Happy birthday, William Randolph Hearst

It is the birthday of publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863), whose newspapers’ sensationalized stories pushed public opinion to a frenzy that led to the Spanish-American War. He built the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world. Hearst served two terms as congressman from New York but could never get elected mayor of New York City or governor of New York. His famous mansion, Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California, is now a museum. Orson Welles used Hearst’s life as a basis for his title character in the movie Citizen Kane (1941). Hearst tried unsuccessfully to stop release of the movie but he did succeed in limiting its run, hurting ticket sales and Welles’ career.

Happy birthday, Ambrose Bierce

It is the birthday of writer Ambrose Bierce (1842), who is best remembered for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1891), a riveting tale about a Southern planter who is executed for conspiring to destroy a railroad bridge during the Civil War. The story's structure is unusual because a long period of time from the protagonist's point of view passes in an instant. It has been adapted numerous times for radio, television, and the movies. Bierce was a columnist for Hearst's San Francisco Examiner and is credited with foiling an attempt by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads to get a bill through Congress excusing their $130 million loan from the federal government to build the First Transcontinental Railroad. Bierce is said to have mysteriously disappeared while he was with Pancho Villa's army during the Mexican Revolution.

Joseph Pulitzer established journalism prize

Joseph Pulitzer

It is the birthday of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer (1847), who gave $2 million for the establishment of a journalism school at Columbia University and the Pulitzer prizes in journalism, letters and the arts. The first prizes were awarded in 1917, after Pulitzer's death. Pulitzer emigrated from Budapest to Boston in 1864, joined the Lincoln Cavalry and fought in the Civil War under Sheridan. After he war, he ended up in St. Louis, where he worked a series of odd jobs. He and other young men were taken by a con artist who charged them five dollars to find them work in Louisiana. They took a steamboat down the Mississippi River and were left stranded along the way. Back in St. Louis, Pulitzer wrote an article about the experience and, to his surprise, it was published in a local paper. It was probably his first published article. Later, Pulitzer became the paper's managing editor, sold his interest and bought the St. Louis Post, then the St. Louis Dispatch, merged the papers and became a wealthy man. His St. Louis Post-Dispatch thrived on scandal and exposés and became the champion of the common man. In 1883, he bought the failing New York World and transformed it into the largest circulation newspaper in the country, emphasizing crusading journalism and entertainment. During the Spanish-American War, the World battled William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Charles A. Dana's New York Sun for readership.