1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Tracy, have 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: you noticed we keep bumping up against Joseph Pulitzer. His 5 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: name just keeps returning. I mean that's normal because he's 6 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: one of those pivotal figures in history. His influence continues 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: right on through today, more than a century after his death. 8 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: A lot of times, if you talk about history and 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: the time he was alive, something is going to connect 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: to one of his papers. Uh. And while he started 11 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: out in pretty privileged circumstances that did not last, and 12 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: well before he was a famous name associated with journalism, 13 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: he was an immigrant in the United States with no money. 14 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 1: And today we're going to talk about his early life 15 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: right up through his rivalry with William Randolph Hurst. But 16 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: this is actually a two parter, although each of these 17 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: could more or less stand alone without too much confusion. Uh. 18 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: And that's largely because there are two really big events 19 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: that were pretty significant in his life and in the 20 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: world of journalism, but that he wasn't around four, and 21 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: we've kind of centered each episode around that. To some degree. 22 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 1: One of them will appear in this episode and the 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: other in part two. But like I said today, his 24 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: birth through that Hurst situation. So, Joseph Pulitzer was born 25 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: in Maco, Hungary on April tenth, eighty seven, to Philip 26 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: and Lee's Pulitzer. The Pulitzers were pretty wealthy. Philip was 27 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: from several generations of successful merchants, and Joseph and his 28 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 1: siblings were educated in private schools. They had private tutors. 29 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: When Joseph was eight, the family moved to pesh for 30 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: better business opportunities, and they found them. Pullip Pulitzer did 31 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: just extremely well there, and though Joseph had impressive educational opportunities, 32 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: he also had a bad temper that made him a 33 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: troublesome student. He loved to read, but he really hated 34 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: the restrictions involved with formal schooling. Yeah, there's one story 35 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: about him that I read in a biography that he 36 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: was such a pain in the neck that he drove 37 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: one of his tutors to jump out the window, which 38 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: is presumably a first floor window. But he basically was like, 39 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: I cannot wait to get to a door. I want 40 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: away from this child. But while he was still young. 41 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: There were also some tragedies. Joseph lost several of his 42 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: siblings and then his father, Philip, died in eighteen fifty 43 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:38,919 Speaker 1: eight at just the age of forty seven, So from 44 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,079 Speaker 1: the ages of nine to twelve, Joseph had lost five 45 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: siblings and his father, and to make matters worse, his 46 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 1: father's illness before he died had drained their savings, and 47 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:51,920 Speaker 1: his mother at least did not really know how to 48 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: manage the family's remaining money and didn't really have a 49 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: vocation to make more. So they were soon broke. But 50 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: things could have gotten really dire, but then Eli's remarried 51 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: to a man named Max Fry. At the age of seventeen, 52 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: Pulitzer moved to the US with the intention to serve 53 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: in the US Civil War, fighting for the Union. This 54 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: was not his first effort at joining a military. According 55 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: to some accounts, there are stories that he had tried 56 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: to enlist in the Austrian Army but was refused due 57 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,519 Speaker 1: to poor health and bad eyesight. Undaunted, then he tried 58 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: to enlist in the French Foreign Legion under Napoleon, which 59 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: was recruiting for soldiers to go to Mexico. He ran 60 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: into the same issue and was disqualified again because of 61 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: his health. His next try was with the British Army, 62 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: which needed men to serve in India. Was not accepted 63 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: there either, But then he met a bounty recruiter in 64 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: Germany who was looking for recruits for the US Union Army, 65 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: and that's how Pulitzer found himself bound for Boston on 66 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: a ship called the Garland. But Pulletzer had realized that 67 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: bounty recruiters, who were basically brokering the deals to recruit 68 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: almost anybody, we're pocketing and outsized portion of the bounty payments. 69 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: And in the case of this particular agent he was 70 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: working with, he was procuring people to serve it lieu 71 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: of wealthy young men who would otherwise be drafted. And 72 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: Joseph allegedly tried to skirt this system by leaving the 73 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: makeshift enlistment point the bounty hunters had set up on 74 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: Deer Island. He instead made his way to shore by 75 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,719 Speaker 1: waiting across a shallow channel headed to New York. He wasn't, 76 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: to be clear, trying to get out of service. He had, 77 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: after all, been hunting for a military contract. But he 78 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: got to a recruiting tent that had been hastily assembled 79 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: in City Hall Park, and there he made a deal 80 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: with a young man named Henry Vosberg, who was a farmer, 81 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: to serve in his stead, and