The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst (17 page)
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Authors: Kenneth Whyte
BOOK: The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst
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Purple patches notwithstanding, the Schauer story was rooted in a vexing legal conflict between individual rights and public safety, and it deserved its spot on the front page. Despite the court’s ruling, the incarceration of young women on slight evidence continued apace. Within a year, another young literary phenomenon, Stephen Crane, would embroil himself and the
Journal
in a similar storyline, albeit with a less joyful outcome.
Journal
in a similar storyline, albeit with a less joyful outcome.
All the stories cited as evidence of Hearst ’s underwhelming performance in New York were far more interesting and substantive than might be gathered by glancing at their headlines. A stronger argument that Hearst produced a shoddy spectacle of gossip and fearmongering in these weeks might have pointed to an article guessing at who would f ill the dancing pumps of Ward McAllister, the late king of society ’s Four Hundred, or another enumerating (with graphs) the positions off Coney Island from which the Queen’s Navy might shell Madison Square Garden if the Venezuela situation got out of hand. But it is a simple business to find schlock in any paper.
One would never guess from the Hearst literature—which includes innumerable journalism histories as well as a half-dozen biographies—that the
Journal
’s first weeks included expansive coverage of Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed’s ongoing domination of the House of Representatives or the full text of President Cleveland’s annual address to Congress. Or a string of lengthy reports from a national labor convention at Madison Square Garden, with commentary from noted British trade unionist James Mawdsley. Or a campaign against Cornell University’s practice of dissecting live cats to teach physiology, complete with angry anti-vivisectionist editorials and a range of pro and con opinions from leading medical professionals. Or a front-page story about a New York rabbi coming to the defense of an agnostic clergy-man who had outraged his fellow Christians by challenging the infallibility of the Bible. Or a holiday edition featuring a tour of Bowery slums and other places untouched by Christmas spirit, written by Jacob Riis, celebrated author of
How the Other Half Lives,
and published alongside his own documentary-style photo-illustrations of indigent Manhattanites.
29
Journal
’s first weeks included expansive coverage of Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed’s ongoing domination of the House of Representatives or the full text of President Cleveland’s annual address to Congress. Or a string of lengthy reports from a national labor convention at Madison Square Garden, with commentary from noted British trade unionist James Mawdsley. Or a campaign against Cornell University’s practice of dissecting live cats to teach physiology, complete with angry anti-vivisectionist editorials and a range of pro and con opinions from leading medical professionals. Or a front-page story about a New York rabbi coming to the defense of an agnostic clergy-man who had outraged his fellow Christians by challenging the infallibility of the Bible. Or a holiday edition featuring a tour of Bowery slums and other places untouched by Christmas spirit, written by Jacob Riis, celebrated author of
How the Other Half Lives,
and published alongside his own documentary-style photo-illustrations of indigent Manhattanites.
29
It is true that news of society and calamities were a part of the paper’s formula for success. They were a part of every major Park Row daily’s formula for success. They were part of the stiff-necked, three-cent, thoroughly Republican
New York Tribune
’s formula for success. In addition to generous coverage of the Vanderbilt-Marlborough wedding and the Dunraven scandal, the
Tribune
during Hearst’s first weeks on Park Row sported front-page stories of train crashes, maritime wrecks, forest fires, scamming bookkeepers, rampaging armed lunatics, bar fights, and lonely men expiring in elevators. The difference between the Hearst and Reid papers was primarily one of emphasis. The
Tribune
tended to carry more political, international, and financial news than the
Journal,
and fewer crime and disaster stories. Each paper was professionally and intelligently edited for its own particular audience, the
Journal
’s mass and democratic, the
Tribune
’s elite and commercial.
New York Tribune
’s formula for success. In addition to generous coverage of the Vanderbilt-Marlborough wedding and the Dunraven scandal, the
Tribune
during Hearst’s first weeks on Park Row sported front-page stories of train crashes, maritime wrecks, forest fires, scamming bookkeepers, rampaging armed lunatics, bar fights, and lonely men expiring in elevators. The difference between the Hearst and Reid papers was primarily one of emphasis. The
Tribune
tended to carry more political, international, and financial news than the
Journal,
and fewer crime and disaster stories. Each paper was professionally and intelligently edited for its own particular audience, the
Journal
’s mass and democratic, the
Tribune
’s elite and commercial.
Hearst, in fact, improved the quality of crime and disaster coverage at the
Journal.
