading newspaper publisher. The son of self-made millionaire
George Hearst, he became aware that his father had received a northern
California newspaper, The San Francisco Examiner, as payment of a gambling debt.
Still a student at Harvard, he asked his father to give him the newspaper to run.
In 1887, he became the paper's publisher and devoted long hours and much money
to making it a success. Crusading for civic improvement and exposing municipal
corruption, he greatly increased the paper's circulation.
Moving on to New York City, he acquired The New York Journal and engaged in a
bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World that led to the
creation of "yellow journalism"--sensationalized stories of dubious veracity.
Acquiring more newspapers, Hearst ultimately created a chain that at its peak
numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities. Eventually, he expanded into
magazines as well, building an enormous publishing empire.
Although he was elected three times to the U.S. House of Representatives, he was
defeated in 1906 in a race for governor of New York. Nonetheless, through his
newspapers and magazines, he exercised enormous political influence, most
notably in whipping up the public frenzy that pushed the U.S. into war with
Spain in 1898. His life story was a source of inspiration for the lead character
in Orson Welles' classic film, Citizen Kane.
Name: William Randolph Hearst
Born: 29 April 1863 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died: 14 August 1951 Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
William Randolph Hearst I (16 April 1863 - 14 August 1951) was an American
newspaper magnate.
Hearst was a leading newspaper publisher. The son of self-made millionaire
George Hearst, he became aware that his father had received a northern
California newspaper, The San Francisco Examiner, as payment of a gambling debt.
Still a student at Harvard, he asked his father to give him the newspaper to run.
In 1887, he became the paper's publisher and devoted long hours and much money
to making it a success. Crusading for civic improvement and exposing municipal
corruption, he greatly increased the paper's circulation.
Moving on to New York City, he acquired The New York Journal and engaged in a
bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World that led to the
creation of "yellow journalism"--sensationalized stories of dubious veracity.
Acquiring more newspapers, Hearst ultimately created a chain that at its peak
numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities. Eventually, he expanded into
magazines as well, building an enormous publishing empire.
Although he was elected three times to the U.S. House of Representatives, he was
defeated in 1906 in a race for governor of New York. Nonetheless, through his
newspapers and magazines, he exercised enormous political influence, most
notably in whipping up the public frenzy that pushed the U.S. into war with
Spain in 1898. His life story was a source of inspiration for the lead character
in Orson Welles' classic film, Citizen Kane.