Pulletzer got paid two 82 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,559 Speaker 1: hundred dollars for this. He used some of the money 83 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: to send his mother a gift to let her know 84 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 1: he was doing well. Pulitzer had lied about his age 85 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: to enlist. He said he was twenty when he was 86 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: only seventeen. But he knew how to ride a horse, 87 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: so he joined the Lincoln Cavalry. This was made up 88 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: mostly of German soldiers, but he had trouble getting along 89 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: with his fellow soldiers. They were not especially welcoming to 90 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: bounty hunted recruits, especially new bounty hunted recruits. He served, though, 91 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,360 Speaker 1: and was honorably discharged at the war's conclusion, and when 92 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: the war ended, Joseph looked for work in New York, 93 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: but he found this to be a pretty fruitless effort 94 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: because so many other soldiers, who unlike him, could speak English, 95 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: were doing exactly the same thing. After he finally received 96 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: some money from back home, he used that to move 97 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: to St. Louis, and there he started his career in journalism. 98 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:56,359 Speaker 1: He did not jump right into it though. First he 99 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: did various low level service jobs while he taught himself 100 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: in English from library books. And he also started studying 101 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: law the same way during this time. And it was 102 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: in the library in eighteen sixty eight that he met 103 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: two men who regularly played chess there, and, not knowing 104 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: who they were, Pulitzer made a comment about a mistake 105 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: he felt that one of the players had made, and 106 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: a conversation ensued. It turned out the two men were 107 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: editors for the vest Leecha Post, and this was a 108 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: German language newspaper that catered to St. Louis's German speaking community. 109 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:32,919 Speaker 1: They offered him a job working as a reporter, and 110 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: he accepted. Pulitzer worked really hard as a journalist for 111 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: this paper for several years. The thing that would really 112 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: change his trajectory from employee to mogul was really a 113 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: matter of chance. In eighteen seventy two, the papers owners 114 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: were nearly bankrupt and they offered Joseph Pulitzer the chance 115 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: to purchase a controlling interest in the paper as they 116 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: tried to bail themselves out. He took that chance, and 117 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: that meant when he was only twenty five, he owned 118 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: his first paper and he could call himself not just 119 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: a journalist, but a publisher. But then he sold the 120 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: vest Lecha Post pretty quickly. He made money on that deal. 121 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: And even before he had taken the vest Lecha Post job, 122 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: Joseph had become a U. S citizen and his brother 123 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: Albert had joined him. We'll probably talk a little bit 124 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: more about Albert in the behind the scenes on Friday. 125 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: And before he purchased that portion of the paper he 126 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: was offered, Pulitzer had also become involved in the Missouri 127 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: political scene through the papers contacts. He was elected to 128 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: the state legislature in eighteen sixty nine in part because 129 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: he was able to leverage the paper to support his campaign. 130 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: He would continue to use his news organizations to promote 131 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: the ideas and politicians and politics that he favored and 132 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: to attack those that he did not. As the eighteen 133 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: seventies began, Pulitzer was a member of a group of 134 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: people who wanted to reform the Republican Party. They felt 135 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: like there was too much corruption in the administration of 136 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: President Ulysses S. Grant, and that was something a lot 137 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: of people agreed with these reformers eventually founded the Liberal 138 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: Republican Party. It was the Liberal Republican Party that nominated 139 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: Horace Greeley for president in eighteen seventy two. That campaign 140 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: was disastrous, though likely led to Greeley's demise, and when 141 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: the election was over, a really disheartened Pulletzer switched to 142 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: the Democratic Party and he remained there for the rest 143 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: of his life. In the eighteen seventies, Pulletzer flipped another 144 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: German language newspaper, once again in St. Louis. In eighteen 145 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: seventy four, he purchased stats Zeitung, which had mediocre subscriber numbers, 146 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 1: but it was a member of the Associated Press, so 147 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: Pulletzer sold that paper to the St. Louis Globe, and 148 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: that meant that the Globe would get membership in the 149 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: Associated Press, something its owners had wanted but had not 150 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: been able to secure to that point. This was a 151 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: legal move, but it was also a legal move through 152 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:07,960 Speaker 1: a loophole, and it made some other St. Louis papers 153 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: pretty angry. But it made Pulitzer between eleven thousand and 154 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars profit. The exact number is unknown, but 155 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: he added that to the money he had already made 156 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: flipping the Vice Lecha Post. His estimated ready capital at 157 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: that point was somewhere between thirty thousand and forty thousand dollars, 158 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: and he started investing. He also returned to his law 159 