Hearst family members

As something like the Mark Zuckerberg of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, William Randolph Hearst built a communications empire with newspapers, and in doing so, influenced the American way of life for generations to come. Today, there are several journalistic do's and don'ts that can be traced directly to the newspaper magnate, and through his forays into politics, his connection to high society, and even his relationship to Hollywood, Hearst remade the role of media in culture.

His life story is immortalized in what many consider the greatest movie ever made, "Citizen Kane," per Britannica. No one is alone when accomplishing what Hearst accomplished in his lifetime, however, and neither was Hearst. A closer examination of the Hearst family tree reveals nuance to the legendary media mogul's backstory, as well as interesting aspects of his legacy, still shaping and reshaping modern American culture and society.

His family's story includes a father who gave him a boost in the newspaper business to a descendant embroiled in the cultural upheaval of the s. The archetype of the self-made millionaire is central to the American identity.

Hearst family today

Ask many for an example of this phenomenon in American history, and they just might mention William Randolph Hearst. According to Legends of America , though, Hearst's father, George Hearst, gave his son a head start, both in the newspaper business and in his bank ledger. Born in , George Hearst was entrepreneurial from a very young age, improving the bottom line of the family farm following the death of his father, launching and running a successful store, and dabbling in the lead mining industry, a major employer in Hearst's home state of Missouri.

It's within that mining industry that the roots of the Hearst fortune truly lie. By the s, George Hearst, already successful in lead mining, moved his family to California to try his hand at gold mining in mines similar to what's pictured. Out West, he had mixed results, but still managed to realize enormous profits. William Randolph Hearst was born in , per Britannica.

By the s, his father, George, was in the San Francisco newspaper business, owning and operating the San Francisco Examiner. By , George Hearst handed the newspaper over to his son who, through a mix of gossipy and sensationalist "yellow journalism" and real human interest stories, made the paper wildly profitable.