The Chief: The Life Of William Randolph Hearst, David Nasaw, c. 2000
I: Great Expectations
Chapter 1: A Son of the West
father: George Hearst
the 1000-mile trek from Missouri to California, 1850
William Randolph Hearst:
son of the West
son of the Gold Rush, San Francisco
the child and the city grew up together
second half of the 19th century
1860 --> 1870 --> 1880 -- population growth
CA gold boom from the late 1840s to early 50s
followed by the Nevada silver boom, early 1860s
Silver mined west of the Mississippi ended up in San Francisco
George Heart, b. 1820 / 1821 -- Scotch-Irish!! Missouri.
George's father: William Hearst -- a miner. Father and son often went to the mines together.
George: 22 y/o when father William died; WRH's grandfather.
1848: rumors of gold strike, California
1848: confirmed by President James Polk
1850: George -- among a group of 15, including cousins -- MO to CA
ended up in Grass Valley / Nevada City; buying up / selling / trading claims in quartz mines.
Nevada City, CA.
A direct shot:
Nevada City, CA --> Grass Valley (suburb) --> Sacramento --> San Francisco: NE directly SW diagonal from Nevada City / Grass Valley to San Francisco -- three hours drive today.
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Chapter 2: To Europe Again And On To Harvard
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Chapter 3: "Something Where I Could Make A Name"
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II: Proprietor and Editor
Chapter 4: At The Examiner
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Chapter 5: "I Can't Do San Francisco Alone"
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Chapter 6: Hearst In New York, "Staging A Spectacle"
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Chapter 7: "How Do You Like The Journal's War"
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III: Publisher, Politician, Candidate, and Congressman
Chapter 8: Representing the People
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Chapter 9: "Candidate for a Class"
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Chapter 10: "A Force To Be Reckoned With"
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Chapter 11: Man of Mystery
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Chapter 12: Party Leader
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Chapter 13: Hearst At Fifty: Some Calm Before the Storm
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IV: Of War And Peace
Chapter 14: "A War of Kings"
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Chapter 15: "Hearst, Hyland, the Hohenzollerns, and the Hapsburgs"
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V: A Master Builder
Chapter 16: Building a Studio, July 22, 1916
Phoebe, in her 70s; still active; 1918; preparing for war.
December, 1918: one month after Germany surrenders to end the Great War. Phoebe now 76. (Wow, my own grandfather, Paul Oksol, had emigrated from Norway to the United States in 1907.)
Hearst greatly in debt due to the war; Phoebe bailed him out, but she, too, was hurting financially.
Phoebe died,April 13, 1919, due to "Spanish flu" brought back by soldiers returning from France and the Great War. Grandson Bill, Jr, wept for days; "his whole world had fallen and crashed into smithereens," he wrote -- p. 278.
Phoebe's death left her only son bereaved -- and extraordinarily rich. Details, p. 279.
At age 56, William Randolph Hearst finally came into his patrimony.
His film companies had done well (newsreel episodes) and he was ready to take next step -- set up his own studio. United Artists had been founded in February, 1919; had been announced a month earlier -- Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin -- wow, what a foursome.
His offer to partner with United Artists was rejected. It did not bother him.
Partnered with Adolph Zucker, Hungarian fur-dealer -->film industry. Cosmopolitan Productions after his Cosmopolitan magazine empire.
Hearst focused on / obsessed with Marion Davies, p. 281.
Screenwriter Francis Marion.
The actresses, p. 282.
"Super-special" -- movies.
Joseph Urban, p. 284.
Chapter 17: Builder and Collector, p. 287
To build Camp Hill, at the top of the hill, connected to San Simeon, p. 287.
Architect Julia Morgan, p. 287. Hearst wanted a simple "Jappo-Swisso bungalow," p. 288. Couldn't afford anything other than a simple bungalow -- then his mother died, and everything changed.
The story of the new Camp Hill.
Hearst's collections, art collection, p. 301.
Hard to keep track of everything because everything was stored in so many places.
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Chapter 18: Marion, Millicent and the Movies, p. 303
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Chapter 19: A Return to Normalcy, p. 315
1920
San Simenon under construction;
one wife, one mistress, five children;
San Simeon with the boys and Millicent
Marion installed in the Hollywood Hotel -- but that still would have been a long drive -- just from the castle to the main highway.