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: studies and passed the Bar exam. Coming up, we'll talk 160 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: about significant changes in Pulitzer's personal life and that first 161 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: big event we mentioned at the top of the show. First, though, 162 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:54,319 Speaker 1: we will pause for a sponsor break. In eight, Pulitzer 163 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: had two pretty big events happened in his life, one 164 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: professional and one personal. On the professional front, he made 165 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: a much bigger move in the newspaper industry when he 166 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: bought a controlling interest in the St. Louis Dispatch and 167 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,599 Speaker 1: then also acquired the St. Louis Post, and it was 168 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: at that point that the two papers were merged into 169 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: one entity, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, which continues to 170 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: exist today. And on a personal front, he married Catherine Davis, 171 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: who went by Kate. When the two of them married, 172 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: Pulitzer was thirty one and Kate was twenty six. This 173 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 1: was a match that would have been way out of 174 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: Pulitzer's league socially, only a few years earlier. Kate was 175 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: from a prominent family from Washington, d c. And one 176 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: Pulitzer biography, her family was described as Southern landed gentry, 177 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: although they didn't have the kind of wealth they once did. 178 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: I'm taking this to a lot of places that just 179 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: involved plantations in the aftermath of the Civil War. That 180 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: is a fully fair place to take it. Uh. There 181 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: was also a bit of exception in this match because 182 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: Joseph wasn't entirely honest with Kate in her family about 183 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:11,839 Speaker 1: being Jewish. While her family had noted that Pulitzer looked Jewish, 184 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,360 Speaker 1: he had told them that his father was Jewish, but 185 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: his mother was Catholic, and as Jewishness is considered to 186 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,440 Speaker 1: pass down maternally, this explained away any characteristics that would 187 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: have been perceived as Jewish, while still smoothing things out 188 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 1: with Kate's Episcopalian parents. He was honest with her about 189 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: who he was as a person, though he told her 190 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: plainly in letters that he was selfish and cold, and 191 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:40,680 Speaker 1: as they were planning their wedding and their honeymoon, he 192 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:45,479 Speaker 1: switched up the plan repeatedly, often because of his business interests, 193 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: but Kate really rolled with this inconsistent behavior, and at 194 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:53,239 Speaker 1: one point you wrote to her, your pluck is really splendid, 195 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: which that's a great description. Yes, I made a note 196 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 1: that in the outline that I want that on a shirt. Yeah. 197 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: He also took off for New York just a few 198 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,599 Speaker 1: days before their wedding to see about a possible investment. 199 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: He told her to always expect him to prioritize these 200 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: kinds of opportunities. He made it back to St. Louis 201 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: two days later than planned, and then the wedding finally happened. 202 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: This is one of those big society events because between 203 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: his business connections and her family connections, all the most 204 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: powerful people in St. Louis were there. The newlyweds went 205 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: to Europe for a two month honeymoon, but Joseph was 206 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 1: just continually distracted by ideas about work or politics. I 207 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:42,719 Speaker 1: feel like he's not a person I would want to 208 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: be married to. And it doesn't sound like they had 209 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: the best marriage ever. Um, But they did have seven children, Lucille, Ralph, 210 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: Joseph Jr. Constance, Edith, Catherine, and Herbert. The Pulitzers were 211 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: not exactly what you would call hands on parents, as 212 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: you may have expected from what Joseph said, he was 213 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: gone a lot. They both sort of lived their lives, 214 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: and they let a governess take care of the kids 215 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: most of the time. Joseph didn't even meet some of 216 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: his children until weeks after they were born. Catherine died 217 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: when she was still a toddler, and their daughter Lucy 218 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: died at the age of seventeen after contracting typhoid, which 219 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: was really awful experience for everyone. For the next four 220 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,440 Speaker 1: years after getting married, Pulitzer ran the Post Dispatch and 221 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: dominated the news market in St. Louis. He worked just NonStop, 222 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: constantly at his desk, managing the paper right down to 223 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:41,560 Speaker 1: the minutia, often working long hours to the exclusion of 224 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,959 Speaker 1: any other pursuit, so he just he had no concept 225 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 1: of work life balance. One of the ways he grew 226 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 1: readership was by positioning the Post Dispatch as the paper 227 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: of the people and focusing on investigative journalism. Pulitzer's writers 228 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: chased down every story of corruption that they got even 229 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: the faintest lead on, and that really became the paper's identity. 