Tribute to Joseph Pulitzer

Library of Congress Places Vintage Newspapers On-line

Joseph Pulitzer was born on April 10, 1847 in Hungary. He immigrated to the United States in 1864 and served in the War Between the States. After the war he began writing for a German language newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. His zeal for seeking out the story thrust him into a hot bed of political chicanery. He sparred and dueled with local politicians and was even arrested for shooting an adversary in his leg. His flare for politics eventually catapulted him into politics where he served in local government and eventually was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1885-1886.

His notorious editorial battle with William Randolph Hearst another chieftain in early newspapers provided the political cartoon, "Yellow Kid," which was later the basis for the journalistic term "yellow journalism." The term meant to describe the hyping of an event to acquire the largest readership, facts be damned. He hyped stories concerning accounts by Cuban insurgents in the Spanish American War that some attribute to shifting American attitudes to engage in the scuffle. He did in fact out sell every competitor newspaper of the time. Later in life he turned more toward quality journalism and less towards appeasing the sensational appetite of readers.

Within a span of 20 years Pulitzer became one of the foremost publishers of newspapers in the United States. He combined the two leading papers in St. Louis and went on to purchase The New York World and New York World Evening Edition. During his lifetime he amassed a large estate. Upon his death he provided an endowment to establish Columbia University's School of Journalism. In addition, Mr. Pulitzer provided the initial endowment for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prize for excellence in journalism, letters and music. Joseph Pulitzer is quoted as saying, "more crime, immorality and "rascality" is prevented by the fear of exposure in the newspapers than by all the laws, morals and statutes ever devised."