Pulitzer

by James McGrath Morris

  For Kate, the winter: KP to JP, 2/19/1904; KP to JP, 2/4/1904; JP to KP, 2/22/1904; KP to JP, 2/23/1904; KP to JP, 3/1/1904, JP-CU.

  Remaining in New York: JPII to JP, 4/7/1904; JP to AB, 1/29/1904, JP-CU.

  Harvard decided that: JPII to JP, 2/15/1904, JP-CU.

  After her time: KP to JP, 5/4/1904, KP to JP, 5/13/1904, JP-CU. J. P. Morgan was also resting in Aix-les-Bains. “If you two get together there will be an interesting time,” said Pulitzer’s banker Dumont Clarke (DC to JP, 5/6/1904, JP-CU).

  “In all my planning”: JP, “The College of Journalism,” North American Review (May 1904), 680.

  However, in the year: DCS-JP, 457.

  Butler consented but: Butler to George L. Rives, 8/15/1903, quoted in Boylan, Pulitzer’s School, 15.

  Realizing that the story: NYT, 8/16/1903, 6; TR to Robert Underwood Johnson, 12/17/1908, Roosevelt, Letters, Vol. 6, 1428.

  None of the public praise: DCS-JP, 460.

  In Aix-les-Bains: JP to KP, 5/25/1904 (misdated as 1905), JP-CU.

  Joseph didn’t rest: Transcripts of Pulitzer’s Pitman Shorthand Notebooks, 1903–1905, LS.

  When Pulitzer’s mood: JP to JPII, 5/23/1904 (misdated as 1905), JP-CU.

  None of Pulitzer’s secretaries: JP to KP, transcripts of Pulitzer’s Pitman Shorthand Notebooks, 1903–1905, LS.

  His cruelty stung: KP to JP, 9/15/1904, JP-CU.

  The elections of 1904: AB to SW, 1/1/1904, WP-CU.

  Ralph dutifully reported: RP to JP, 1/4/1904, and JP to RP, 1/25/1904, JP-CU. Roosevelt’s interest in seeing Pulitzer is also noted in a letter from the president to Harvey on January 22, 1904. (Roosevelt, Letters, Vol. 3, 702.)

  Roosevelt extended his invitation: TR to J. E. Smith in DCS memo to JP, 9/19/1899, WP-CU.

  Pulitzer sent Williams: “Bryan Statement,” 2/25/1904, JP-CU.

  As the Democrats settled: WSJ, 6/28/1904, 3; JP to DCS, 5/6/1904, WP-CU.

  Pulitzer was elated: WAS, 356. See also Stoddard, As I Knew Them, 56–57; Morris, Theodore Rex, 341. Morris believed Parker was swayed by the New York Times’s opposition to the silver standard. See also Kazin, A Godly Hero, 166–120.

  From Bar Harbor: JP to WHM, 8/1904, JP-LC.

  Pulitzer had long sought: JP editorial memo, September 1904, WP-CU.

  The ten questions: J. W. Slaght to BM, 10/20/1904, WP-CU; Klein, Life and Legend of E. H. Harriman, 364.

  Roosevelt considered the attacks: TR to Henry Cabot Lodge, 10/31/1904, Roosevelt, Letters, Vol. 4, 1006–1007; JP, draft of editorial, JP-CU, Box 31.

  As 1905 began: David Francis to JP, 2/22/1905; JP to FDW, 3/18/1905; JP to Francis, 3/1/1905; Francis to JP, 3/2/1905, JP-CU.

  When Francis returned: JP to Francis, 3/3/1905; JP to FDW, 3/10/1905, JP-CU.

  “Mr. Pulitzer is alone”: ChTr, 2/3/1905, 6.

  On April 10: KP to JP, 4/11/1905; JP to RP, 5/25/1905, JP-CU.

  Newspaper management was: GWH took down the conversation. See November 1904, JP-CU, Box 31.

  Kate had mailed: JT to JP, 3/12/1902; JP to GWH, 4/15/1903, JP-CU.

  Finally the painter consented: KP to JP, 4/11/1905.

  By mid-May: KP to JP, 5/8/1905; notes on undated sheet, 5/15/1905, JP-CU.

  Her portrait complete: MAM to JP, 5/21/1905, JP-CU.

  Kate wanted to leave: JP to Edith Pulitzer, 5/12/1905; see also JP dictation, May 9–14 Folder, Box 34; JP to KP, 5/14/1905; JP dictation to KP, 5/25/1905, JP-CU.