230 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: This also drove up readership numbers significantly, and what had 231 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 1: been a lagging paper on shaky financial ground really grew 232 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: into a successful business. But then in two some events 233 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: unfolded that made St. Louis less hospitable to Pulitzer. And 234 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: we're actually going to veer away from Joseph Pulitzer story 235 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: here to tell this one, because while there are plenty 236 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: of very short mentions of it in accounts of Pulitzer's life, 237 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: it's something that was a very big deal at the time, 238 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: certainly a huge deal in St. Louis, and it changed 239 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: the trajectory of his business dealings, even though he wasn't 240 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: directly involved. That was really not prepared for the direction 241 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: this is about to go me either. When I found it. 242 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: I read one line about it in a biography, went 243 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: wait to wait, what what happened? And then I kept 244 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: digging and it became huge. Yeah. So this was a 245 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: matter with serious consequences, as we've been alluding to, But 246 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: it started with just a bunch of dudes bickering. They 247 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: started with a disagreement among lawyer John M. Glover, Colonel 248 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: James Broadhead, Colonel Alonso slay Back, and John A. Cockerell. 249 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: Broadhead was running for Congress in eighteen eighty two and 250 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: The Post Dispatch published a lot of criticism of him, 251 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 1: just really a lot. His associates got drawn into the 252 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: criticism and tried to defend him, and that included his 253 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: friend and law partner, Cardinal Alonso slay Back. Slay Back 254 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 1: had fought for the conspederacy during the Civil War and 255 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: had then become a school teacher and a lawyer after 256 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: the war ended. On October twelfth, eight two, slay Back 257 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: attended a meeting of Democratic voters of the Eighteenth Word 258 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:55,480 Speaker 1: of St. Louis, and at that meeting he made a 259 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: public statement that Pulitzer's paper needed to stop targeting Broadhead. 260 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: In the October thirteenth edition of the Post Dispatch, a 261 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: letter from a man named John Glover was printed, and 262 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: that was very insulting to Alonso Slayback. This was not, 263 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 1: it seems, at all, about his behavior at the meeting, 264 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: but about an exchange that the two men Glover and 265 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: slay Back, had during a court trial that they had 266 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: both been involved in. The letter is framed in a 267 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: way that makes it seem that Glover wanted to respond 268 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: to the paper's account of what had happened during that 269 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: exchange in the courtroom, and among other things, Glover had 270 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:35,160 Speaker 1: apparently been insulted by Slayback, called an impertinent young puppy, 271 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: and he wanted to put his own version of the 272 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: events that had taken place in print for everyone to see. 273 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: But the paper did not only print Glover's note, it 274 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: also printed this intro quote, Mr Alonso W. Slayback, an 275 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: individual whose chief claim to distinction rests upon the fact 276 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: that he is the law partner of Colonel James O. Broadhead, 277 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 1: rose in a meeting of Democratic word politicians in this 278 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: city last night, and without personal provocation, proceeded to apply 279 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: a string of vile and virulent epithets to the Post 280 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:15,320 Speaker 1: Dispatch and its conductors, making charges which he knew to 281 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,360 Speaker 1: be false. And then it sets up the situation that, oh, 282 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,919 Speaker 1: do you remember this is the same Alonso Sleeback that 283 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 1: got in a rather public argument with another lawyer, Glover. 284 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: And then it prints the Glover letter to elaborate. So 285 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: Glover wrote quote. Now in simple justice to the colonel, 286 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,679 Speaker 1: it must be stated that he did not use the 287 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: language quoted until I had told the court several times 288 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: that I had no respect for him, and, as he 289 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:49,920 Speaker 1: correctly says, had induced him to discontinue a certain line 290 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: of remarks by telling him I would slap his face 291 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: at any time and place he might appoint except that courtroom, 292 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,920 Speaker 1: that he declined this invitation and pocketed those insults as 293 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 1: he names these expressions of abstract truth. He will be 294 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,400 Speaker 1: able to prove, as he says, by everyone in the courtroom, 295 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,720 Speaker 1: and candor compels me to make the same admission. But 296 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: when he says that the presence of the court and 297 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: the ladies restrained his valor, perfect frankness requires me to 298 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: say that, on the contrary, they account for it. In fact, 299 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 1: so far from being a brave man, the colonel, notwithstanding 300 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 1: his military title, is a coward. He dare not be 301 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: brave except in a courtroom or at church. And he 302 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,400 Speaker 1: will beg or cringe out of any difficulty into which 303 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 1: his vaporing humor may have gotten him. That's a cutting letter. 304 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:49,160 Speaker 1: It's a lot. So Glover's note continues, and it continues 305 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,679 Speaker 1: to insult Slayback, including a reference to him quote once 306 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:57,159 Speaker 1: marshaling a female sewing society. So sexism aside, that was 307 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: very insulting. H And here's the thing. That piece that 308 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,879 Speaker 1: Glover wrote that they printed was for more than a 309 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: year earlier. It was dated November eleven, so the paper 310 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: had dredged it up and reprinted it, undoubtedly knowing that 311 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: it was going to anger slay Back, and it did. 312 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,679 Speaker 1: This decision on the part of the paper was not 313 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: out of nowhere. There was ongoing conflict that led to it. 314 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,680 Speaker 1: Slay Back in the paper's managing editor, John A. Cockerell, 315 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: had gotten into a lot of arguments over the preceding months. 