Early years The
World was founded in 1860 by
Alexander Cummings, who had previously founded the
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, but it did not prosper in his two years as publisher. From 1862 to 1876, it was edited by
Manton Marble, who was also its proprietor. During the
1864 United States presidential election, the
World was shut down for three days after it published
forged documents purportedly from
Abraham Lincoln. Marble, disgusted by the defeat of
Samuel Tilden in the
1876 presidential election, sold the paper after the election to a group headed by
Thomas A. Scott, the president of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, who used the paper "as a propaganda vehicle for his stock enterprises." But Scott was unable to meet the newspaper's growing losses, and in 1879 he sold it to financier
Jay Gould as part of a deal that also included the
Texas & Pacific Railroad. Gould, like Scott, used the paper for his own purposes, employing it to help him take over
Western Union. But Gould, like Scott, could not turn the financial state of the newspaper around, and by the 1880s, it was losing $40,000 a year.
Joseph Pulitzer years Joseph Pulitzer bought the
World in 1883 and began an aggressive era of circulation building. Reporter
Nellie Bly became one of America's first
investigative journalists, often working undercover. As a
publicity stunt for the paper, inspired by the
Jules Verne novel
Around the World in Eighty Days, she traveled around the world in 72 days in 1889–1890. In 1890, Pulitzer built the
New York World Building, the tallest office building in the world at the time. In 1889,
Julius Chambers was appointed by Pulitzer as managing editor of the
New York World; he served until 1891. In 1890, Pulitzer, Chambers, et al. were indicted for posthumous criminal libel against
Alexander T. Stewart for accusing him of "a dark and secret crime", as the man who "invited guests to meet his mistresses at his table", and as "a pirate of the dry goods ocean." The charges were dismissed by the court. This sort of criminal action was common at the time and both Pulitzer and Chambers were indicted in a number of cases, in some of which they were acquitted, in others convicted. In 1896, the
World began using a four-color printing press; it was the first newspaper to launch a color
supplement, which featured
The Yellow Kid cartoon ''Hogan's Alley''. It joined a circulation battle with
William Randolph Hearst's
New York Journal. In 1899 Pulitzer and Hearst were the cause of the
newsboys' strike of 1899, which led to Pulitzer's circulation dropping by 70%. The
World was attacked for being "sensational", and its circulation battles with Hearst's
Journal gave rise to the term
yellow journalism. The charges of
sensationalism were most frequently leveled at the paper by more established publishers, who resented Pulitzer's courting of the
immigrant classes. And while the
World presented its fair share of crime stories, it also published damning exposés of
tenement abuses. After a heat wave in 1883 killed a disproportionate number of poor children, the
World published stories about it, featuring such headlines as "Lines of Little Hearses". Its coverage spurred action in the city for reform. Hearst reproduced Pulitzer's approach in the
San Francisco Examiner and later in the
Journal.
Charles Chapin was hired in 1898 as city editor of the
Evening World. He was most known for embracing the sensational and showing little empathy in the face of tragedy, only taking a more solemn tone when reporting on the assassination of
William McKinley in 1901. He controlled the newsroom with an iron fist, and was commonly despised by the journalists who worked for him. Chapin fired 108 newspaper men during his tenure. However,
Stanley Walker still referred to him as "the greatest city editor that ever lived." His time at the
World ended when, after falling into financial ruin, he murdered his wife in 1918. He was sentenced to
Sing Sing Prison and died there in 1930. Pulitzer hired
Frank Irving Cobb on a trial basis as the editor of the
World in 1904. Cobb, a fiercely independent Kansan, resisted Pulitzer's attempts to "run the office" from his home. The elder man felt invested in the paper and continually meddled with Cobb's work. They both supported
Woodrow Wilson but disagreed in many other areas. Joseph Pulitzer resigned by issuing a carefully worded resignation notice in 1907; Pulitzer's son Ralph took over administrative responsibility of
The World. Pulitzer's resignation notice was printed in almost every New York paper — Cobb did not publish it in the
World. Joseph Pulitzer raged at the insult, but Ralph gained respect for Cobb's editorials and independent spirit. Exchanges, commentaries, and messages between them increased. The good rapport between the two was based largely on Cobb's flexibility. In May 1908, Cobb and Pulitzer met to outline plans for a consistent editorial policy. Pulitzer's demands for editorials on contemporary news led to overwork by Cobb. The publisher sent his managing editor on a six-week tour of Europe to restore his spirit. Shortly after Cobb's return, Pulitzer died. Cobb then finally published Pulitzer's resignation from 1907. Cobb maintained the editorial policies he had had with Pulitzer until he died of cancer in 1923.
Later years When Pulitzer died in 1911, he passed control of the
World to his sons Ralph, Joseph and Herbert. The
World continued to grow under its executive editor
Herbert Bayard Swope, who hired writers such as
Frank Sullivan and
Deems Taylor. Among the
Worlds noted journalists were columnists
Franklin Pierce Adams (F.P.A.), who wrote "The Conning Tower";
Heywood Broun, who penned "It Seems to Me" on the editorial page; and future
hardboiled fiction writer
James M. Cain.
C. M. Payne created several comic strips for the newspaper. The paper published the first
crossword puzzle on December 21, 1913. The feature was billed as a “Word-Cross Puzzle.” The annual
reference book called
The World Almanac was founded by the newspaper, and the name
World Almanac is directly descended from the newspaper. The paper ran a twenty-one article series that was an
exposé on the inner workings of the
Ku Klux Klan, starting September 6, 1921. In 1931, Pulitzer's heirs went to court to sell the
World. A surrogate court judge decided in their favor;
Scripps-Howard chain owner
Roy W. Howard purchased the paper to eliminate its competition. He closed the
World and laid off the staff of 3,000 after the final issue was printed on February 27, 1931, then merely replaced the word "Evening" on his afternoon paper, the
Evening Telegram, renaming it the
New York World-Telegram. == Comic strips ==