Harvey Hauptman on the Times' humble, Jewish origins

By Jason Cohen

July 18, 2008

Harvey Hauptman, a renowned broadcaster of WCBS radio and WCTC, spoke about Jewish media mogul Adolph Ochs at Congregation Etz Chaim Monroe Jewish Center July 14. 

Hauptman said Ochs set the standard for responsible journalism.

Ochs was born to German-Jewish immigrants Julius and Bertha in Cincinnati, Ohio, but soon after moved south to Knoxville, Tenn. He was the oldest of six children. His family didn't have a lot of money, so at the age of 11, Ochs went to work for the Knoxville Chronicle as an office boy.   

"His boss at the Chronicle called him the 'printers' devil' because he was always doing anything at the office and odd jobs around there," Hauptman said.

Ochs went to work for a year in Providence, R.I. for his uncle at a grocery store and then came back to Knoxville because he missed it too much, Hauptman said.

"He took classes at Eastern Tennessee University, which is currently Tennessee University and impressed his teachers very much," Hauptman said. "He was always asking questions which his teachers sand employers loved, but more importantly what he lacked in education he made up for in a cultured home and a strong desire to work hard and succeed."

In 1875, he went to Louisville, Ky. and worked for six months for the Courier Journal. When he moved back to Knoxville, he saw the Chattanooga Dispatch was struggling financially and decided to borrow $250 and, at the age of 19, he purchased half interest in the Chattanooga Times. In 1878, at the age of 20, there were five people on the staff, including him and one reporter. 

"His first year as publisher was the hardest and the most critical, but after a year he bought the rest of the interest in the paper and now completely owned it," Hauptman said. 

In 1984, he married Effie Wise, who was the daughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati. Wise was the leading exponent of Reform Judaism in America and the founder of the Hebrew Union College.

"On his 38th birthday, he received a telegram from a reporter from the New York Times saying Ochs could buy the Times cheap if he wanted to," Hauptman said.

However, at the time the New York Times wasn't doing well financially, but Ochs realized that he couldn't save the paper unless he owned it, Hauptman said.

On Aug. 18, 1896, Ochs borrowed money again and purchased the Times. He had absolute control of the paper from the beginning. When the Times first started under Ochs it was three cents a copy and had to compete with the Herald and the World Courier, which both only cost a penny.   

"Once Ochs took over the Times it became a trustworthy, dignified paper," Hauptman said. "More importantly, Ochs believed strongly that his paper wouldn't have editorials and he lived by the motto that the paper still stands by today: All news that's fit to print."

He believed in censorship in advertising because he didn't want any fraudulent advertising, Hauptman said.

In Ochs's second year as the owner of the paper, the Times was in a huge deficit because the Old United Press, which most of the New York papers supported, collapsed. Soon after the collapse, Ochs applied to the Associated Press and eventually Joseph Pulitzer the head of the AP admitted them.    

"Ochs became a member of the Associated Press and helped make what it is today," Hauptman said.

He was also under substantial pressure to raise the price of the paper to a nickel; however Ochs went a different route by lowering the price to only a cent. 

"He realized that many people would look at the paper and think it became yellow journalism by lowering its price to one cent or that outside companies were subsidizing the Times, but in reality it was neither of those reasons," Hauptman said. "He had faith that even with lowering the price of the paper the public would pay it."

"Once they lowered the price of the paper it was the beginning of a victory and circulation of the paper tripled," he added.

On July 1, 1900 Ochs became the majority stock owner of the Times.

"Ochs was always first to acknowledge other people and additionally he always made sure that most of the profits went right back into the paper," Hauptman said.

As the Times grew, Ochs grew with it, Hauptman said.

"He was a pioneer in newspaper printing and publishing, directed the Times all his life and it was his vocation and his hobby," Hauptman said. "Newspapers were his monuments." 

"Also, Ochs traveled to Europe a lot, not just simply to have fun, but for news as well," Hauptman said. "He loved technology and the ways that it could continually help expand the news and journalism."

Ochs was a Reform Jew, but a religious man as well, Hauptman said.

"Ochs believed the greatest heritage of a Jew is religion," he said. "He was also a trustee at Temple Emanu-El in New York."

Under Ochs, some of the public identified the Times as a "Jewish" paper, Hauptman said.

According to the history of the Anti-Defamation League on the organization's Web site, Ochs was one of its founding members and served on its executive board. He wrote a letter nationwide to newspaper editors telling them not to use vulgar or derogatory language about Jews in their papers. Two years later, only 50 incidents of negative references to Jews appeared across the country and by 1920 none were reported. 

Ruth Patt, a resident of Greenbriar in Monroe, said Hauptman was wonderful and was very pleased with his thorough research.

"He is a Jewish pioneer in the media and helped set the standard for the New York Times," Hauptman said.

Currently Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., a member of the Ochs family is the publisher of the Times.