Pulitzer, << PUL iht suhr or PYOO liht suhr, >> Joseph (1847-1911), was a Hungarian immigrant who became one of the greatest American newspaper publishers in history. He established the Pulitzer Prizes for achievements in journalism, literature, music, and art (see Pulitzer Prizes).
Pulitzer was born on April 10, 1847, in Mako, Hungary. His family moved to Budapest when he was young. He left home at 17 in search of military adventure, but the armed forces of Austria, the United Kingdom, and France rejected him because of his poor health and bad eyesight. A recruiter enlisted Pulitzer to fight with the Union Army in the American Civil War (1861-1865). After brief service, he settled in St. Louis, became a United States citizen, and worked as a laborer.
His career.
In 1868, Pulitzer became a reporter on a German-language newspaper in St. Louis. Within four years, he became managing editor and part owner of the paper. He won a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives in 1869. Pulitzer became a leader among the people of German descent in St. Louis and helped Horace Greeley in his 1872 presidential campaign. But three years later, Pulitzer became a Democrat and sold his interest in the newspaper, which was Republican.
In 1876 and 1877, Pulitzer served as a correspondent in Washington, D.C., for the New York Sun. He bought two newspapers, the St. Louis Dispatch and Evening Post, in 1878, and combined them into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Within four years, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch made him a fortune.
In 1883, Pulitzer bought The New York World, a financially troubled New York City paper. He soon transformed The World into a vigorous, crusading newspaper with the largest circulation in the nation, 250,000 by 1887. This paper was one of the first to use the color comics and sensationalism that gave rise to “yellow journalism.” See Journalism (The age of sensationalism).
Pulitzer was almost totally blind after 1887, and also extremely sensitive to noise. From then until his death on Oct. 29, 1911, he directed The World and the Post-Dispatch from his home with the help of secretaries.
His bequests.
Pulitzer left $2 million to establish a graduate school of journalism at Columbia University. The Pulitzer Prizes were created with part of this money. He left $500,000 each to the New York Philharmonic Society and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Pulitzer’s will also provided that The World should never be sold. But a court permitted the sale of the newspaper in 1931 because of financial losses. It was purchased by the Scripps-Howard syndicate and renamed the New York World-Telegram. The Pulitzer family kept the Post-Dispatch until 2005.