He engaged readers less with frights than by illuminating character and creating narrative, by playing up the arts of police detection and courtroom argument, by delineating justice issues and moral controversies and vigorously taking sides in them. He made similar improvements to the paper’s gossip and society news, eliminating a clutch of cheesy columns with names like “Gossip of the Swells” and the “Jolly Joker,” in favor of Alan Dale’s popular reviews and “Caught in the Metropolitan Whirl,” a smart new column containing short, breezy observations about city life. The whole paper was being reworked. The quality of its prose, while still uneven, was improving steadily. The design, on the whole, was more polished. Coverage was more comprehensive throughout: foreign and financial news were expanded, along with sports and the arts.
Journal.
He engaged readers less with frights than by illuminating character and creating narrative, by playing up the arts of police detection and courtroom argument, by delineating justice issues and moral controversies and vigorously taking sides in them. He made similar improvements to the paper’s gossip and society news, eliminating a clutch of cheesy columns with names like “Gossip of the Swells” and the “Jolly Joker,” in favor of Alan Dale’s popular reviews and “Caught in the Metropolitan Whirl,” a smart new column containing short, breezy observations about city life. The whole paper was being reworked. The quality of its prose, while still uneven, was improving steadily. The design, on the whole, was more polished. Coverage was more comprehensive throughout: foreign and financial news were expanded, along with sports and the arts.
As for publicity, there was no unusual amount of showmanship in Hearst’s initial assault on New York. He hired brass bands and hung posters for his Sunday edition and dreamt up the circulation slogans that ran atop his front page: “
You can’t get more than all the News. You can’t pay less than one cent.
” He got some applause in the trades for using color-coded fireworks to announce the results of the November state elections, but they specifically noted that he had relaunched the
Journal
without any “blare of trumpets or big-typed praise.”
30
For now, Hearst was pouring his money into his product, not its promotion. At the end of 1895, Joseph Pulitzer was still the unrivaled king of ballyhoo. A pioneer in the art of newspaper self-promotion, Pulitzer proudly recorded every journalistic accomplishment and each upward tick in his circulation on page one. He not only organized parades and posters but kept the dome of the Pulitzer Building illuminated every night to remind New Yorkers of his presence. One evening, when the cloud cover was just so, Pulitzer used a 200,000-candlepower light to project his paper’s slogan into the Manhattan sky: “The World, 2 cents, circulation nearly one-half million per day.”
31
You can’t get more than all the News. You can’t pay less than one cent.
” He got some applause in the trades for using color-coded fireworks to announce the results of the November state elections, but they specifically noted that he had relaunched the
Journal
without any “blare of trumpets or big-typed praise.”
30
For now, Hearst was pouring his money into his product, not its promotion. At the end of 1895, Joseph Pulitzer was still the unrivaled king of ballyhoo. A pioneer in the art of newspaper self-promotion, Pulitzer proudly recorded every journalistic accomplishment and each upward tick in his circulation on page one. He not only organized parades and posters but kept the dome of the Pulitzer Building illuminated every night to remind New Yorkers of his presence. One evening, when the cloud cover was just so, Pulitzer used a 200,000-candlepower light to project his paper’s slogan into the Manhattan sky: “The World, 2 cents, circulation nearly one-half million per day.”
31
In all essentials, then, the conventional view of Hearst’s first months in New York is seriously off the mark. Hearst managed to turn the
Journal
around and double his circulation inside of three months without relentless self-promotion, without pillaging Pulitzer’s staff, without cheapening his editorial contents, and without breaking his own bank. He had identified an opportunity in the New York market for a one-cent paper of comparable quality to the two- and three-cent papers he himself admired—the
World
and the
Herald.
He hit the 100,000 mark in December and 150,000 by the end of January. Rather than racing to the bottom, he drove the
Journal
and the penny press, as a class, upmarket. The
Journal
was a demanding, sophisticated paper by contemporary standards. Writers like Julian Ralph and Richard Harding Davis, quite at home in the three-cent sheets, did not dumb down for its pages. Not everything in the new paper clicked; it would continue to evolve, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. But by New Year’s, the trades were unanimous that the
Journal
’s contents rivaled those of New York’s more expensive dailies and that the paper was making rapid gains in circulation and stature. “Nothing has been more remarkable in the history of metropolitan newspaperdom than the tremendous increase in the circulation of the
Journal
. . .”
32
Journal
around and double his circulation inside of three months without relentless self-promotion, without pillaging Pulitzer’s staff, without cheapening his editorial contents, and without breaking his own bank. He had identified an opportunity in the New York market for a one-cent paper of comparable quality to the two- and three-cent papers he himself admired—the
World
and the
Herald.