  Almost in a pique: JP to EP, 6/1/1905, and EP to JP, 6/2/1905, JP-CU.

  Unaware of her husband’s: KP to JP, 6/16/1905, JP-CU.

  Pulitzer took his turn: James Tuohy to JP, 4/4/1905; JT to JP, 4/26/1905, JP-CU.

  Accompanying Pulitzer to London: JP to Bettina Wirth, undated June Folder, 1904, JP-CU, Box 30; JP to Dr. Van Noorden, 10/1906, JP to AB, 6/18/19093, JP-CU.

  When Thwaites first: Thwaites, Velvet and Vinegar, 51–53; Mortimer to JP, 1/19/1902, JP-CU.

  On this trip: KP to JP, 5/8/1905, JP-CU; Thwaites, Velvet and Vinegar, 51–53.

  CHAPTER 28: FOREVER UNSATISFIED

  The story had surfaced: Beard, After the Ball, 171–178.

  The World aggressively: DCS-JP, 275.

  The staff usually: JP to FC, DCS-JP, 280.

  How to please: Memo to JP, probably written by Samuel Williams, 10/1907, WP-CU.

  Within a month: JP to DCS, 8/28/1905, JP-LC.

  Merrill was wounded: WHM to JP, 9/14/1905, WP-CU.

  Worried that he might: AB to WHM, 11/14/1905; WM to AB, 11/20/1904, WP-CU. Four years later, Pulitzer instructed Seitz to buy letters that Pulitzer had written to Townsend in the 1870s. (See JP to DCS, 4/2/1909, JP-LC.) It is unlikely that any of these letters contained anything particularly scandalous. Rather, Pulitzer probably felt that his frank comments about political figures would be embarrassing if quoted.

  Ralph finally screwed up his courage: RP to JP, 7/28/1904, and Nolan and Loeb to JP, 1/9/1905, JP-CU.

  Money was of little concern: RP to JP, 6/6/1905, JP-CU; KP to Sally, 9/20/1905, JP-MHS.

  On October 14: WaPo, NYT, BoGl, 10/8/1905; KP to JP, 7/2/1905; and KP to JP, 7/12/1905, JP-CU.

  For a brief moment: RP to JP, 10/14/1905, quoted in WAS, 374.

  The father expressed: JP to RP, 10/5/1905, JP-CU.

  Joseph decided that: Walker, City Editor, 6. See also Morris, The Rose Man of Sing Sing.

  In April, Joseph called: Chapin, Charles Chapin’s Story, 216.

  His father’s continued harshness: JPII to JP, 12/12/1906. The Reminiscences of Joseph Pulitzer Jr., October 7, 1954, transcript, p. 15, the Oral History Collection of Columbia University. For the full story of JPII’s rise, see Pfaff, Joseph Pulitzer II.

  After Joe was banished: Telegraph notes, 5/15/1906; KP to JP, 11/24/1906, JP-CU.

  Kate, her companion: KP to JP, 5/16/1906, JP-CU.

  In London, Kate: KP to JP, 5/7/1906, and 5/20/1906, JP-CU.

  After Paris, the group: Edith Pulitzer to JP, 5/24/1906, JP-CU.

  Kate returned to: KP to JP, 8/28/1906, JP-CU.

  After consecutive failed bids: KP to JP, 10/28/1906, JP-CU; Nasaw, The Chief, 156–158.

  Of all of Hearst’s enemies: WAS, 383; JP editorial memo, 9/1904, WP-CU.

  Hearst, however, knew: ChTr, 10/28/1906, 1.

  In the end: WaPo, 11/18/1906, 11.

  Three decades after: The Reminiscences of Joseph Pulitzer Jr., October 7, 1954, transcript, p. 39, the Oral History Collection of Columbia University.

  Kate was proud: KP to JP, 11/18/1906 and 11/11/1906, JP-CU.

  Reaching age seventy-five: GWH to JP, 12/25/1906, JP-CU.

  She stayed in New York: KP to JP, 12/24/1906; JP to AB, 12/23/1906, JP-CU.

  Shortly after New Year’s Day: KP to JP, 1/12/1907, JP-CU.

  “You would be”: KP to JP, 2/5/1907, JP-CU.

  To her pleasure: Stephen MacKenna to JP, 3/6/1907, JP-CU; WRR, 562.

  “As to the sittings”: Butler, Rodin, 408.

  Pulitzer’s French: NYW, 10/31/1911.

  The sittings with Rodin: Doods, Journal and Letters of Stephen MacKenna, 32.

