William Randolph Hearst
Willian Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863-August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher who was against America joining World War I. His newspapers ran stories that were sensationalized and entertaining, but which sometimes twisted the truth. From 1903-1907 he was a Republican congressman from New York City.
In 1898, Hearst's paper ran sensational stories about atrocities he said the Spanish were committing in Cuba. His stories (and those of Joseph Pulitzer's New York World) played a role in swaying public opinion in favor of what was to become the Spanish-American War. A famous story, but one which is probably not true, says that Hearst sent artist Frederick Remington to Cuba and wired him to send back pictures of the war. Remington supposedly wired back, "There is no war." Hearst replied, "You furnish the pictures, I'll provide the war."
Image in the media
Orson Welles' movie, Citizen Kane, is a fictional drama about a character with an unmistakable resemblance to Hearst. It is viciously satirical, and cruel to both Hearst and to his long-time mistress, Marion Davies. Many critics have named it as the best movie of all time, and it was voted #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the hundred best movies ever made.[1]