They lived in tents at San Simeon because the construction of the new mansion had not been completed.
Met up with Marion in Santa Barbara.
First direct evidence that we have that Millicent knew about her husband and Marion Davies -- p. 308.
Fall of 1921.
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Chapter 20: Another Last Hurrah, p. 328
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VI: King and Queen of Hollywood
Chapter 21: "Do You Know Marion Davis, the Movie Actress?" p. 337
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Chapter 22: Family Man, p.351
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Chapter 23: Dream Houses, p. 362
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Chapter 24: Business as Usual, p. 377
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Chapter 25: A New Crusade: Europe, p. 398
Herbert Hoover -- Mayer (Louis B) and Hearst
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Chapter 26: The Talkies and Marion, p. 409
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VII: The Depression
Chapter 27: "Pretty Much Flattened Out" p. 423
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Starting again, March 22, 2025
Chapter 28: "An Incorrigible Optimist"
Chapter 29: The Chief Chooses a President
VIII: New Deals and Raw Deals
Chapter 30: Hearst at Seventy, p. 469
Chapter 31: Hearst and Hitler, p. 488
Chapter 32: The Last Crusade, p. 500
IX: The Fall
Chapter 33: The Fall, p. 527
Chapter 34: "All Very Sad, But We Cannot Kick Now", p. 543
Chapter 35: Citizen Kane, p. 564
Chapter 36: Old Age, p. 575
Epilogue, p. 604
FAMILY
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Grandfather
William Hearst, mentioned once, p. 4
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Father and Mother
George Hearst, mentioned often; birth, p. 4
Phoebe Apperson Hearst, many entries
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William Randoph Hearst: The Chief
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Wives
William Randolph Hearst, -- two wives, Millicent Willson Hearst and actress Marion Davies. -- incorrect
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Children
George Randolph Hearst, many entries; birth, p. 179
William Randolph Hearst, Jr, multiple entries, birth, 217 -- three wives
Bill, Jr, revealed in 1991, the break-up / divorce of his father and Millicent, due to Marion Davies
- Alma Walker, Bill, Jr's second wife, divorced
- Lorelle McCarver, Bill, Jr's third wife, divorced
- Austine McDonnell, outlived WRH, Jr; she remarried after WRH, Jr died;
John Randolph Hearst, many entries, birth 218, 224
David (Elbert) and Randoph Apperson: twins.
David (Elbert) Hearst; mentioned often; birth, p. 252 (TWIN); b. 1915
Randolph Apperson Hearst, a few entries, b. 252 (TWIN); b. 1915
In the Hearst family, "Apperson" refers to Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the wife of George Hearst, and mother of William Randolph Hearst, a prominent figure known for her philanthropy, feminism, and role in the suffrage movement.
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Grandchildren
John Hearst, Jr (Bunky), mentioned 580, 582, 583 - 584
Patty Hearst: mentioned only once; in the epilogue, p. 606
George Hearst, Jr, one mention, p. 582
Phoebe Hearst, mentioned once, p. 582 - 583
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Abbreviated Bios
Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of the Chief, who prefers to be called Patricia rather than Patty, was born on February 20, 1954, in San Francisco, California, the third of five daughters of Randolph Apperson Hearst and Catherine Wood Campbell. She was raised primarily in Hillsborough and attended the private Crystal Springs School for Girls there, Sacred Heart in Atherton, and the Santa Catalina School in Monterey.
She attended Menlo College in Atherton, California before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley.
Hearst's grandfather William Randolph Hearst created the largest newspaper, magazine, newsreel and film business in the world.
Her great-grandmother was philanthropist Phoebe Apperson Hearst. The family wielded immense political influence and had opposed organized labor, gold mine workers' interests, and communism since before World War II.
Hearst's father was among a number of heirs to the family fortune and did not control the Hearst interests.
Her parents had not considered it necessary to take preventive measures to ensure their children's personal security. At the time of her abduction, Hearst was a sophomore at Berkeley studying art history. She lived with her fiancé Steven Weed in an apartment in Berkeley.
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