  On April 10: WaPo, 4/12/1907, 4; ChTr, 4/11/1907, 7; NYT, 4/11/1907, 5.

  There still was no truce: JP to JPII, 5/27/1907, JP-CU.

  Joseph’s somber mood: Marcosson, Phillips, 134–135.

  That Butes went: AB to DCS, 2/27/1904.

  In the fall: Undated, unsigned report, filed in December 1908 Folder, JP-CU, Box 58.

  The $1.5 million Liberty: JP, May 1906 Folder, Box 39, JP-CU.

  As a result: JP to GWH, 4/1907, JP-CU.

  On a Sunday morning: The visit was on July 26, 1908. A copy boy, Alexander L. Schlosser, who later became an editor, recorded the events of Pulitzer’s visit to the World. See JWB, 208–214.

  Clarke smiled but: GWH and DCS agree on the number of visits Pulitzer had made to the building since its construction.

  The truth was: JP and Clark Firestone, conversation transcript, 8/5/1908, WP-CU.

  Two mon
ths before: NYW, 5/10/1908; BoGl, 5/10/1908, 13; WaPo, 5/2/1908, 2, AI 28.

  In August, Pulitzer: FC to JP, 2/8/1908, WP-CU.

  In fact, Bryan’s: Ibid.

  Pulitzer instructed Cobb: JP to FC, quoted in DCS-JP, 328.

  Pulitzer’s efforts were: Notes 7/6/1908, WP-CU.

  Without knowing Pulitzer’s motives: DCS-JP, 340.

  CHAPTER 29: CLASH OF TITANS

  On the evening: NYT, 10/2/1908, 3.

  According to rumors: Frank Cobb, “How the Story Came into the Office,” 3, EHP, Folder 21.

  The story had immense appeal: Roosevelt, Autobiography, 553.

  Speer left his office: NYT, 2/23/1915, 13; JP to Adolph Ochs, 3/26/1908, NYTA.

  After listening to: DCS-JP, 352.

  Around ten o’clock: Frank Cobb, “How the Story Came into the Office” DCS-JP, 353.

  As soon as: Whitley later claimed that he had told Van Hamm the article was untrue. But the World wisely kept the copy of the proof that Whitley marked up. According to Frank Cobb, “It shows that Mr. Whitley scratched out the name of Charles P. Taft and substituted Henry W. Taft. Then he erased the name of Henry W. Taft and restored the name of Charles P. Taft.” (Cobb, “How the Story Came into the Office,” 1–2.)

  “But for Mr. Cromwell”: Ibid., 4.

  Over the next: JP telegram, 10/2/1909, quoted in DCS-JP, 343; NYW, 10/14/1908, 1, and 10/21/1908, 1.

  The articles, while conceding: Indianapolis News, 11/2/1908.

  Pulitzer was sailing: JP to FC, 11/3/1908, JP-LC; DCS-JP, 349.

  With the election over: TR to William D. Foulke, 12/1/1908, reprinted in ChTr, 12/8/1908, 1.

  An astonished Pulitzer: WaPo, 12/7/1908, 2; DCS-JP, 356.

  Roosevelt had not mentioned: Cobb, “How the Story Came into the Office,” 9.

  By the time the Liberty: NYW, 12/8/1908.

  “I do not know”: JP conversation notes, 8/27/1908, JP-LC.

  “When I was”: TR to HS, 12/9/1908, HSP.

  Roosevelt wanted revenge: Alfred H. Kelly, “Constitutional Liberty and the Law of Libel: A Historian’s View,” American Historical Review, Vol. 74, No. 2 (December 1968), 429–452.

  Stimson found the envelope: HS to TR, 12/10/1908, HSP. To begin his research in a stealthy manner, Stimson had to obtain the Attorney General’s permission to requisition $10 to buy old issues of the World. “No source is open to me to read the files of the World for that month in connection with the Panama matter without possible danger of arousing interest and publicity”: HS to AB, 12/21/1908, NARA MD.

  Impatient, Roosevelt looked: Rhodes, The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations, 271.

  “It seems to me”: TR to Knox, 12/10/1908, Roosevelt, Letters, Vol. 6, 1418–1419.

  Next, Roosevelt composed: WaPo, 1/17/1909, 1.

  On December 15: ChTr, 12/16/1908, 2.

  Two minutes into the message: NYT, 12/16/1908, 1.

  While Roosevelt was seeking: Thwaites, Velvet and Vinegar, 57–58.

