Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)

Studies - András Csillag: Joseph Pulitzer, Master Journalist and Benefactor

more than two million dollars on Park Row right across from the City Hall, was the tallest building in New York in 1890. In his private life the Old Man was eccentric and had vagaries. He was known to have entered his lavish office building with the golden dome and full of marble only three times in his life. He spent much of his time traveling around the globe or cruising in his luxury yacht surrounded by a flock of secretaries. He kept in touch with his editors by mail or cable. Sometimes there came from him a blast of telegraphic criticism

—as rough as the wires would bear, sometimes there was a word of praise or suggestion for a series of articles. * After the Civil War philanthropic behavior became a distinguishing aspect of the American national character. An opportunity to perform a great public service came for Pulitzer in 1885. The French sculptor Bartholdi had completed the gigantic, goddess-like figure of "Liberty, Enlightening the World", a symbolic gift of France to the United States, designed to stand on a small island near the tip of Manhattan in New York. A committee had been formed to secure funds for the construction of a proper pedestal for the huge statue. Enough money had been collected to lay a concrete base but not a cent was in sight to pay for the construction of the great pedestal designed to lift "Miss Liberty" nearly two hundred feet above sea level. The committee vainly sought aid from Congress to avoid shame. This failing, it announced its inability to proceed further and in effect threw up its hands. This was because much of the American public remained critical of the project, especially of its costs. They simply could not understand why the pedestal for the statue should cost as much as the statue itself. Many Americans outside New York considered it NewYork's statue. "Let New York pay for it", they said, while America's newly rich millionaires were saying and contributing nothing. New York City did approve a grant of 50,000 dollars, but the expenditure was vetoed by the governor. It was then that Pulitzer, whose reverence for liberty was as powerful as his desire to increase circulation, came to the rescue and 13