Type Daily newspaper Political alignment Conservative Headquarters Washington, D.C. | Format Broadsheet Ceased publication 1954 | |
Founded Washington Times: 1894
Washington Herald: 1906
Washington Times-Herald: 1939 | ||
The Washington Times-Herald (1939–1954) was an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It was created by Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson of the Medill–McCormick–Patterson family (long-time owners of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News and founding later Newsday on New York's Long Island) when she bought the Washington Times and the Herald from the syndicate newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), and merged them. The result was a "24-hour" newspaper, with 10 editions per day, from morning to evening.
Contents
Early history
In 1917, Hearst had gained control of the old Washington Times, a paper established in 1894 which had been owned by Congressman Charles G. Conn (1844–1931) of Elkhart, Indiana, publisher Stilson Hutchins (1838–1912) (previous founder/owner of The Washington Post, 1877–1889, and most recently Frank A. Munsey (1854–1925), publisher of an extensive newspaper syndicate, financier, banker and magazine publisher, (known as the "Dealer in Dailies" and the "Undertaker of Journalism") before selling to Hearst during World War I. Five years later, he bought the Herald, which had been founded in 1906.
Cissy Patterson, cousin of Tribune publisher Robert McCormick and younger sister of Daily News publisher Joseph Medill Patterson, had been editor of both papers since 1930, and leased them from Hearst in 1937. She had wanted to buy the papers outright for years. Her chance came at the confluence of Hearst's near-bankruptcy (increasing costs of building "castle" resort home on Pacific coastline at San Simeon, California) and the purchase attempts by the rival Washington Post family of Eugene Meyer (1879–1959) and Phillip L. Graham (1915–1963) who had bought the then bankrupt Post at auction in 1933. Patterson bought the two papers in 1939, merging them into the Times-Herald Patterson ran the merged paper from its creation in 1939 until her death in 1948. It was subsequently purchased by Joseph Medill Patterson and Robert McCormick. For its entire existence, the Times-Herald maintained a strongly conservative editorial stance.
Purchase by The Post
In March 1954, the Times-Herald was purchased by Graham, owner of the more liberal Post. For a time, the combined paper was officially known as the Washington Post and Times-Herald. The Times-Herald portion of the nameplate became less and less prominent on a second line in ensuing years, however, and was dropped entirely in 1973.
The Washington Times-Herald Building was built by architect Philip Morrisson Jullien.