  Pulitzer also summoned: Van Hamm to JP, 1/7/1909, WP-CU.

  This didn’t satisfy: JP to DCS, 12/16/1908. WP-CU.

  There was nothing: JP memo, phoned to Cobb, 12/15/1908, JP-LC.

  By nightfall, Pulitzer: Mr. Pulitzer’s statement, 12/15/1908, JP-LC.

  It was a half-truth: Memo written on board Liberty, 6/26/1908; JP to Williams, 9/12/1908, JP-LC.

  Aid came from: ChTr, 12/7/1908, 6. Bryan also wrote a supportive note to Cobb. Bryan to FC, 12/19/1908, WP-CU.

  Pulitzer believed prison: JP note to Robert P. Porter, 12/15/1908, JP-LC; Notes, 12/16/1908, JP-LC; DCS to JP, 12/17/1908, WP-CU.

  The Liberty’s southerly course: WaPo, 12/20/1908, 2; ChTr, 12/20/1908, 2; JP to Cobb, 12/18/1908, and Notes of Mr. Pulitzer’s Conversations, 12/19–20/1908, JP-LC.

  Summoned, Cobb raced: JP to DCS, 12/19/1908, and Confidential memo to Cobb, 12/23/1908, JP-LC.

  Legally, Pulitzer’s guess: HS to Bonaparte, 1/15/1909, CJB.

  Despite Stimson’s hesitance: Butt, The Letters of Archie Butt, 314.

  Later that night: RHL to JP, 2/7/1909, WP-CU. Earl Harding reported Roosevelt’s words as follows: “As to the men I’m bringing libel suit against, I will cinch them. I will cinch them in Federal Courts, if I can. If I cannot cinch them there, I will cinch them in the State Courts. But the one sure thing is we will cinch them.” Harding, The Untold Story of Panama, 97; WRR, 710; WaPo, 1/31/1909, 1.

  With the clock ticking: DCS-JP, 373; JP told DCS “get into the habit of using the cipher as much as necessity requires.” (Notes dictated 2/10/1909, JP-LC); Davis to DCS, 1/18/1909, JP-LC; Notes 2/1/1909, JP-LC.

  Pulitzer could not restrain: JP to FC, 1/26/1909; JP undated notes, JP-LC, Box 8.

  The Justice Department’s attorneys: BoGl, 1/17/1909, 12.

  Stimson was convinced: NYT, 1/17/1909, 1 and 1/19/1908, 3.

  Ralph, who feared: NYT, 1/21/1909, 1.

  Stimson was infuriated: HS to Bonaparte, 1/21/1909, CJB.

  Cobb seized the: “Freedom of the Press,” NYW, 2/6/1909. Amusingly, a compositor changed “persecution” to “prosecution” in setting the editorial into type. FC to JP, 2/6/1909, WP-CU.

  In the legal proceedings: WaPo, 2/2/1909, 1.

  “Thus far, we”: HS to Bonaparte, 2/8/1909, CJB; TR to HS, 1/28/1909, HSP.

  The following morning: NYT, 1/30/1909, 3.

  “To put it”: Cobb, Exit Laughing, 156–161.

  “Even so,” Jerome continued: Stimson had feared this might be the case. He wrote to Bonaparte that Jerome’s “personal relations with the New York World have naturally made him reluctant to push forward under a charge of officiousness and a desire for personal revenge.” (HS to Bonaparte, 1/28/1909, CJB.)

  Stimson remained firmly: Ibid. and HS to Bonaparte, 2/8/1909, and 2/10/1909, CJB.

  Bonaparte brought the: Bonaparte to HS, 2/9/1909, CJB; TR to HS, 2/10/1909, HSP.

  Stimson did not cower: HS to TR, 2/11/1909, HSP.

  On his yacht: Reporters’ notes on grand jury, WP-CU, Box 46; JP dictation, 2/10/1908, and JP notes 2/5/1909, JP-LC; WaPo, 2/18/1906, 1.

  Frank Cobb was ready: NYW, 2/18/1909.

  Arrest warrants were: JP to FC, 3/1909, JP-LC.

  McNamara consulted the attorney general: 2/9/1909, CJB; 2/15/1909, 5/7/1910, NARA-MD; TR to HS, 2/13/1909, HSP; NYT, 2/24/1909, 2; FDW to JP, 2/26/1909, JP-CU.

  Meanwhile, the grand jury: HS to George Wickersham, 3/5/1909, NARA-MD.