316 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: They ran into each other at events and social gatherings, 317 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 1: and there was also an incident at the Elks Club 318 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: in which slay Back had very vocally insulted Cockerell as 319 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: a person and as an editor. Cockerell had demanded an 320 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 1: apology that night and had gotten one, But when slay 321 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: Back was making a speech in support of Broadhead's campaign 322 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: a few days later, he accused Cockerell of blackmail. So 323 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: much bickering so that same evening that the paper printed 324 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:07,120 Speaker 1: Glover's letter, so remember that was October, slay Back went 325 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: to the offices of the Post Dispatch. He had gone 326 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: there with a friend, William H. Clopton, and according to Clopton, 327 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:17,880 Speaker 1: Slayback's intention was to slap the editor's face and then 328 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,760 Speaker 1: demand an apology and a retraction. But that is not 329 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: what happened. Instead, Cockerell pulled out a revolver and shot 330 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: slay Back in the heart at close range. When I 331 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,440 Speaker 1: got to this part of reading this the first time through, 332 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: I went, WHOA that escalated quickly. Was not what I 333 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,639 Speaker 1: thought was going to happen. So what exactly happened in 334 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,680 Speaker 1: this incident was relayed in two completely different ways by 335 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:49,160 Speaker 1: the eyewitnesses to the events. William H. Clopton said that 336 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: as he followed his friends slay Back into the editor's office, 337 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 1: he saw him taking off his coat, telling Cockerell to 338 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: put his pistol down. But three employees of the Post 339 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,440 Speaker 1: Dispatch who were there stated that they saw Slayback pull 340 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:07,560 Speaker 1: a gun first, and that Cockerell fired in self defense. 341 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: There was a pistol produced, but it was not proven 342 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 1: to have been in Slayback's hand. Yeah, there was no 343 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,640 Speaker 1: doubt that Cockerell had a pistol, But this other pistol 344 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: Cloppton had said didn't exist, And yet Cockerel's eyewitnesses were like, yes, 345 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:27,159 Speaker 1: we have it right here. Cockerell had initially left the scene, 346 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: but friends convinced him to turn himself into the police, 347 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: and he spent three days in jail, during which he 348 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: was described as being very remorseful about how things had 349 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: gone in the newspaper office. He was released on bail 350 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: and a grand jury examined the evidence available to determine 351 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: if this case should go to trial, and Cockerell came 352 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,920 Speaker 1: out looking pretty good in that analysis. He had several 353 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: witnesses to support the account that Slayback had threatened his 354 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: life with a firearm, and slay Back had come to 355 00:21:56,119 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: his office. Cockerell had not sought slay Back out. He Eventually, 356 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: three different grand juries ended up looking at this matter, 357 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: and none of them determined that it should go to trial. 358 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: Cockerell was a freeman, although he was kind of reviled 359 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,879 Speaker 1: by most of St. Louis, and by extension, Joseph Pulitzer 360 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,440 Speaker 1: was also finding St. Louis to be a bit too 361 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,720 Speaker 1: hot for his personal liking. He was also having a 362 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: number of health issues. His vision, which had always been 363 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,399 Speaker 1: a little poor, was really starting to fail, and his 364 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: general health was not well. No doubt this was connected 365 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: to his refusal to ease up on his work schedule 366 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,800 Speaker 1: at all, and even if there had been no public 367 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: outcry against the paper and it's part in the death 368 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: of Alonso Slayback, was still a really stressful situation. So 369 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: Pulitzer's doctor directed him to go on vacation. He and 370 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: Kate planned to head to Europe in early eight eight three, 371 00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 1: but they first had to travel to New York to 372 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: board the steamer that would take them across the Atlantic, 373 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: and as it turned out, Joseph Pulitzer did not board 374 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: that steamer. He took a meeting instead, and that meeting 375 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 1: was with Jay Gould, who was today often characterized as 376 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: a robber baron. Gould had made a fortune in the 377 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: railroad industry and had turned that fortune into a lucrative 378 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: financing business. Pulitzer and Gould discussed a New York newspaper 379 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: that was like other papers that Pulitzer had purchased in 380 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,440 Speaker 1: a precarious state when it came to money. That was 381 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,199 Speaker 1: The New York World, a paper that Gould owned and 382 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:34,199 Speaker 1: was pretty eager to get rid of because it was 383 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:37,639 Speaker 1: not making him money, and so Pulitz are offered to 384 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 1: buy it. So those doctor's orders to take a break 385 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: really went out the window. When Pulitzer bought The World, 386 