Joseph Pulitzer - (1847-1911)
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By Donyale Kelly andJoe Madej
Belleville Township High School East
Read another essay on Joseph Pulitzer written by New York student
Jillian Temple.
I. Biography Joseph Pulitzer, native of Mako, Hungary, was born on April 10, 1847 to a wealthy grain merchant father of
Magyar-Jewish origin and a devout Roman-Catholic mother. At only seventeen, Pulitzer had dreams of the military life and tried to enlist in the Austrian Army. His poor eyesight
and frail body prohibited him from entrance. Luckily for him, he met a bounty recruiter for the United States Union Army. Under the weakly constructed Civil War Draft System, he
was able to sign on as a substitute for a previously drafted man. Hence, Pulitzer had his golden ticket to America. After serving only one year in the Lincoln Calvary Army, he worked his way to St. Louis as a free man.
One day Pulitzer sat and observed a game of chess at Mercantile Library. During the game, he critiqued the move of one of the players and instantly started a conversation
with the player. Unbeknownst to Pulitzer, the player was an editor for the Westliche Post. He offered Pulitzer his first job as a newspaper reporter. After working endlessly as a
top-notch reporter, the near bankrupt owners sold The Post to Pulitzer. After selling The Post back to its' owners, and a few other clever business deals, Pulitzer created the present day
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Five years later Pulitzer quit the Post-Dispatch and headed for New York. Pulitzer's doctor
ordered him to take a European vacation with his wife. However, Pulitzer never made it aboard the ship. Instead he met with Jay Gould and negotiated the purchase of the New York World.
His involvement with the World led to a fierce competition with William Randolph Hearst, the editor of the Journal.
The two papers battled to capture the public's attention. To them, news meant money. During the Cuban insurrection, Pulitzer's World sunk to low levels by inaccurately
reporting the news, and stealing information from the Journal's pages. All of this was done in the name of money. Today this is known as "yellow journalism."
As Pulitzer's health began to fail, he had to give up his work at the World. However, he felt he must find some way to make sure his work would be remembered. So in 1902, he
negotiated plans with Columbia University to build the first School of Journalism. This plan included awards for outstanding writers, photographers, poets and outstanding achievements.
Pulitzer the created the Pulitzer Prize. This prestigious award is given to selected artists who are considered to be outstanding in their field. Out of some 2,000 entries submitted
each year, only twenty-one awards are made yearly. Obviously the award is high form. II. Location Pulitzer lived in the St. Louis Metro-East area. He started and edited the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, a newspaper that still exists today. He used the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to revolutionize the modern newspaper. By doing so he made the Post-Dispatch one of the
country's leading newspapers. III. Publications Pulitzer wrote for several newspapers including: Westliche Post (1859-1862) IV. Links Homepage for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, a paper started by Pulitzer.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1878-1883)
The New York World (1883-1904)
At the official site for the Pulitzer Prize one can find an in-depth history of the Pulitzer Prize and how the Prize is awarded. Also a brief background on Joseph Pulitzer can be found here: http://www.pulitzer.org V. Sources
Therkelson, John. Joseph Pulitzer and His Prize. [Online] Topping, Seymour. Joseph Pulitzer and The Prizes. [Online] This essay was submitted by students of Kimberly Richey, an English teacher at Belleville Township High School East, in Illinois.
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