The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

newspaper from 1931 to 1966.

History

Founded by

James Gordon Bennett Sr. James Gordon Bennett Sr. (September 1, 1795 – June 1, 1872) was a British-born American businessman who was the founder, editor and publisher of the ''New York Herald'' and a major figure in the history of American newspapers. Early life Ben ...

as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began as the evening edition of ''

The New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the ''New York Herald Tribune''. Hist ...

'', which itself published its first issue in 1835. Following Bennett's death, newspaper and magazine owner Frank A. Munsey purchased ''The Telegram'' in June 1920. Munsey's associate Thomas W. Dewart, the late publisher and president of the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...

'', owned the paper for two years after Munsey died in 1925 before selling it to the

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...

for an undisclosed sum in 1927. At the time of the sale, the paper was known as ''The New York Telegram'', and it had a circulation of 200,000. The newspaper became the ''World-Telegram'' in 1931, following the sale of the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 to 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers as a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publisher Jo ...

'' by the heirs of

Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born , ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and a newspaper publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in the U.S. Democ ...

Scripps Howard The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...

. More than 2,000 employees of the morning, evening and Sunday editions of the ''World'' lost their jobs in the merger, although some star writers, including

Heywood Broun Heywood Campbell Broun Jr. (; December 7, 1888 – December 18, 1939) was an American journalist. He worked as a sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and editor in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, later known as The Newspape ...

and

Westbrook Pegler Francis James Westbrook Pegler (August 2, 1894 – June 24, 1969) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. journalist described as "one of the godfathers of right-wing populism". He was a newspaper columnist popular in the 1930s and 1940s for his opposit ...

, were kept on the new paper. The ''World-Telegram'' enjoyed a reputation as a liberal paper for some years after the merger, based on memories of the Pulitzer-owned ''World''. However, under Scripps Howard the paper moved steadily to the right, eventually becoming a conservative bastion described by the press critic

A.J. Liebling Abbott Joseph Liebling (October 18, 1904 – December 28, 1963) was an American journalist who was closely associated with ''The New Yorker'' from 1935 until his death. His ''New York Times'' obituary called him "a critic of the daily press, a ...

as "Republican, anti-labor, and suspicious of anything European." He also called the paper "the organ of New York's displaced persons (displaced from the interior of North America)". In 1940, the paper carried a series of articles entitled "The Rape of China," which used Walter Judd's experiences with Japanese soldiers as the basis of support for a campaign to boycott Japanese goods. Publisher Roy Howard, an expert of sorts after travelling to Manchuria and Japan in the early 1930s, gave extensive coverage of Japanese atrocities in China. The paper's headline of December 8, 1941, read "1500 Dead in Hawaii" in its coverage of Japan's

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

''New York World-Telegram and The Sun''

In 1950, the paper was renamed the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'' after the Dewart family sold Scripps the remnants of another afternoon paper, the ''New York Sun''.(January 4, 1950)
World-Telegram and Sun Merged in Transaction
''Prescott Evening Courier'' (Associated Press) Liebling once described ''The Sun'' on the combined publication's

nameplate A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Nameplates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone's written name. Nameplates primarily serve an informat ...

as resembling the tail feathers of a canary on the chin of a cat. Beginning in July 1956, the paper became a center of attention when its reporters Gene Gleason and

Fred J. Cook Fred James Cook (March 8, 1911 – April 4, 2003) was an American investigative journalist, author and historian who was published extensively in the ''New York World-Telegram'', ''The Nation'', and ''The New York Times''. He provided contemp ...

launched an investigative series on New York City Parks Commissioner

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

. Gleason and Cook focused on possible corruption in how Moses was implementing "Title I: Slum Clearance & Community Development & Redevelopment" of the U.S.

Housing Act of 1949 The American Housing Act of 1949 () was a landmark, sweeping expansion of the federal role in mortgage insurance and issuance and the construction of public housing. It was part of President of the United States, President Harry Truman's program ...

. The information they revealed in the ''World-Telegram and Sun'' was a vital resource for

Robert Caro Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote '' The Power Bro ...

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning biography of Moses entitled ''

The Power Broker ''The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York'' is a 1974 biography of Robert Moses by Robert Caro. The book focuses on the creation and use of power in New York politics of New York City, local and Politics of New York (state), sta ...

'' (1974).

''New York World Journal Tribune''

Early in 1966, a proposal to create New York's first

joint operating agreement The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 was an Act of the United States Congress, signed by President Richard Nixon, authorizing the formation of joint operating agreements among competing newspaper operations within the same media market area. It ...

(JOA) led to the merger of the ''World-Telegram and The Sun'' with Hearst's '' Journal American''. The intention was to produce a joint afternoon edition, with a separate morning paper to be produced by the ''

Herald Tribune ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers. ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia * ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily * '' Barossa and Light Heral ...

''. The last edition of the ''World-Telegram and The Sun'' was published on April 23, 1966.(April 24, 1966)
New York Newspaper Strike Set
''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' (Associated Press) But when strikes prevented the JOA from taking effect, the papers instead united in August 1966 to become the short-lived ''

New York World Journal Tribune The ''New York World Journal Tribune'' (''WJT'') was an evening daily newspaper published in New York City from September 1966 until May 1967. The ''World Journal Tribune'' represented an attempt to save the heritages of several historic New Y ...

'', which lasted only until May 5, 1967. Its closure left New York City with three daily newspapers: ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'', and ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

''. The archives of the paper are not available online, but they can be accessed at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, and at several research facilities in the state of New York.

Gallery

File:Albert Einstein citizenship NYWTS.jpg, ''World-Telegram'' photo of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

receiving his

U.S. citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constit ...

papers File:Louis Armstrong restored.jpg, ''World-Telegram'' photo of

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

File:170 w 130 st march on washington.tif,

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington) was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...

Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin ( ; March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American political activist and prominent leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Rustin was the principal organizer of the March on Wash ...

(l) and

Cleveland Robinson Cleveland Lowellyn "Cleve" Robinson (December 12, 1914 – August 23, 1995) was a Jamaican-born American labor organizer and civil rights activist. He was a key figure in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, for which he acted as th ...

References

External links