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: Pulitzer threw himself into his work once again, determined to 387 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 1: turn this lagging paper into a success in the same 388 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,399 Speaker 1: way he had done in St. Louis. He moved John 389 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:00,399 Speaker 1: Cockerell to New York to serve as managing editor of 390 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: the World. And this was something that a lot of 391 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,440 Speaker 1: people saw as rewarding a man who had shot somebody 392 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,879 Speaker 1: with an even more lucrative position. It just seemed like 393 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: a reasonable interpretation. Yeah, it's interesting how that particular detail 394 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: gets relayed. Some people put it that way. They're like, oh, 395 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: he got rewarded, and others are like, well, Pulitzer had 396 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 1: to get him out of St. Louis because he wasn't 397 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,080 Speaker 1: safe there anymore, because people were really really angry about 398 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: the whole thing. I suppose it's a matter of point 399 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: of view. But coming up, we're going to dig into 400 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: the relationship that Pulitzer is probably most famous for, not 401 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: with his family or friends, but with rival William Randolph Hurst. 402 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:42,959 Speaker 1: But first we will hear from the sponsors that keep 403 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: stuff you missed in history class. Going the last two 404 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,919 Speaker 1: decades of the nineteenth century, we're a time when journalism 405 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,120 Speaker 1: changed really considerably, and a lot of that is due 406 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:05,640 Speaker 1: to decisions that Pulitzer made. The World suddenly became very 407 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: politically slanted in favor of the Democratic Party, and it 408 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: also started to publish a lot of features about Republican 409 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: politicians caught in scandals. And this is also when sensationalism 410 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 1: became just a huge part of selling papers. In seven, 411 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: Pulitzer started to publish The New York Evening World to 412 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: supplement the news cycle. That same year, though Pulitzer also 413 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 1: stepped away from his hands on involvement in the papers. 414 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: Up to that point, he was involved in the day 415 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: to day running and decisions of the World and the 416 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: Evening World. Even small decisions really came down to him. 417 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: If you listen to our two parter on Charles Chapin, 418 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,679 Speaker 1: it's right after The New York World building was completed 419 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 1: on Newspaper Row that Chapin made his way to New 420 00:25:55,080 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: York and ended up working for Pulitzer's news organization. We 421 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,400 Speaker 1: mentioned in that story that Chapin ended up being very 422 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 1: powerful at Pulitzer's Papers, and it was because Joseph Pulitzer 423 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,400 Speaker 1: felt that he needed somebody else to handle business because 424 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: of the issues that he was having with his vision 425 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: and his general health. Yeah, later down the road in 426 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 1: the timeline, there was a big reorg and Chapin was 427 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: one of the people that ended up with a lot 428 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: of power. Uh. And in addition to health issues, Pulitzer 429 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,680 Speaker 1: in a way became the victim of his own success 430 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 1: or more accurately, of his competitor's attacks. Because of his success, 431 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,879 Speaker 1: he had grown the world to a staggering circulation of 432 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 1: six hundred thousand, and other publishers were just tired of 433 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:43,920 Speaker 1: losing readers to Pulitzer. The New York Sun's publisher, Charles 434 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: Anderson Dana, had his own reporters dig up as much 435 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: information on Pulleitzer as they could, and then they combed 436 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 1: through it for information that could be used in personal 437 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,399 Speaker 1: attacks against him. The main message that Dana ran was 438 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: that Pulitzer had hidden his Jewishness, something that really did 439 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: not go over well with the large Jewish readership of 440 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,680 Speaker 1: the world. Pulitzer, like a lot of Jewish businessmen at 441 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,679 Speaker 1: the time, had really downplayed his Jewish heritage. He and 442 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 1: Kate belonged to an Episcopalian church where their children had 443 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 1: been baptized, but that really didn't matter. In addition to 444 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: alienating Jewish readers, Dana's efforts also played on growing anti 445 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,160 Speaker 1: Semitic bias in New York, so it also alienated non 446 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: Jewish readers who were more aligned with that bigoted stance. 447 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,760 Speaker 1: And all of this took a further toll on Pulitzer's 448 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: physical well being, and he handed off even more of 449 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: the paper's management. But even as he ceded the majority 450 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:51,879 Speaker 1: of daily decisions to trusted managing editors in make no mistake, 451 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,880 Speaker 1: Pulitzer was still involved at a high level making sure 452 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: that the policies that those managing editors based all of 453 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: their decisions on were what had wanted. A lot of 454 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: journalism innovations that are credited to Pulitzer into the New 455 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: York World are the results of the competition between Pulitzer 456 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:15,960 Speaker 1: and William Randolph Hurst. In eight seven. Hearst's father had 457 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: let William take over the San Francisco Examiner that was 458 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: a paper that had really turned into a money pit, 459 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,239 Speaker 1: first modeled its makeover on what Pulitzer had done with 460 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: