New York Herald

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New York Herald Building (1895) by architect Standford White was demolished in 1921
New York Herald Building (1895) by architect Standford White was demolished in 1921

The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835 and 1924.

Contents

[edit] History

The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr. (17951872). During the American Civil War, it was a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party. Under Bennett's son, James Gordon Bennett, Jr. (18411918), the paper financed Henry Morton Stanley's expedition into Africa to find David Livingstone, and in 1879 supported the ill-fated expedition of George W. DeLong to the arctic region.

In 1861, it circulated 84,000 copies and called itself "the most largely circulated journal in the world." [1] Bennett's politics tended to be anti-Catholic and he had tended to favor the "Know-Nothing faction though he was not particularly anti-immigrant as they were.

He stated that the function of a newspaper "is not to instruct but to startle."[2]

On October 4, 1887, Bennett Jr. launched the Herald's European edition in Paris, France. Following Bennett Jr's move to Paris, the New York Herald suffered from his attempt to manage its operation in New York by telegram. After Gordon Bennett's death, the New York Herald was merged with its bitter rival, the New York Tribune, in 1924. In 1959, the New York Herald Tribune and its European edition were sold to John Hay Whitney, the then U.S. ambassador to Britain. In 1966 the New York paper ceased publication, and the Washington Post and the New York Times acquired joint control of the Paris paper, renaming it the International Herald Tribune. Now owned 100% by the New York Times, the paper remains an important and influential English language paper, printed at 26 sites around the world and for sale in more than 180 countries.

When the Herald was still under the authority of its original publisher Bennett, it was considered to be the most invading and sensationalist of the leading New York papers at the time. Its ability to entertain the public with timely daily news made it the leading circulation paper of its time.

[edit] Commemorated

New York's Herald Square is named after the New York Herald newspaper; in the north side of the square there is a sculpture commemorating the Bennetts. (The square is just south of Times Square, which is also named after a newspaper, The New York Times.)

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Sandburg, Carl (1942). Storm Over the Land. Harcourt, Brace and Company.  pg. 87
  2. ^ Sandburg, Carl (1942). Storm Over the Land. Harcourt, Brace and Company. 

[edit] See also

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