YouSaid · the spoken record

William Randolph Hearst

lines on the record
8
first
2020-09-20
most recent
2020-09-20
sittings or episodes
1
sources
podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “Understand in the old days that his extravagance could bring him disaster. And listen to the description, which is just devastating. At age seventy five, the bad boy of U.S. journalism is now just a hired editorial writer who had taken a salary cut. And during this time, he's being humiliated in the press. A movie, which is still really well known today, Citizen Kane is actually created, and it's not like they were trying to hide who the main character is. It says this by Orson Wells. Mr. Wells says the film, which deals in the life of a fictional figure who owns a change of newspapers, who unsex unsuccessfully runs for governor of New York, who boasts that he started the Spanish-American War, who marries an obscure singer, and attempts to gain recognition for her as an opera star through his publication. He never marries her, but in the fictional county he does, and who finally retires to fabulous castle to die while his newspaper empire crumbles is in no sense by a graphical.”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “He had trusted no one, rejected suggestions that he share power or delegate decision-making, and refused to name his successor. At age 74, he was as hardy as ever and convinced that if left alone, he could once again pull off a miracle. But no one believed him capable of making the tough decisions that were necessary. He was a builder, not a wrecker, an accumulator, not a liquidator. The banks and the paper mills refused to loan the corporation anything as long as the old man was in control. The reality was that Chase National Bank and Hearst's other creditors were now in charge. And I note myself was night knockout punch. Game over. So at this point in the story, he's no longer in control. He still controls the editorial stance for his media companies, but he has nothing to do with the finances. They've taken control. They will only refinance and loan more money if somebody else is in charge.”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “He might have been able to weather the storm, but aside from the temporary wage crut that had been forced on him four years earlier, he had taken no effective cost cutting measures. Worse yet he had accelerated his spending on real estate, art, and antiques, and this is where he's admitting he has a problem. I'm afraid I'm like a dipsomaniac. I had to look up that word just another word for somebody addicted to alcohol. I'm afraid I'm a dipsomaniac with a bottle. They keep sending me these catalogs and I can't resist them. He buys so much stuff. He has got warehouses everywhere. He never even looks at half the stuff. It's a very bizarre behavior. I don't even understand it. His financial advisors pleaded with him to slow down his spending, to institute real economy measures, and to consider selling off some of his assets, particularly those newspapers that continued to lose money. Hearst, hoping that the economy would magically rebound, refused to listen.”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “WR is 50 years old. When he saw an item he wanted, he bought it, regardless of whether he had the money in the bank to pay for it. His spending had always been extravagant, but as he approached the age of fifty, it ballooned out of proportion to his income. Convinced that his publishing revenue would grow faster than the interest on his debts, he bought whatever he wanted, real estate, art, newspapers, magazines, on credit and delegated Edward Clark, that's the families and the business accountant, to find the money to meet his obligations. Howard Hughes said the exact same thing to Noah Dietrich, who ran his company. Just find the money. When he had exhausted his own credit, he borrowed more by getting his mother to co-sign his loans and mortgages. And when I read that section, one of the great things about reading all these books and spending so much time, you understand how they think. And then some people say, you know, you can build mental models. I like the thinking of, like, I have a”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Of his personality. He just doesn't care. He says any kind of success arouses envy and hatred. The best punishment is to succeed more. The note I left myself on this page is this is not smart. I think at this point...”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Frequently up at five again, walking the floor and trying to think things out. I have not had one night's sleep. As a result, I am pretty sick and miserable and blue. And as we fast forwarded in the story, nothing's changing. At this point, he's 43 years old, nothing's changed. He's still in debt. Mr. H is in danger. He owes nearly $2 million. That's just a one creditor. He's an able newspaper man, but does not look ahead in financial matters. So that is he's being spied on by the financial advisors in the company and they're writing to his mother more on his personality, this idea that he's apart from the world. He listened to no one. He trusted no one. He does not work with other people. He does not support. He simply has a movement of his own. And I don't know if I would say he has contempt for other people. I feel like he views them as just from an outsider's perspective, just as like he's watching a movie in other people's lives. This gives you an idea.”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “So this is at this point he's feeling depressed. He says, I feel like hell myself. I sit all day in one place and half a trance and stare at a spot. I'm afraid my intellect is giving away. Complaining of this sort was entirely just a little insight into his personality. Complaining of this sort was entirely uncharacteristic for Hearst, who never revealed his interior thoughts to anyone other than his mother. I guess I'm a failure, he wrote to his mother about this time. And large part of what's making him upset is he's comparing this, I love this quote, that comparison is the thief of joy. He's depressed, not because his newspaper is doing bad. It's because he feels that Teddy Roosevelt has accomplished more than he does. So again, he kind of gave way to his inner scorecard and then switched to an outer scorecard temporarily and then no surprise there. He's depressed and upset. I think I could do a separate podcast that has nothing to do with the background biography information on Hearst with just if his refusal to watch costs. I mean, the entire book, over hundreds of pages, is people.”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Wounded. Waiting for medical assistance, half conscious and in great pain, he felt a hand on his head and looked up to see William Randolph Hearst leaning over him. I'm sorry you're hurt, he says, but his face was radiant with enthusiasm. But wasn't it a splendid fight? We must beat every paper in the world. This guy is really dedicated to being the world's best publisher. That's insane. Something I want to highlight to you that's very common.”

    2020-09-20 · Founders · #145 William Randolph Hearst · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source