Joseph Pulitzer (10 April 1847 - 29 October 1911) was a Hungarian-American of mixed Jewish-Hungarian father and mixed German-Austrian mother. American newspaper editor and publisher. Iconic figure in the American popular press, founder of the Pulitzer Prize and the Columbia University School of Journalism.
Born on 10 April 1847 into a middle-class Hungarian family to a father, Philip Pulitzer, of Hungarian Magyar Jewish descent, and an Austrian mother, whose maiden name was Louise Gerber. Pulitzer was born to four brothers, two of whom died young, leaving him and his brother Albert as the only two left. Pulitzer received a good school education from an early age and was well trained in German and French. When his father died and his mother remarried, he ran away from home at the age of 17 because of a disagreement with his stepfather. At the same time, his admiration for Napoleon led him to join the army, but due to problems with his eyesight and physical strength, the Austrian conscription service did not go ahead. After failing to enlist in the Austrian army, he went on to enlist in the French army in Mexico and the British army in India, still without success. He later joined the U.S. Army's "Lincoln Cavalry" in Hamburg. He was discharged at the end of the Civil War and wandered around the United States in search of work, settling in the emerging Midwestern city of St Louis in 1865.
In 1867 Pulitzer was admitted to the United States and later to the bar, and in 1868 he met a man in St Louis who helped him - Karl Schulz (a German-born politician and journalist who served as US Minister to Spain, Senator and Secretary of the Interior, and was then owner of the German-language newspaper The Western Mail). He was hired by Schulz as a reporter for the Westiche Post and was elected to the state legislature a year later to establish the "Anti-Corruption Act".
In 1878, at the age of 31, Pulitzer launched his first newspaper, the St. Louis Express-Post, and thus began his career as a newspaper publisher. During his time there, Pulitzer attacked scandal and advocated social reform. In 1882, he bought the New York World from Goo for $346,000 and recruited journalists such as Nellie Bly (real name Elizabeth Cochran) and Richard F. Outcault to turn the paper's sales around, selling 100,000 copies.
In 1883, at the instigation of Pulitzer's Le Monde and himself, a fund-raising campaign was launched to welcome the Statue of Liberty, which contributed greatly to its successful completion. The New York World and Pulitzer won the respect and affection of the American public, and in 1889 he bought the French Building on Hyde Park, next to Frankfort Street, New York, for US$630,000 and built a new office building for the World on its site. At the same time his eyesight declined and he lost it completely in 1890. The day before the inauguration of the new New York World building, Pulitzer left for Europe to recuperate. Le Monde announced his resignation as editor-in-chief. This was the end of the newspaper business.
In 1892 the morning and evening editions totalled 347,000 copies and attracted a large source of advertising. Pulitzer is best known for laying the groundwork for American newspapers, such as the various columns, which became popular with cartoons such as Yellow Kid, the world's first colour cartoon and the origin of the yellow newspaper. 1892 was also the year when Pulitzer first offered a donation to Columbia University in New York to found a school of journalism, but was declined.
By 1901 Pulitzer had grown tired of the competition and removed the yellow section of the World's most attacked newspaper, and the yellow press faded. He is recognised as the founder of "journalism" in the 1870s and 1880s.
When Pulitzer discovered that the St. Louis Express, an old St. Louis newspaper, was being sold because it was not doing well, he bought the Express for $25,000. Thus, at the age of 31, Pulitzer finally had a newspaper of his own. But the paper had a circulation of only 24 copies. In order to change its old face, Pulitzer renamed it the St. Louis Express-Post, and on the front page of the new paper he published its mission statement - This paper will serve no political party but the people; it is not a spokesman for the Republican Party and will report only what is true; it will not support the President or Congress, but will give fair and careful criticism. This newspaper will attack all crime and corruption ......
The Express Mail was aimed at the general public and published daily stories that were relevant to the public, as well as articles and drawings that were popular with the public, and its circulation skyrocketed. The Pulitzer also liked to publish thought-provoking and controversial articles, such as one on taxation, for example. It published information on the amount of taxes paid by the rich and big businessmen, as well as those paid by workers and small businessmen. The reader could clearly see that the rich paid very little tax, while the poor paid more than they did. Within hours of the article appearing in the paper, the paper was sold out. Pulitzer pinned the last of the papers in the window at the front of the newspaper office and hid himself away, listening to the reaction of the crowded readers to the paper.
