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The New York Herald Tribune
In 1924 the newspaper the New York Herald was obtained by its competitor: the New York Tribune, from which The New York Herald Tribune was born, which was the home base for several established writers.
Both newspapers were founded between 1835 and 1841. The two newspapers had a completely different approach to news reporting: The Herald, with James Gordon Bennet in the capacity of editor had a democrat’s background and laid the foundation for current day crime reports. The Tribune on the other hand, was a classic newspaper and in many aspects the sober counterpart of the Herald. From the two, the Herald was the largest paper in New York City but the Tribune already circulated nationwide.
During the 1870's the Herald continued to do well as the Tribune steadily declined under the leadership of Whitelaw Reid who used the paper for his own political ambitions. The Herald, under leadership of James Gordon Bennet Jr. expanded internationally with a European version of the Herald.
In 1877 Bennet Jr. moved to Paris on a permanent basis due to implications in a Scandal in New York but remained in charge of operations. Contact with the New York offices went by telegram and the distance was immediately noticeable as the quality of the paper declined soon after.
In 1912 Whitelaw Reid’s son took over the business as his father past away. With more efforts and devotion for the paper circulation numbers once again started to increase under his reign. In 1918 Bennet Jr. died resulting in the sale of the Herald to Frank Mansey who had a reputation for merging newspapers together all across the nation.
During the roaring twenties both papers were going strong but due to the fact that the Herald was more wide spread than the Tribune it was the stronger of the two. It was a common consensus that a merger was at hand where the stronger newspaper would take over the weaker one. Surprisingly, events that unfolded showed the opposite being true. In 1924 the Herald was sold to Reid.
The new paper that emerged from the merger was far from profitable and in the first years that followed had to be supported by private capital supplied by the Reids. Meanwhile the reputation of the new paper was establishing itself slowly, but steadily. In 1932 the paper turned a loss of more than $600,000 and the year after it was turning a small but unmistakable profit. It would stay in profit for the next twenty years.
In 1947, after the death of her husband, Helen Rogers Reid took over the scepter, and under her reign, despite having reputable and famous staff on the payroll the paper went into decline once again. Control of the company was sold in 1958 and, under the reign of John Hay Whitney, the paper got back some of its former glory after a radical remake. In the years that followed the paper continued to struggle against the much larger New York Times. A series of union organized strikes followed and the company closed its doors permanently on the 5th of May 1967.
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