He hit the 100,000 mark in December and 150,000 by the end of January. Rather than racing to the bottom, he drove the
Journal
and the penny press, as a class, upmarket. The
Journal
was a demanding, sophisticated paper by contemporary standards. Writers like Julian Ralph and Richard Harding Davis, quite at home in the three-cent sheets, did not dumb down for its pages. Not everything in the new paper clicked; it would continue to evolve, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. But by New Year’s, the trades were unanimous that the
Journal
’s contents rivaled those of New York’s more expensive dailies and that the paper was making rapid gains in circulation and stature. “Nothing has been more remarkable in the history of metropolitan newspaperdom than the tremendous increase in the circulation of the
Journal
. . .”
32
Of everything written about Hearst in this initial period, the most interesting piece was by Addison Archer for
Printer’s Ink.
The leading commentator on publishing affairs in New York, Archer tracked the young proprietor down at the Tribune Building.
Printer’s Ink.
The leading commentator on publishing affairs in New York, Archer tracked the young proprietor down at the Tribune Building.
Everybody in Park Row is talking about Mr. William R. Hearst, the young San Francisco millionaire, who has bought the New York
Morning Journal,
and has put his brain, energy and experience into making it a dangerous competitor for any number in this field. . . . I went to see him in the middle of a busy afternoon. I found him in the main editorial room of the
Journal
—a young man with a smooth face, an easy, college-bred manner, and a quiet, business-like air. I told him who I was, and he made an appointment to see me at his office or at mine, whichever was more convenient to me, on the following day, at a stated hour. He did this in a pleasant, easy, unassuming way that one would hardly be led to expect in a famous young journalist.
33
As the two men sat on either side of an immense flat-topped desk in the center of a large office, Archer quizzed Hearst on his experiences in San Francisco and his plans for New York, his hiring practices, his sense of the competitive environment. Hearst revealed that he had already ordered a set of color presses in order to add color illustrations to the
Journal.
He confessed that he had entered journalism because he was not up to the long, dull preparation required, say, for a legal career: “The newspaper business seemed to offer more attractions than any other—more immediate attractions, and as many ultimate rewards.” Archer also interviewed Hearst’s colleagues and rivals, some of whom were predicting that he would empty the family purse in no time. Nonetheless, the interviewer came away convinced that he had been speaking to a “journalistic genius” and a man with strong business acumen:
Journal.
He confessed that he had entered journalism because he was not up to the long, dull preparation required, say, for a legal career: “The newspaper business seemed to offer more attractions than any other—more immediate attractions, and as many ultimate rewards.” Archer also interviewed Hearst’s colleagues and rivals, some of whom were predicting that he would empty the family purse in no time. Nonetheless, the interviewer came away convinced that he had been speaking to a “journalistic genius” and a man with strong business acumen:
I find it the universal verdict of those who know, that Mr. Hearst deserves all that I have said of him. That it is his brain and good judgment that have given him success in the past and present, and on which he may rely for success in the future. I lay great stress upon this point, because journalistic success is always dependent upon personal qualifications. The wealth of the Vanderbilts and Astors combined would not make success for a journalist if he were not personally capable of making the most of his journalistic opportunities.
That last line is as important as anything that has ever been written about Hearst’s adventures in journalism. Nasaw, Swanberg, and every other important historian or biographer who has dealt with Hearst’s career has overestimated the importance of his family fortune to his progress as a publisher.
34
A.J. Liebling famously held that Hearst’s greatest accomplishment was to demonstrate that money could be used “like a heavy club” to found a newspaper empire.
35
Archer knew better. John McLean’s millions had not saved him from a humiliating failure with the
Morning Journal.
Multi-millionaire tobacco tycoon James Duke was, in 1895, driving the
Recorder
into receivership. Jay Gould hadn’t been able to make a success of the
World.
Money was not nearly enough.
34
A.J. Liebling famously held that Hearst’s greatest accomplishment was to demonstrate that money could be used “like a heavy club” to found a newspaper empire.
35
Archer knew better. John McLean’s millions had not saved him from a humiliating failure with the
Morning Journal.
Multi-millionaire tobacco tycoon James Duke was, in 1895, driving the
Recorder
into receivership. Jay Gould hadn’t been able to make a success of the
World.
Money was not nearly enough.
There’s no question that his family fortune was useful to Hearst. It was his father’s money that had bought him the
Examiner,
that had allowed him to purchase the
Journal,
that provided him capital to invest in its improvement, and that covered his losses and gave him a measure of security as he strove to expand at breakneck speed. But money was useless without those elusive “personal qualifications.” As Archer well knew, everyone in the upper echelons of New York publishing was fabulously rich.