Naturally, Pulitzer offended people by doing this. Some big businessmen became angry and conspired with the big tax evaders to withdraw their advertisements from the Express Mail. This cost Pulitzer a lot of money, but his determination to challenge the forces of evil did not waver. What Pulitzer hated most in his life was the corruption of politics. Writing in the Express Mail, he once said: "What is the greatest destroyer of our political life? Corruption, of course. Why does it cause corruption? Naturally, it is greed for money. And who is the greatest instigator of greed for money? ...... Money is the greatest seductive force in the world today. Some have sold their souls for it, others have sold their bodies for it, and still others see money as all-powerful ......"
Pulitzer has quite a busy schedule as publisher and editor-in-chief. His career was expanding day by day and he had to have a right hand. He traveled almost all over the country and finally found a man named Kirkley, who was similar to him in character and had a lot of drive. Pulitzer then appointed him editor-in-chief. By 1881, the Express and Mail was selling well and Pulitzer was making a lot of money. He gave a portion of the profits to his staff to share. The editor-in-chief, in addition to a high salary, also participated in dividends at the end of the year. Particularly hard-working paperboys were given gold or silver watches. Every Christmas, the entire staff enjoyed a full chicken dinner. By this time, Pulitzer was the father of three children. Although his marriage and career were going well, Pulitzer's health was not as good as it used to be.
In the autumn of 1882, just as he and his family were about to go on holiday to California, there was a major incident at the newspaper office when a lawyer named Shrebeck, angered by a newspaper article against him, came to the office with a gun and killed Kirkley in self-defence. This case almost destroyed Pulitzer and his newspaper. Enemies from all sides gathered at the front door of the paper and threatened Pulitzer with execution. The frenzied crowd even threw lit torches through the windows. Pulitzer believed that killing was definitely bad, no matter what, and that it was the same for anyone who did it. The West was changing every day, was moving from barbarism to civilisation and should be solved by the rule of law. He gave the matter a hard time. First he had Kirkley released on bail to await trial outside prison. He himself went to New York with his family.
New York was a very different place from when he had been discharged from the cavalry and had become a very prosperous metropolis. In order to get a foothold in New York, Pulitzer thought it would be better to run a newspaper. On 11 May 1883, the first copy of the new World was printed and immediately caused an uproar, with many newspaper editors shaking their heads in disbelief that the paper would not work in New York. But every week it published an editorial written by Pulitzer himself. The editorials spoke to the hearts of working people and were a fierce attack on the rich and powerful of New York.
In the simplest of terms, Le Monde made a profound point and soon won readers. Pulitzer also used the newspaper as a front to support Grover Cleveland's presidential candidacy. Le Monde listed four reasons for supporting him: 1. He was an honest man; 2. Then within a few short years, Le Monde became a titan of journalism across America, and the shock it delivered was such that one had to look at it differently. Pulitzer was passionate about politics and in 1885 he was elected to the House of Representatives of New York City by a large margin in the congressional representation election.
However, his wife Katie was not happy; the busier her husband became, the less time he spent at home with her and the children. One day Katie joked with Pulitzer, "Joseph, you don't come home all day, you're out with another woman, aren't you?" But Pulitzer nodded and said, "Yes, she is much prettier than you, and I like her very much ......". It turned out that Pulitzer was talking about "Lady Liberty". He had heard in Congress that the French had raised a large sum of money to build a Statue of Liberty to be presented to the American people as a gift. The statue was ready and was waiting to be shipped to the United States. It was proposed that she be placed on high ground in Rhode Island so that she would be visible to everyone entering the port of New York, but Congress was slow to pass a budget.
Pulitzer was prepared to raise a sum of money so that the French gift could arrive in New York as soon as possible. He then appealed, through Le Monde, for donations. In October 1886, when the Statue of Liberty was erected in New York harbour, Pulitzer stood among the prominent people who officiated at the ceremony.
In 1887, Pulitzer was busy with an election in New York City, speaking, writing and planning day and night. His health was deteriorating. One night, editor-in-chief Kirkley walked into Pulitzer's office and saw him staring straight at himself, two lines of tears on his face. It turned out that Pulitzer could not see anything, he was blind in both eyes.
To recuperate, Pulitzer and Katie embarked on a long, leisurely trip around the world, passing through India, China and Japan. On his return to America, Pulitzer planned a new building for Le Monde. The land he bought was the site of the French hotel where he had been disgraced by the rich when he was discharged from the army in his old uniform, and where even the shoe shiners had sent him away.
On 10 December 1890, the New Pulitzer Building, the tallest building in New York, was completed. It was a 20-storey building with a basement for a printing press, a sales office on the ground floor, upmarket offices for rent on the second to tenth floors and a hub for Le Monde above the tenth floor. The gilded circular penthouse is the Pulitzer's office. On the eleventh floor are beautiful bedroom suites for editors who can't get home from work late. Pulitzer built the building without a penny of debt, and the $2 million building is entirely his own.