  These indictments, like: A copy of the applicable statute can been seen in Barrows, New Legislation Concerning Crimes, Misdemeanors, and Penalties. The single copy sent to the federal building was not to a subscriber. Rather, it was a copy sent for inspection as required by postal laws.

  By the time the Liberty steamed: WaPo, 3/6/1909, 1.

  His nerves agitated: Notes, 3/8/1909, JP-LC; GWH to JP, undated but written shortly after his 4/l8/1909 grand jury appearance, in April 1909 folder, JP-CU; Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene 1.

  Clearing Sandy Point: Pulitzer’s staff was always prepared for such an event. In February, money had been given to Tuohy in London for the payroll for the ship’s crew should the Liberty suddenly be overseas. (AB to Davis, 2/9/1909, JP-CU.) JAS to JP, 4/6/1909, JP-CU; DCS-JP, 376–377.

  Pulitzer spent the summer: AT to FC, 9/3/1909, JP-LC.

  Each side believed: McNamara to George Wickersham, 7/27/1909, NARA-MD; Harding, The Untold Story of Panama, 61.

  Harding was among: Harding, Untold Story, 67–70.

  Harding decided: Guyol report, EHP.

  When Harding and Guyol: The officials reported to Washington that Harding and Guyol told Colombians they were there “to right the great wrong done Colombia by the United States and restore Panama to its former state.” (Huffington to Attorney General, 12/11/1909, NARA-MD.)

  Harding concluded: Huffington to Attorney General, 12/11/1909, NARA-MD, Quoted in Guyol report, EHP, Folder 38. Choral hydrate is one of the oldest known sleep inducing drugs and is still used today fo
r the purpose of date rape.

  Harding took matters: Huffington to attorney general, 12/11/1909. NARA-MD. Seitz did not seem to believe the letter from the legation. “Harding was waylaid in Colombia in the belief that he carried certain documents of value—which he did not”: DCS-JP, 377–378.

  CHAPTER 30: A SHORT REMAINING SPAN

  After disagreeable stays: NT to DCS, 10/1/1909, JP-LC.

  Albert had also: JWB, 256. Fanny Barnard Pulitzer died 6/24/1909, in New York, at age fifty-three: NYT, 6/26/1909, 7.

  Over time, Albert’s behavior: The Call, 3/10/1909, 1. Albert’s passion for the city’s oysters also gave rise to a tale republished for weeks in American newspapers. A companion at luncheon recommended that Albert put horseradish on his oysters. Uncertain if his Viennese physician allowed him to eat this condiment, Albert telegraphed home. He promptly received permission. The high cost of the telegrams provided an irresistible feast of merriment for reporters, such as one who began his story with the lead, “For the privilege of eating horseradish, Albert Pulitzer paid $40.” (LAT, 3/10/1909, 13.)

  While he was in San Francisco: Oakland Tribune, 10/17/1909, 4; NYT, 4/6/1909, 1; ChTr, 11/6/1909, 13.

  By fall, his memoir: NYT, 10/5/1909, 4; ChTr, 10/05/1909, 5. Eulogy reprinted in APM.

  Joseph learned of: Thwaites, Velvet and Vinegar, 65–66.

  Several days later: Adam Politzer to JP, 10/16/1909, JP-CU. Joseph was mentioned in Albert’s will of 1881. It provided that he should receive Albert’s gold Waltham watch and chain, gold cufflinks, and turquoise shirt studs and asked that he watch over Albert’s son Walter. But the will in effect when Albert died made no mention of Joseph. (See JWB, 254–255.)

  As winter set in: DCS-JP, 392–393.

  Contributing to Pulitzer’s melancholy: JAS to JP, 12/28/1909, JP-CU; JP notes for RP, 1/26/1910, JP-LC.

  Pulitzer’s loneliness was: JP to JPII, 5/27/1907, JP-CU.

  Kate did her best: KP to JP, 9/24/1902, JP-CU.

  His twenty-nine-year-old son: JPII to JP, 1/4/1910, MHS.

  Once again, Pulitzer revised: JP to Edward Sheppard, 4/25/1910, JP-CU. Hughes apparently declined to be a trustee, but Pulitzer kept him in the will nonetheless: JP to KP, 5/5/1910, JP-CU. See also NT to DCS, 1/25/1910, JP-LC.

  “I am of”: ChTr, 10/13/1909, 8.

  On January 25: NYT, 1/27/1910, 3.

  The law was intended: The Roosevelt Panama Libel Case, 98; NYT, 1/26/1910, 8; WaPo, 1/26/1910, 4; The History of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 12.