Bennett, James Gordon
Bennett, James Gordon,
1841–1918, American newspaper proprietor, b. New York City; son of James Gordon BennettBennett, James Gordon,1795–1872, American newspaper proprietor, b. Keith, Scotland. He came to America in 1819 and won a reputation as Washington correspondent of the New York Enquirer and later (1829–32) as assistant editor of the combined
..... Click the link for more information. . Educated mostly in France, he took over (1867) from his father the management of the New York Herald. In 1869–71 he financed Henry StanleyStanley, Sir Henry Morton,
1841–1904, Anglo-American journalist, explorer, and empire builder, b. Denbigh, Wales. He grew up in poverty and came to America as a worker on a ship, which he jumped (1858) in New Orleans.
..... Click the link for more information. 's expedition into Africa to find David LivingstonLivingstone, David
, 1813–73, Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa, the first European to cross the African continent. From 1841 to 1852, while a medical missionary for the London Missionary Society in what is now Botswana, he crossed the Kalahari desert and reached
..... Click the link for more information. , and from 1879 to 1881 he supported the ill-fated expedition of G. W. De LongDe Long, George Washington
, 1844–81, American arctic explorer, b. New York City, grad. Annapolis, 1865. In 1873 he was assigned to the Juniata, which was sent to the arctic to search for C. F. Hall's expedition on the Polaris.
..... Click the link for more information. to the arctic region. In reporting international news the Herald scored repeated triumphs. After 1877, Bennett lived mostly in Paris, directing his newspapers by cable, and with John W. MackayMackay, John William
, 1831–1902, American financier, b. Dublin, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1840. In 1859 he joined the rush to Nevada, where silver had been discovered. He and J. G. Fair, later joined by William Shoney O'Brien and J. C.
..... Click the link for more information. he organized (1883) the Commercial Cable Company to handle European dispatches. He established London and Paris daily editions of the Herald; the Paris paper was an unprofitable, sincere attempt to promote international goodwill. Bennett was fond of sports, especially of yachting, and established the James Gordon Bennett cup as a trophy in international yacht races and similar cups for balloon and airplane races.
Bibliography
See R. O'Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett (1962); D. C. Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts (1928, repr. 1973); S. Jefferson, Gordon Bennett and the First Yacht Race across the Atlantic (2016).
Bennett, James Gordon,
1795–1872, American newspaper proprietor, b. Keith, Scotland. He came to America in 1819 and won a reputation as Washington correspondent of the New York Enquirer and later (1829–32) as assistant editor of the combined Courier and Enquirer. On May 6, 1835, he launched his New York Herald, a new penny paper of four four-column pages. His capital totaled $500 and his office was a Wall St. cellar, yet in less than a year the paper sold almost 15,000 copies daily. Bennett's innovations made the Herald a landmark in the history of American journalism: in his brief editorials he criticized all political parties; he included new fields of news, notably that of Wall St. finance; he first established (1838) European correspondents for his paper; he first used the telegraph extensively in newspaper work; and he first used illustrations for news articles. Although the Herald initially gained an audience by playing up sensational and cheap news, it later earned a reputation as a full and accurate paper, particularly in the period of the Civil War, when Bennett employed 63 war correspondents and spent $525,000 on war reporting.Bibliography
See O. Carlson, The Man Who Made News: James Gordon Bennett (1942).