William Randolph Hearst Essay, Research Paper

 INTRODUCTION

American journalism and mass media were both profoundly influenced by a very

dominating figure. In the last decade of the 19th century up until the end of the first half of the 20th

century, William Randolph Hearst was a mega-force to be reckoned with. Hearst was a famous

American publisher who built up the nation’s largest chain of newspapers. He was also a political

figure and one of the leading figures during the Spanish-American War period. In his newspapers,

he introduced a sensational journalistic style of writing and spent millions of dollars to fascinate and

captivate readers. This kind of journalism was described by critics as “Yellow Journalism.”

During his lifetime, even up until today, he has been respected, feared, loathed and envied by his

friends and enemies alike. A man in his position was capable of being the greatest constructor or

the most destructive evil of the Nation.

BIOGRAPHY

On 29th day of April 1863, in San Francisco, California, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, in great

torment, gave birth to a boy in her bedroom. The boy was named William Randolph Hearst.

William Randolph Hearst was the only child of George and Phoebe Hearst. His father, George

Hearst ( 1820-1891 ), was not born into a rich and wealthy family. He did his share of the labor at

a lead mine near his home. Mining had always fascinated him even from his childhood years. He

later earned the nickname the “Boy-That-Earth-Talked-To” from the miners he was working with.

With tremendous luck, hard working and blessings, he worked his way to become a multimillionaire

miner and had also become a United States Senator from California ( 1886-1891 ). His mother,

Phoebe Apperson Hearst ( 1842-1919 ), was a philanthropist and a school teacher from Missouri.

She had gained national fame for her gifts to needy students and educational institutions. While

Hearst was a boy, his father traveled throughout the West, from Mexico to Alaska, becoming a

partner in three of the largest mining discoveries ever recorded in American history: the Comstock

( silver ) Lode in Nevada, the Homestake ( gold ) Mine in South Dakota and the Anaconda (copper)

Mine in Montana. These three findings paved George Hearst the way to his millions.

George Hearst, in October of 1880, bought a small daily newspaper called the San Francisco

Examiner. He saw that the ownership of this newspaper can be used as a political organ and would

be beneficial to him. George took steps to improve the Examiner by hiring Emanuel Katz as the

general manager and expanded the workforce. Despite the fact that he did make some efforts in the

newspaper business, he had shown very little interest in the industry. At that time, he was very

interested in politics and later became a United States Senator from California as it was mentioned

above.

In the fall of 1882, William Randolph Hearst, aged nineteen, entered Harvard University.

But Hearst did not stay in Harvard University for long before being expelled in 1885 because of

practical jokes he played on the professors. Around the year 1884 – 1885, William wrote a letter

to his father requesting that he be entitled to take over the San Francisco Examiner. One of the

sentences from the letter he wrote to his father was “Now if you should make over to me the

Examiner—with enough money to carry out my schemes—I’ll tell you what I would do!”

His father had hoped that William would inherit the management of his mining and ranching

interests but William denied his father’s desire. So on the 7th of March 1887, William Randolph

Hearst took control and became the proprietor of his father’s struggling newspaper, San Francisco

Examiner. Hearst, aged 23 then, showed a lot of versatility and was ascertained to make this

newspaper popular. Many believed that Hearst was simply an amateur. He quickly set about

disproving that by dedicating long hours and much energy to the newspaper. As owner and also the

editor of the newspaper, he accumulated the best equipment, improved its appearance and its

relationship with the advertisers. Most importantly, he hired the most talented journalists possible.

He nicknamed the paper “The Monarch of the Dailies.” In order to boost circulation, Hearst

published a lot of news articles regarding corruption and motivating stories filled with drama. That

type of journalism became the trademark of the San Francisco Examiner and of Hearst’s journalism.

Hearst, combining sensationalism with a civic reform campaign, made his newspaper prospered

within a few years.

