Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Pulitzer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 9th district
In office
March 4, 1885 – April 10, 1886
Preceded byJohn Hardy
Succeeded bySamuel Cox
Member of the
Missouri House of Representatives
from the 5th St. Louis district
In office
January 5, 1870 – March 24, 1870
Preceded byJohn Terry
Succeeded byNicholas M. Bell
Personal details
Born
József Pulitzer

(1847-04-10)April 10, 1847
Makó, Kingdom of Hungary
DiedOctober 29, 1911(1911-10-29) (aged 64)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Citizenship
  • Hungary
  • United States
Political partyRepublican (1870)
Liberal Republican (1870–74)
Democratic (1874–1911)
Spouse
Katherine "Kate" Davis
(m. 1878)
Children7
OccupationPublisher, philanthropist, journalist, lawyer, politician
Net worthUS$30.6 million at the time of his death (about 0.09% of US GNP)[1]
Signature
Military service
AllegianceUnited States of America
Branch/serviceUnion Army
Years of service1864–1865
Unit1st New York Cavalry Regiment
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
Battle of Dinwiddie Court House
Battle of Five Forks
Third Battle of Petersburg
Battle of Sailor's Creek
Battle of Appomattox Station
Battle of Appomattox Court House

Joseph Pulitzer (/ˈpʊlɪtsər/ PUUL-it-sər;[2][a] born Pulitzer József, Hungarian: [ˈpulit͡sɛr ˈjoːʒɛf]; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. He became a leading national figure in the Democratic Party and was elected congressman from New York.

In the 1890s the fierce competition between his World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal caused both to develop the techniques of yellow journalism, which won over readers with sensationalism, sex, crime and graphic horrors. The wide appeal reached a million copies a day and opened the way to mass-circulation newspapers that depended on advertising revenue (rather than cover price or political party subsidies) and appealed to readers with multiple forms of news, gossip, entertainment and advertising.

Pulitzer's name is best known for the Pulitzer Prizes established in 1917 as a result of the specified endowment in his will to Columbia University. The prizes are given annually to recognize and reward excellence in American journalism, photography, literature, history, poetry, music, and drama. Pulitzer also funded the Columbia School of Journalism with his philanthropic bequest; it opened in 1912.

  1. ^ Klepper, Michael; Gunther, Michael (1996), The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates – A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present, Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, p. xiii, ISBN 978-0-8065-1800-8, OCLC 33818143
  2. ^ "The Pulitzer prizes – Answers to frequently asked questions". Pulitzer.org. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2009.


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