William Randolph Hearst

@Newspaper Baron, Timeline and Life

William Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper publisher

Apr 29, 1863

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Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: April 29, 1863
  • Died on: August 14, 1951
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: Newspaper Baron, Harvard University, Business People, Media Personalities, Publishers
  • City/State: California
  • Spouses: Millicent Veronica Willson
  • Childrens: David Whitmire Hearst, George Randolph Hearst, John Randolph Hearst, Patricia Van Cleve Lake, Randolph Apperson Hearst, William Randolph Hearst Jr.

William Randolph Hearst born at

San Francisco

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Birth Place

On April 27, 1903, he married Millicent Willson, who was a 21-year-old chorus girl in New York City. The couple had five sons.

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Personal Life

Meanwhile, around 1917, he began a romantic relationship with Marion Davies. After two years, the two began living together.

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Personal Life

In 1920, Millicent Willson parted ways with him, but not legally. Thus, she legally remained his wife until his death.

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Personal Life

William Randolph Hearst was born on April 19, 1863, San Francisco to George Hearst and Phoebe Apperson Hearst. His father was a millionaire; he was a mining engineer and goldmine owner.

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Childhood & Early Life

William was educated in private schools. His enormous family wealth enabled him to go on European holidays. In 1885, he took admission in the Harvard College, where he edited the 'Harvard Lampoon'.

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Childhood & Early Life

He was later expelled from Harvard College due to his misconduct. He allegedly organised beer parties, funding them in the Harvard Square. He also reportedly misbehaved with his professors.

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Childhood & Early Life

In 1887, he presided over the management of the 'San Francisco Examiner', a paper that his father had bought previously. He gave the paper the motto, ‘Monarch of the Dailies' and employed skilled writers of that time.

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Career

In 1895, with the financial help from his mother, he purchased the 'New York Morning Journal', which at the time of the purchase was faring very badly in the market. He hired accomplished writers for the paper.

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Career

The main rival of the 'New York Morning Journal' was the 'New York World', which attracted its readers with sensational headlines and dramatic news stories, cartoons and a series of crime and human interest stories.

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Career

In order to improve sales, he followed same techniques which the 'New York World' was using. Soon his paper’s readership increased manifolds and the 'New York World' forced to reduce its price to attract readers.

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Career

He further played a spoilsport in the ‘New York World’ success story by attracting employees, offering them higher salaries. By 1897, his 'New York Morning Journal' was doing better than its rival, 'New York World'.

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Career

The 1941 Orson Welles's film, 'Citizen Kane' was loosely based on the rise and fall of this American media stalwart.

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Trivia