In 1895, Hearst moved to New York City and entered the New York City newspaper market

by purchasing a second newspaper, the unsuccessful New York Morning Journal. One year later,

he began the publication of the Evening Journal. His newspaper, the Morning Journal, entered

into a series of fierce head-to-head circulation wars with his former mentor Joseph Pulitzer, owner

of the New York World. In order to defeat his competitors, Hearst hired such proficient writers as

Stephen Crane and Julian Hawthorne and raided the New York World for some of Joseph Pulitzer’s

best men, particularly Richard F. Outcault, the inventor of color comics. He also made some very

intelligent and strategic moves as he tried to out-maneuver Pulitzer. Hearst simply hired Pulitzer’s

writers with more money. He recruited many very talented writers including Ambrose Bierce, Mark

Twain, Richard Harding Davis and the talented sketch artist Frederic Remington.

Many factors had contributed to the success of the New York Journal. Factors such as price

reduction of one cent; expanding it to sixteen pages; increasing the use of many illustrations, adding

color magazine sections and glaring headlines; including sensational articles on crime,

pseudoscientific and foreign affair topics. Although Hearst suffered great financial loss from taking

those actions to improve the newspaper in the beginning; however, within months, the combined

daily circulation of the Morning Journal and the Evening Journal had reached the unprecedented

figure of 1.5 million sales.

Hearst played a vital role in provoking the American public’s anger by publishing

exaggerated news on what the Spanish did in Cuba. In order to surpass Pulitzer, Hearst ran a series

of articles in his newspapers blaming the Spanish for the sinking of the USS Maine with a mine.

He also wrote many stories on Cuba that were greatly exaggerated to make them more sensational.

That was when the term “Yellow Journalism” came in. Hearst also wrote other stories with

exaggerations to capture the American public. More and more Americans, entranced by the

outrageous stories, started buying his newspapers. That had encouraged Hearst to write even more

of those stories. The news articles on Cuba not only brought interest but also anger to the American

public. The last straw was when one of Hearst’s reporters, Richard Harding Davis, reported the

story on how Clemencia Arango was being kicked and stripped searched by Spanish detectives.

That greatly angered the American public, even when the story was corrected to say that Arango was

searched by another woman, not the detectives. Hearst, with his newspapers, had secured the public

on his side and the government had no choice but to declare war on Spain. Because of his leading

role in arousing the war, he was given the nickname, the “Father of Yellow Journalism.”

On the 28th day of April 1903, the day before Hearst’s fortieth birthday, William Randolph

Hearst married Millicent Wilson in New York City. For their honeymoon, they drove across the

European continent. That trip inspired Hearst to launch his first magazine, Motor. That had helped

form what is now an international operation known as Hearst Magazines. He later produced other

magazines such as the Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, House Beautiful and

Good Housekeeping.

Hearst continued his interests in communications and his company was the first print-media

company to enter the radio broadcasting business in the 1920s. He was a major producer of movie

newsreels and started the legendary newsreel production company, Hearst Metrotone News in 1929.

Then in the 1940s, he entered the television business. At the peak of his fortune in 1935, he owned

twenty-eight major newspapers, eighteen magazines, several radio stations, movie production

companies and news services.

Meanwhile, Hearst, like his father, had political ambitions. He was elected twice as a

Democrat into the United States House of Representatives to represent New York from 1903 to

1907. In 1904, he strived for the Democratic nomination for President but failed to win. He ran for

the mayor of New York City in 1905 but fell three thousand votes short for the win. His request to

become governor of New York in 1906 failed. He lost to Charles Evans Hughes. Once again,

Hearst ran for the mayor of New York City in 1909 and suffered a huge defeat. He could not attain

the offices he sought including the nomination for senator from New York in 1922.

In 1927, he gave up on New York and moved to his enormous estate to California. This

240,000-acre estate, in San Simeon, was considered one of the most lavish private dwellings in the

United States. Built in the 1920s, the estate fronted by fifty miles of ocean water, four majestic

castles, containing a vast and priceless collection of antiques and art objects that he had brought in

from Europe and all over the world. But the Great Depression of the 1930s seriously weakened his

financial status. He had to sell faltering newspapers and magazines. By 1937, he was forced to

begin selling off some of his priceless art collection. After 1940, he had lost personal control of his

vast communications empire that he had built. He lived the last few years of his life in isolation.

