Pulitzer- In Depth

JOSEPH PULITZER

"Publicity, publicity, publicity is the greatest moral factor and force in our public life".

Beginning in 1881, Parisians had watched the process of the giant copper statue being made at the Gaget, Gauthier and Cie Workshop with excitement. Many French people had enthusiastically donated their own funds to the effort, and it paid off handsomely. The gleaming statue now rose above the streets of Paris, a telltale example of the French admiration for the American people. When the Statue was dismantled and put on the frigate Isere to begin her trek to the United States, many French had lined the streets to bid her a fond bon voyage on her way to the New World.

As the Isere made its way across the Atlantic in 1885, one glaring fact could not be ignored--there was no pedestal on which the Statue could stand. The only solution was to unload the crates off the Isere onto Bedloe's Island, and hope that enough money could eventually be raised to pay for the pedestal.

Enter Joseph Pulitzer. Pulitzer, at the time the Statue of Liberty sailed into New York Harbor, owned and operated a newspaper called The World. Having come to this country at the age of 19, he learned English in order to hold a series of jobs, including lumberjack, lawyer and politician.

Regarding the Statue of Liberty, Pulitzer had his own, deeply personal agenda. He had marketed The World as the newspaper of the masses, and he was interested in shaming wealthy New Yorkers who, "would expend thousands on a foreign singer or ballet dancer and pour out their money lavishly in aping aristocratic follies". Pulitzer felt that the Statue "is not a gift from the millionaires of France to the millionaire of America, but a gift of the whole people of France to the whole people of America". His appeal to the civic responsibility of the working class and his disparagement of the wealthy was displayed in a very simple fundraising technique.

He printed the name of almost every individual who donated to the construction of the pedestal, no matter how small the amount. Everyone who donated would see their name printed on the front page of The World. In addition, Pulitzer would also print human interest stories that were sometimes included in the payment envelope; stories of children raising enough money to donate must have been a powerful motivator to adults.

Thanks to Pulitzer, by the fall of 1885 over 120,000 people had donated over $100,000 and work would finally be completed on the Statue of Liberty's pedestal.