2-Minute History — Benito Mussolini and William Randolph Hearst
2-Minute History — Benito Mussolini and William Randolph Hearst
The second in a series offering two-minute history lessons
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The Power of Written Unreality
While listening to one of Italian fascism scholar and ‘Strongmen’ author Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s Lucid meetings a couple years back, she mentioned that Benito Mussolini had been a syndicated columnist for William Randolph Hearst.
I had been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and I was familiar with the power that came with being granted real estate in print.
I am a fan of Marion Davies, whose autobigraphy ‘The Times We Had: Life With William Randolph Hearst’ is rich with some of my favorite one-liners and whose adoration of Hearst tempered my opinion of him.
But I think we are seeing the shameful opportunism that props up fascists, and how very important it is that we understand the history and power of propaganda. Despite the 2016 election attack and ongoing fallout, there still appears to be some confusion on the power of written unreality.
So let’s revisit this power couple…
Benito Mussolini and William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) was born in San Francisco, California. His father was a gold mine owner and a US Senator. In 1887, Hearst took over the publishing of the San Francisco Examiner, and for began acquiring newspapers and magazines throughout the US.
By the 1920s, Hearst began to give voice to the fascist leaders of Europe, delivering them to a US audience. From 1927 through the mid-1930s, Hearst published regular columns by Mussolini, and even courted Hitler, who he met in person in 1934.
Hearst paid Mussolini $1,750 per article, and according to Heart biographer David Nasaw, the agreement was that Hearst could select the topics.
Although Mussolini had a journalism background, according to Nasaw, the articles were primarily written by Mussolini’s biographer and mistress Margherita Sarfatti, an Italian journalist, art critic, socialite, and propagandist for the National Fascist Party. Although Hearst editors rejected much of the late-delivered copy, Hearst was a fan of the Italian strongman, and he kept paying him.
It’s worth noting that on September 18, 1932, the New York Times — which famously downplayed Hitler’s threat — also published a Mussolini column. Here he rails against democracy:
"The individual, in the Fascist State, is not annulled, but rather multiplied, just as in a regiment a soldier is not diminished but multiplied by each one of his comrades. The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves sufficient margin to the individual; it has limited useless or harmful liberties, but has preserved the essential ones."
His sentiment could have been uttered today by any number of US Putinists.
“By giving fascist dictators access to the American public and allowing them to present themselves as peace-loving champions of order, Hearst helped to normalize [fascism] for his 30 million readers,” said Kathryn S. Olmsted, who wrote the book, The Newspaper Axis, detailing how press barons prior to World War Two swayed the public toward fascism. “These press barons did not just sell the news, they constructed it and lied as they reported events so they could make a lot of money and gain political influence, too.”
In briefly revisiting the history of Mussolini and Hearst, I hope it’s less confusing why the media is failing in its duty to serve and protect the people from looming threats.
I am glad I could bring you this two-minute history briefing.
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Here are more reports for Bette members that offer insightful history lessons:
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