Hearst died at about 9:50 on the morning of August 14, 1951, in Beverly Hills, California. He lived

to be 88 years old. All five of his sons followed their father into the media business. After Hearst’s

death, there was a big question about the castle. In Hearst’s will, he wished that the castle, along

with all the items within it including the priceless works of art, might go to the University of

California as a memorial to his mother. The University refused with thanks. They could not afford

to maintain such a magnificent mansion. Likewise, the Hearst family and the Hearst Corporation

directors were unenthusiastic about spending money on Hearst’s dream. A $30,000,000 castle that

could neither be sold nor given away. Finally in 1957, the State of California accepted the castle

as a gift.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

OF SUBJECT

William Randolph Hearst was, at his time, a very powerful and brilliant young man. Being

so wealthy and in such a status, he could have done anything he wished to do.

Hearst had almost singled-handedly mastered and overshadowed the mass communications

industry. At one point, he had dominated the mass media business by monopolizing the publication

of newspapers and magazines. He also owned several radio stations and participated in film

broadcasting by owning a movie production company. In fact, he was a major producer of a movie

newsreel then. In my opinion, his involvement in the communications business was almost second

to none during his time.

His introduction of the sensational journalistic style ( Yellow Journalism ) in the newspapers

had fascinated and captivated many readers. People started to call him the “Father of Yellow

Journalism.” He had influenced the Nation’s media with that kind of writing. He was brave enough

to start revealing the corruption amongst the private and government entities. All the people

involved in corruption lived in fear of Hearst because they were worried that Hearst might put them

in the front page. Some, because of Hearst, had stopped the act of corruption.

In view of his extensive association and control over the Nation’s communications network,

Hearst was considered one of the most influential persons during the period before the Spanish-

American War. He was so persuasive that he was believed to be one of the people responsible for

triggering the War. The Nation might not have gone into war with Spain if Hearst’s articles and

radio talks had not been persistently persuasive on how the United States was being humiliated by

Spain. A person like Hearst, in my opinion, could dominate the nation. Phoebe Hearst would never

have realized that she had given birth to a man who had the power to provoke a war. Although he

failed in his political endeavors of being elected as a senator nor a mayor, he did play a significant

role in effectuating a decision made by the politicians of the United States in declaring the Spanish-

American War.

Hearst was considered very successful in his life, in terms of his accomplishments and

achievements in the mass media and journalism world of communications. If it were not Hearst’s

ambitions and different strategies to pioneer his great journalism empire with diversified

publications, inspirational, sensational and extensive color coverages, the newspaper today could

be just a piece of paper with news printed in black and white. There would not have been a twist

to the articles.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, William Randolph Hearst, the founder of the Hearst Corporation, was a

person that could dominate the nation by the stroke of his pen. He started with a struggling

newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner, and turned it into a prosperous publication within a few

years. He also turned the unsuccessful newspaper, New York Journal, into the largest newspaper

chain in the United States through a series of strategies. Not only did he had the largest chain of

newspaper, he was also one of the largest owners of magazines. He had established a trademark of

“Hearst’s journalism” and was nicknamed the founder of the “Yellow Journalism” during the

Spanish-American War.

Despite his uneventful foray into politics, he remained throughout the decades as a very

dominating figure, a great motivating publisher and an opinion maker. Not only did he just

dominate the newspaper industry by owning 28 major publications, diversify his interests into

owning 28 magazines, several radio stations, movie production companies and news services. He

had succeeded in conquering the mass communications industry through excellent strategic moves.

He was believed to be one of the persons who had provoked the declaration of the Spanish-

American War. His persistent coverage on the Cuba events as well as his day-today articles on the

USS Maine’s sinking persuaded the Americans to go into war with Spain. His articles and

exaggerated stories had proved to be extremely influential to such an extent that the Government

had no alternative but to make the war declaration. With all the enormously exaggerated news

articles and stores published during that period, he was given the nickname of “Father of Yellow

Journalism.”

He was a man full of innovative ideas and was definitely a very successful business man for

decades, but because of the Great Depression, he was forced to sell his companies and later his art

collections he brought from all over the world.

After his death, San Simeon, Hearst’s 240,000 acre castle, was donated to the State of

California as a State park.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. “Citizen Hearst” by W.A. Swanberg. Scribner (1961); Collier Books (1986).

2. “William Randolph Hearst, American” by Mrs. Fremont Older. D. Appleton-Century

Company (1936).

3. “William Randolph Hearst, A New Appraisal” by John K. Winkler. Hastings House

Publishers (1955).

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