the New York World. He admired The World's success, but 461 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: he did not admire Pulitzer, who he referred to with 462 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: various anti Semitic sentiments in Hearst. With both the family 463 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,960 Speaker 1: money and the confidence that came with making The Examiner successful, 464 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 1: bought the New York Journal and immediately started trying to 465 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: take market share from Pulitzer. We're gonna talk a little 466 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: bit more about that purchase on Friday because it involves 467 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: Pulletzer's brother Do Dot done. Uh. There are some more 468 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 1: fun aspects to the chain, just that Pulitz are made 469 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: at the world that we'd really think of today as 470 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: the ingredients that make up a well rounded newspaper. Although 471 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 1: these were, as we said, tied to his ongoing competition 472 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: with Hurst. This was a time when the New York 473 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 1: papers introduced features like sports pages and illustrations and even 474 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:22,280 Speaker 1: fashion coverage. And another major component that Pulitzer helped to 475 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: introduce was regular comic strips. We've referenced the Yellow Kid 476 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: comic strip on the show before. This was really where 477 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: that started. This character that came to be known as 478 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: the Yellow Kid started out as an ensemble in a 479 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:40,719 Speaker 1: strip called Hogan's Alley. Hogan's Alley was intended as a 480 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 1: portrait of the lives of the city's poor residence. The 481 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: Yellow Kid was bald, suggesting that his head had been 482 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: shaved to either treat or prevent lice, and he wore 483 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: an oversized yellow night shirt. His shirt was a canvas 484 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: for the Yellow Kid's dialogue, which was usually a quippy 485 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 1: commentary on the topic of the strip. This strip, created 486 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: by Richard f Outcoll, became really popular, and the Kid, 487 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: whose name was actually Mickey Dougan, was the breakout character. 488 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 1: Hogan's Alley had initially appeared in a weekly magazine called 489 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: Truth in eighteen four, and then Pulletzer picked it up 490 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 1: for the World in eight and Hogan's Alley was a 491 00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: Sunday comic and it ran in color, and it was 492 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 1: very popular, so popular that William Randolph Hurst hired Richard 493 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: f out Called Away from the World to draw the 494 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: strip for the New York Journal. But the Yellow Kid 495 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: and Hogan's Alley was not copyrighted Outcohol didn't own it, 496 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,440 Speaker 1: so pullets Are just hired another artist, George Lux to 497 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: continue the Hogan's Alley strip in the World. Those two 498 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: strips ran concurrently and often with very different tones, While 499 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 1: both of them retained the tenement setting and the social 500 00:30:55,440 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: commentary hearst paper tended to be more extreme and sometimes evener. 501 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 1: There was a lot more violence, and all of that 502 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 1: was reflected in the trajectory of the writing of the 503 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: Hogan's Alley comic. But the real legacy of Mickey Dougan 504 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 1: the Yellow Kid was that the term yellow journalism was 505 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 1: coined because of his oversized yellow shirt. It was actually 506 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 1: called yellow Kid journalism before it got shortened, So yellow 507 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: journalism came to mean the prioritization of circulation and numbers 508 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: and income over journalistic integrity. You'll also see it described 509 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 1: in different ways or defined in different ways of people 510 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: like making just ridiculous claims or comparisons in their their journalism. 511 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,320 Speaker 1: And this all happened as Hurst and Pulitzer battled for 512 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: readers of New York and both of their papers opted 513 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: for outlandish and i grabbing headlines and writing instead of 514 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 1: even keel well researched news reporting. This competitive, sensationalized news 515 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 1: approach of the world and journal in New York in 516 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: the eight nineties is often I did as at worst 517 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 1: instigating the Spanish American War and at best influencing it. 518 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: There was just a lot of melodrama in the press 519 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,560 Speaker 1: about things that were happening in Cuba. Sometimes what was 520 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: reported was fully fabricated. Then, when the USS Maine sank 521 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:23,960 Speaker 1: in Havannah, harbor Hurst's papers pointed to Spain as having 522 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: been the likely attacker, running headlines that read quote, destruction 523 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: of the Worship Maine was the work of an enemy. 524 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: Naval officials think Maine was destroyed by a Spanish mine. 525 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 1: The set off a huge wave of anti Spanish sentiment 526 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,040 Speaker 1: in the US that escalated tensions between the two countries 527 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,960 Speaker 1: until talks broke down. There was really no evidence that 528 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: Spain had attacked when the journal ran that headline. The 529 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: US Navy inquiry determined that the main had been blown 530 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: up by a mine, but didn't attribute intense or blamed 531 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,720 Speaker 1: to anybody in the incident. In the court of public opinion, though, 532 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:09,480 Speaker 1: Spain became the villain. Yeah, there have even been historical 533 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 1: maritime researchers who even think it's possible that the main 534 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: had a malfunction that caused that explosion. But as far 535 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: as it was printed in the press, it was all 536 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 1: Spain's doing. Pulitzer had become an absentee publisher, and we're 537 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: going to talk more about this in the next episode. 