Examiner,
that had allowed him to purchase the
Journal,
that provided him capital to invest in its improvement, and that covered his losses and gave him a measure of security as he strove to expand at breakneck speed. But money was useless without those elusive “personal qualifications.” As Archer well knew, everyone in the upper echelons of New York publishing was fabulously rich.
The
Sun
’s Charles Dana was perhaps the least materialistic of the Park Row editor-owners, yet he lived in a manner beyond the dreams of his well-heeled readers. A millionaire many times over, he owned, in addition to his comfortable Manhattan residence, a mansion at Glen Cove on the Gold Coast of Long Island Sound, from which he commuted daily by steam yacht in the summer months. His neighbors included F.W. Woolworth, J.P. Morgan, and Charles Pratt, one of the founders of Standard Oil. Dana, however, kept mostly to himself and his collections of fine wines and Chinese porcelain.
Sun
’s Charles Dana was perhaps the least materialistic of the Park Row editor-owners, yet he lived in a manner beyond the dreams of his well-heeled readers. A millionaire many times over, he owned, in addition to his comfortable Manhattan residence, a mansion at Glen Cove on the Gold Coast of Long Island Sound, from which he commuted daily by steam yacht in the summer months. His neighbors included F.W. Woolworth, J.P. Morgan, and Charles Pratt, one of the founders of Standard Oil. Dana, however, kept mostly to himself and his collections of fine wines and Chinese porcelain.
Pulitzer had spent the spring of 1895 in Bar Harbor, where he had just purchased a fifteen-acre seaside estate with breathtaking views and a stable for twenty-five horses. He had retained Stanford White of McKim, Mead, & White, the most fashionable and expensive architecture firm in America, to renovate the property. White’s special assignment was to build a luxurious four-story, granite-walled “tower of silence” with Pulitzer’s private quarters above and a steam-heated swimming pool in the basement. Extensive soundproofing would be installed to shield the hypersensitive publisher from outside irritants, including his family in the main house. Pulitzer summered at Moray Lodge in England until the cries of the peacocks in nearby Kensington Gardens drove him to a second, quieter manor nearby.
36
He returned in autumn to his bucolic retreat in Lakewood, New Jersey, and made occasional trips to his mansion on East 55th, where he kept his Millet paintings and one of the city’s two or three finest libraries. Each of Pulitzer’s residences, including his resort at Jekyll Island, Georgia, was fully furnished and staffed at all times. He traveled with a massive entourage and sent out advance parties to book the finest accommodations and to ensure that everything would be perfect on his arrival.
36
He returned in autumn to his bucolic retreat in Lakewood, New Jersey, and made occasional trips to his mansion on East 55th, where he kept his Millet paintings and one of the city’s two or three finest libraries. Each of Pulitzer’s residences, including his resort at Jekyll Island, Georgia, was fully furnished and staffed at all times. He traveled with a massive entourage and sent out advance parties to book the finest accommodations and to ensure that everything would be perfect on his arrival.
Whitelaw Reid, proprietor and editor of the
Tribune,
owned fewer properties than Pulitzer but easily matched him for opulent living. A bona fide American aristocrat, boasting social connections as impeccable as his grooming, he had served three years as minister to France before joining the ill-fated 1892 Republican ticket as Benjamin Harrison’s vice-presidential nominee. Since then he had been sulking, traveling, and throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the development of Ophir Farm, a gray stone castle set on seven hundred acres of prime Westchester soil. To assist in the project he hired not only Stanford White but the similarly pricey Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s foremost landscape architect. Money was no object. Apart from having substantial income from the
Tribune,
Reid had married Elisabeth Mills, daughter of Darius Ogden Mills, the most successful banker on the West Coast and a leading shareholder in the Southern Pacific Railroad.
37
Tribune,
owned fewer properties than Pulitzer but easily matched him for opulent living. A bona fide American aristocrat, boasting social connections as impeccable as his grooming, he had served three years as minister to France before joining the ill-fated 1892 Republican ticket as Benjamin Harrison’s vice-presidential nominee. Since then he had been sulking, traveling, and throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the development of Ophir Farm, a gray stone castle set on seven hundred acres of prime Westchester soil. To assist in the project he hired not only Stanford White but the similarly pricey Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s foremost landscape architect. Money was no object. Apart from having substantial income from the
Tribune,
Reid had married Elisabeth Mills, daughter of Darius Ogden Mills, the most successful banker on the West Coast and a leading shareholder in the Southern Pacific Railroad.
37
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