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William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)

Occupation: Businessman and Newspaper Publisher

Hearst was one of the biggest names in the newspaper business in America. At one point, he had of 30 newspapers in the biggest cities in the country at he owned the largest newspaper businesses. He wrote for the San Francisco Examiner and the New York Journal. Position: William Randolph Hearst was for the annexation of the Philippines.

Hearst thought that the bigger ideas he could get, the more popular and successful his newspapers would be. He used the technique of Yellow Journalism, which is when he blew up and exaggerated a story so more people would be interested and read his newspapers. When the boat //Maine// mysteriously blew up, Hearst was quick to find another story and blame the explosion on the Spanish. Hearst used yellow journalism in his publications such as the New York journal so more people would read them and the people would support the military going to take control of islands such as Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Hearst was widely criticized for his techniques and was labeled as the “Imperial Hearst”. Other response says that Hearst was “willing to deliberate desperate lies in order to stir nations and drive them towards bloody war” (Upton Sinclair’s Book: The Brass Check). Many say that Hearst’s selfishness to have popular newspapers and his radical stories about //Maine// were some of the leading causes of the war.

Main Reasons for Annexing Philippines: - Popular newspapers, bigger stories - Hearst wanted war and the Philippines so there would be more headlines in his business. - Using yellow journalism in his newspapers to get the people to support his ideas about capturing the Philippines and other islands.

Works Cited: "William Randolph Hearst." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. . "William Randolph Hearst: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article." //AbsoluteAstronomy.com//. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. . "William Randolph Hearst [1863-1951]." //Zpub//. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. .