538 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: But he was perpetually sending urgent telegraphs to his editors 539 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: about how they must handle things, and in the game 540 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 1: of sensationalism, the World had really lost a significant amount 541 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: of readers to Hurst. And this is when the incident 542 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: that we mentioned in the Charles Chapin episode happened, where 543 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,360 Speaker 1: the World published an article based on a fake one 544 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: that was purposely planted by Hurst. Uh And then, of 545 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: course that incident was embarrassing, and Hurst pounced to capitalize 546 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: on it and point out, they are literally really copying us. 547 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: They had no leads. Pulitzer re orged the institution and 548 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,440 Speaker 1: instructed his editors to become men of action and to 549 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: do whatever was needed to right the ship and stop 550 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:17,279 Speaker 1: the behaviors and articles that were completely tanking the world's name. Pulitzer, 551 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: always working remotely, made policies for The New York World 552 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:25,120 Speaker 1: that changed its tone considerably, so gone where the sensationalized 553 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: yellow journalism style articles replaced by the investigative journalism exposing 554 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 1: corruption that had been the hallmark of all of his 555 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,359 Speaker 1: papers before his battle with Hurst. So that's where we're 556 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: going to end part one, and part two we will 557 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: get into Pulitzer's most high profile legal battle and his 558 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 1: more personal struggles. Do you also have listener mail? I 559 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,680 Speaker 1: do I do? This is from our listener eron and 560 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: it's kind of a reminder to myself and an example 561 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,719 Speaker 1: of how things fall through the cracks and a promise 562 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,120 Speaker 1: that I will get on top of it. Uh are 563 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,440 Speaker 1: in right side Dracy and Holly. I recently visited San 564 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: Francisco for the first time and only had a day 565 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,839 Speaker 1: and a half in the city before returning home. During 566 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: the short trip, I tried to see as much as possible, 567 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:11,960 Speaker 1: so I wrote a cable car, I ate at some 568 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,160 Speaker 1: iconic restaurants, and I walked twelve miles up, down, and 569 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,920 Speaker 1: around the island. During my walk, I listened to a 570 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: few episodes about San Francisco from Stuff You Missed in 571 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,160 Speaker 1: History class to learn more you know full tourist mode. 572 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,240 Speaker 1: I have an inquiry about something mentioned in San Francisco 573 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 1: nineteen o six, the Great Quake and Fire. Holly said 574 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: she would be doing an episode on the graph Trials. 575 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:33,720 Speaker 1: I haven't found that episode and wondered if these trials 576 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:36,480 Speaker 1: were still on your subject list for a future episode. 577 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: I'd love to learn about what went down after the disaster. 578 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:41,839 Speaker 1: If you have covered it and I missed it, I apologize. 579 00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:43,760 Speaker 1: I'm a new listener to stuff you missed in history 580 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,360 Speaker 1: class and haven't gotten caught up yet. I've loved everything 581 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,440 Speaker 1: I've heard and can't wait to learn more. You have 582 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:50,759 Speaker 1: a new fan and subscriber in me. Have a great 583 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,439 Speaker 1: day and happy holidays. Uh. This will come out after 584 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: the holidays, but thanks Sarah, I'm going to presume my 585 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:59,280 Speaker 1: hat a happy holidays. Um, I haven't done that episode. 586 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,400 Speaker 1: It's one that I kep prowling around and I haven't 587 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 1: done it yet. So I'm hoping because I'm kind of 588 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: working through the holidays, that I will get on top 589 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,279 Speaker 1: of it and that in the new year when this 590 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: when you hear this, that it will be well in process. 591 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,000 Speaker 1: But that happens right like things every episode, I mean, 592 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:22,319 Speaker 1: I'm not every episode. Most episodes, though, UM kind of 593 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,919 Speaker 1: spawn a little side marginal in the notebook of like, oh, 594 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:27,640 Speaker 1: this could also be an episode. This could also be 595 00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 1: an episode. This could also be an episode, And then 596 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,000 Speaker 1: sometimes I get to them and sometimes I don't. But 597 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:33,839 Speaker 1: that was a really good one. So thank you Eron 598 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: for the reminder because I need to get on that uh. 599 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:39,400 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us and remind 600 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:41,680 Speaker 1: me of stuff I said that I forgot about, that's cool. 601 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 1: You could see that at the History podcast at iHeart 602 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,120 Speaker 1: radio dot com. You can also find us on social 603 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,400 Speaker 1: media as Missed in History, and if you have not 604 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 1: subscribed to the podcast, you can do that on the 605 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: I heart radio app or anywhere you listen to your 606 00:36:54,160 --> 00:37:02,080 Speaker 1: favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 607 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,319 Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I 608 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:08,799 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 609 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:10,720 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.