Friday, August 21, 2009 10:54 PM CDT
USA's Yesterdays: James Gordon Bennett -- He put more news in newspapers
By Hal Malehorn
These days the average newspaper readers take the contents of their local chronicles for granted. But, for a moment, imagine the typical newspaper of the mid-19th century: no banner headlines, no photographs, no interviews, no weather reports, no syndicated columnists, no foreign dispatches, no coverage of finances, society, religion or sports. And, worst of all, no comics or cartoons.
In fact, the typical newspaper in those distant days presented local happenings, a heavy dose of editorial opinion, a smattering of news “lifted” intact from other publications, and plenty of advertisements that provided necessary revenues.
James Gordon Bennett set out to change much of that. From an unpromising beginning as a do-it-all newspaperman in 1837, Bennett successfully introduced many innovations in the journalists’ trade. Eventually, he rose to become editor and publisher of the New York Herald: And there he continued changing the profession and influencing the tastes, attitudes and mores of two generations of readers.
In sum, Bennett “found the periodical press boring and barren, and remade it chatty, sensational, current, and no longer the exclusive domain of local merchants and politicians.”
James Gordon Bennett was born on Sept. 1, 1795, in Keith, Banffshire, Scotland. His parents were devoutly religious — Catholics in a Protestant land. James’s childhood was largely spent in long, cold days attending public school. His classroom, sited next to a graveyard, was dingy, smelly and dank.
In that setting, lessons (in the classics) were learned by rote, and floggings for failures were frequent.
At age 15 young James traveled to Aberdeen and entered a seminary where (his father hoped) he would become a schoolmaster. However, while pursuing the world of letters, James discovered the world of geography, and became entranced with North America — especially the United States.
This enchantment prompted Bennett, age 25, to take ship for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and thence to Boston. There, to provide funds for food, he took a position as clerk in a store. His care in keeping the books led to a job as proofreader for a local publisher.
Meanwhile, he attended evening lectures by Boston’s intellectual lights and visited nearby libraries, where he read literature penned by Addison, Swift, Congreve and Pope.
A chance contact in New York with a South Carolina publisher led to Bennett’s decision to try journalism as a career: the publisher offered Bennett a post on the Courier, the principal newspaper of Charleston, then the intellectual capital of the South.
After a brief stint translating foreigners’ dispatches, Bennett returned to New York City.
New York newspapers, Bennett discovered, were many but meager. Mainly political in content — and heavy with small ads — none were hawked on the city streets.
After securing a place at the local Enquirer, Bennett set about proposing ideas to increase the paper’s circulation. However, his editor thought these suggestions wildly impractical. Pressing his point, Bennett published a delightful article on the American custom of shaking hands in greeting — a humorous piece that was “obviously out of place” in the stodgy Enquirer.
The next day, however, the paper’s editor was stunned at the number of newspapers that particular issue sold. Moreover, as Bennett continued writing such items, the paper’s circulation grew.
Soon thereafter Bennett was dispatched to Washington, D.C., to become America’s first political correspondent.
The magma of political activity that bubbled up about Andrew Jackson’s presidency was just the thing the opinionated Bennett needed to further his interests. A dedicated Jacksonian, Bennett unabashedly promoted the Democrat party. And, along the way, he was largely responsible for forcing district courts to permit reporters access to judicial proceedings.
Returning to New York, Bennett decided to set up his own newspaper; and after three failures, he finally succeeded. With a borrowed $500 and a basement workroom, he became his own editor, manager, reporter, proofreader and marketer.
Needing publicity, he immediately unloosed a barrage of scurrilous attacks upon well-known editors of the city. Even as these competitors responded in print to Bennett’s vitriolic onslaught, they provided their own readers the idea that there was a brash newcomer in town.
Expanding his circulation almost exponentially, Bennett reported doings on Wall Street, and schooled himself in economics to understand financial transactions there. He cudgeled politicians for their neglect of duty. He reported in detail lurid court cases. He presented verbatim interviews of celebrities. He described sporting events. He summarized religious convocations. He emplaced foreign correspondents.
In sum, there was no sentiment too tender, no subject so sacred as to be spared coverage in the Herald.
Bennett took great pride in “scooping” his rival editors. He employed that newfangled device, the magnetic telegraph, to bring in the latest information. He hired speedy cutters to sail out of New York Harbor to intercept incoming liners and find out what news they conveyed. He even tried carrier pigeons!
As the Civil War loomed, Bennett at first sided with Southerners threatening secession. Although he wanted to see no further expansion of slavery, neither did he believe the Southern states should be forced to remain in the Union.
As late as July of 1859, he boasted of America, “We stand at peace with all men, without a standing army to eat out the life-blood of the people.”
Following John Brown’s hanging for his raid on Harper’s Ferry, Bennett hailed that verdict as eminently just. And he opined that the United States had grown much too large to be governed by just a single government.
Then, after Lincoln was elected president, Bennett advised the Illinoisan to step aside in favor of someone acceptable to both sections of the country.
When fighting broke out, though, Bennett changed his tune and pledged to support the Union — but with strong reservations. However, the Herald’s war coverage was second to none.
In the summer of 1871 Bennett’s health began to fail, and he died of a stroke June 1, 1872. “I want no monument,” he had said. “Simply my name will satisfy.”
A versifier later concurred:
“He made the news. His three-part name
“Produced a profit off his fame.
This (should it decide to pen it), might Hist’ry say of J.G. Bennett.”
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