Dorothy Schiff

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Dorothy Schiff (born March 11, 1903 in New York , † August 30, 1989 ibid) was an American newspaper publisher . She owned the New York Post for nearly four decades , during which time it grew into an influential liberal tabloid .

Life

Early years

Schiff came from a very wealthy Jewish family with German roots. Her grandfather was the banker Jakob Heinrich Schiff , her father was his heir Mortimer L. Schiff . She grew up in Manhattan . Schiff herself later described her childhood as unhappy, her parents as loveless, strict and stingy. As a teenager she read a lot. Her only social contact was with daughters of society with whom she attended the posh private Brearley School . There she graduated in 1920.

She then began studying at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania , but dropped out after a year. She fell in love with fellow student Richard BW Hall, whose family was less wealthy than hers. After long resistance, Schiff's parents accepted the connection between the two. The marriage was concluded in 1923 and Schiff converted to her husband's Episcopal Church . Two children were born in the following two years, a son and a daughter.

When her parents died in 1931 and she was able to inherit an extensive inheritance, Schiff took this as an opportunity to divorce her husband, from whom she had become estranged. She revoked her conversion. In 1932 she married again, this time the liberal author George Backer. Until then politically close to the Republican Party , she became a Democrat under the influence of her second husband . In the 1936 presidential election , she worked as an election worker for Franklin D. Roosevelt , with whom she was later friends. In addition, she became involved in charitable organizations for the first time. She became a board member of Henry Street Settlement and Mount Sinai Hospital and worked for the New York City Children's Welfare Organization.

Newspaper publisher

In 1939, at her husband's insistence, Schiff bought the majority of the shares in the New York Post , a daily afternoon newspaper and one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. At that time, however, the circulation was well behind the direct competition and it was in the red. Inexperienced in economic matters, Schiff left her husband as publisher and editor-in-chief. The paper lost $ 2 million in the next two years and Schiff feared losing all of her investments and a third of her inheritance. She decided against the opposition of Backer to convert the New York Post into a tabloid. She took over the function of editor herself and appointed the cultural editor Ted Thackrey, who had helped her change course, as the new editor-in-chief. Schiff separated from Backer and married Thackrey in 1943.

Under Thackrey's leadership, the newspaper's circulation increased and losses decreased. Schiff remained in the background at the New York Post . During this time she bought some television and radio stations, which she later sold again. During the 1948 presidential election campaign , the couple published a series of columns in which they publicly resolved their political differences (they each supported different opponents of the eventual winner Harry S. Truman ). The couple separated the following year.

Schiff, who took on her maiden name again after the third divorce, now appointed James A. Wechsler as editor-in-chief, who held this post until 1961. The New York Post flourished under his competent leadership . The circulation rose sharply and the newspaper made profits from 1950. Although a lurid style continued and gossip dominated the headlines, the newspaper also distinguished itself through its liberal political orientation. The populist style included unveiling stories of exploitation in the workplace as well as attacks on influential figures such as the FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover , Senator Joseph McCarthy and the urban planner Robert Moses . Schiff now played a major role in the business and content orientation of the newspaper. The first newspaper publisher in New York had a reputation for always pushing for cost savings. As a result of the comparatively low salaries that were paid, the newspaper repeatedly lost talented employees to the competition.

After Wechsler replaced him as editor-in-chief in 1961 (he remained a columnist until 1980) politics took a back seat on the pages of the New York Post . Schiff endorsed John F. Kennedy as president, but her newspaper suffered because the days were over when promotional campaigns could be waged against a Republican government. Competing newspapers were discontinued and Schiff invested in technological innovations, but she was increasingly skeptical that the New York Post could continue to hold up. Always concerned about her financial well-being, she decided to sell the paper in 1976 after losing two years of the paper. She was 73 years old at the time. Australian media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch took over the newspaper for $ 31 million . Schiff stayed with her in the role of advisor until 1981. In the years that followed, the New York Post transformed into a conservative paper, an orientation that is still valid today.

Private

Schiff was married a total of four times. After marriages with Richard BW Hall (1923-1931), George Backer (1932-1943) and Ted Thackrey (1943-1949), she married in 1953 Rudolf Sonneborn, an industrialist from Baltimore . The couple separated in 1965. In addition to the two children from her marriage to Hall, Schiff had another daughter from her second marriage.

Schiff was one of the most colorful figures in New York society in her day. In addition to the four husbands, she had numerous affairs, a fact about which she freely reported in interviews. She told her biographer Jeffrey Potter that President Roosevelt was one of her lovers. This triggered a scandal when the Potter book was published in 1976, which even the reputable New York Times reported on the front page. In later years, Schiff distanced himself from her statements and the book.

When she learned that she had cancer in May 1989, she refused treatment. Dorothy Schiff died three months later at the age of 86 in her hometown of New York.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Ship, Dorothy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American newspaper publisher
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1989
Place of death New York City