R. D. Blumenfeld
Encyclopedia
Ralph David Blumenfeld was an American
-born journalist, writer and newspaper editor who is chiefly notable for having been in charge of the British
newspaper Daily Express
from 1902 to 1932.
, the fourth son of David Blumenfeld, and his wife Nancy. A former professor from Nuremberg
, David Blumenfeld had emigrated to the United States in 1848, where he founded Der Weltbürger, a German language
newspaper. Asiring to follow in his father's footsteps, Blumenfeld began his journalistic career working with his father before moving to the Chicago Herald in 1884. The next year saw him work for the United Press
and in 1887 he visited the United Kingdom
to report on the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
. After his return, his coverage of a fire for the New York Morning Journal led James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
to offer him a Blumenfeld a job with his paper, the New York Herald
, where Blumenfeld worked a reporter until differences led to his resignation in 1892.
Over the following six years, Blumenfeld built up a successful business selling linotype machine
. In 1894 he moved to Britain, where his wealth and reputation as a journalist led to offers to purchase both The Observer
and The Sunday Times
, both of which he declined. Yet he desired to return to the world of journalism, and in 1900 eagerly accepted Alfred Harmsworth
's offer of a position as news editor of the Daily Mail
. He was soon involved in Harmsworth's business dealings as well, serving as Harmsworth's contact in his unsuccessful effort to purchase The Times
from the Walter family.
Blumenfeld's tenure with Harmsworth was short. In 1902 , Arthur Pearson convinced Blumenfeld to leave the Daily Mail for its rival, the recently-established Daily Express
. Accepting, Blumenfeld soon came to play an important role in the operation of the paper, introducing such innovations as the American practice of featuring news on the front page instead of advertisements. In 1908 he was named a director of the company and took over as editor the following year. Grappling with business-related problems with the newspaper, he accepted a loan of £25,000 from Max Aitken
, which was key to the press baron's subsequent assumption of ownership of the newspaper in 1917. Blumenfeld remained editor of the paper until 1929, but he gradually found himself marginalized as Beaverbrook (as Aitken was subsequently ennobled) assumed an intrusive role in editorial matters.
Politically Blumenfeld was a strong supporter of laissez-faire
economics and a harsh critic of socialism
and to this end he established the Anti-Socialist Union
in 1908 and succeeded in linking the group closely to the Conservative Party
.
After turning over editorship of the paper to his protégé Beverley Baxter
, Blumenfeld wrote a number of books, including What is a Journalist (1930) and The Press in My Time (1932). In 1932 he became Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Daily Express, a position he held for the remainder of his life. He also served as president of the Institute of Journalists
in 1928, master of the Company of News Makers from 1931 until 1933, and deputy master of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers from 1931 until 1935. Though active in the Conservative Party
, he declined a knighthood offered for political services. A close friend of several politicians, he was said to have been one of the few people who induced Calvin Coolidge
to talk, while leading a visit of journalists to the White House
in 1927.
In 1935, after broadcasting a series of talks on BBC
Radio called "Anywhere for a News Story", Blumenfeld retired to Muscombs, a farmhouse in Great Dunmow
, Essex
. Incapacitated by a stroke in 1936, he died twelve years later.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born journalist, writer and newspaper editor who is chiefly notable for having been in charge of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
newspaper Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
from 1902 to 1932.
Career
Blumenfeld was born in Watertown, WisconsinWatertown, Wisconsin
Watertown is a city in Dodge and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Most of the city's population is in Jefferson County. Division Street, several blocks north of downtown, marks the county line. The population of Watertown was 21,598 at the 2000 census...
, the fourth son of David Blumenfeld, and his wife Nancy. A former professor from Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, David Blumenfeld had emigrated to the United States in 1848, where he founded Der Weltbürger, a German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
newspaper. Asiring to follow in his father's footsteps, Blumenfeld began his journalistic career working with his father before moving to the Chicago Herald in 1884. The next year saw him work for the United Press
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
and in 1887 he visited the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to report on the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. After his return, his coverage of a fire for the New York Morning Journal led James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett, Sr., who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father....
to offer him a Blumenfeld a job with his paper, the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
, where Blumenfeld worked a reporter until differences led to his resignation in 1892.
Over the following six years, Blumenfeld built up a successful business selling linotype machine
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
. In 1894 he moved to Britain, where his wealth and reputation as a journalist led to offers to purchase both The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
and The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
, both of which he declined. Yet he desired to return to the world of journalism, and in 1900 eagerly accepted Alfred Harmsworth
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe rose from childhood poverty to become a powerful British newspaper and publishing magnate, famed for buying stolid, unprofitable newspapers and transforming them to make them lively and entertaining for the mass market.His company...
's offer of a position as news editor of the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
. He was soon involved in Harmsworth's business dealings as well, serving as Harmsworth's contact in his unsuccessful effort to purchase The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
from the Walter family.
Blumenfeld's tenure with Harmsworth was short. In 1902 , Arthur Pearson convinced Blumenfeld to leave the Daily Mail for its rival, the recently-established Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
. Accepting, Blumenfeld soon came to play an important role in the operation of the paper, introducing such innovations as the American practice of featuring news on the front page instead of advertisements. In 1908 he was named a director of the company and took over as editor the following year. Grappling with business-related problems with the newspaper, he accepted a loan of £25,000 from Max Aitken
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Bt, PC, was a Canadian-British business tycoon, politician, and writer.-Early career in Canada:...
, which was key to the press baron's subsequent assumption of ownership of the newspaper in 1917. Blumenfeld remained editor of the paper until 1929, but he gradually found himself marginalized as Beaverbrook (as Aitken was subsequently ennobled) assumed an intrusive role in editorial matters.
Politically Blumenfeld was a strong supporter of laissez-faire
Laissez-faire
In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies....
economics and a harsh critic of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and to this end he established the Anti-Socialist Union
Anti-Socialist Union
The Anti-Socialist Union was a British political pressure group that supported free trade economics and opposed socialism. It was active from 1908 to 1948 with its heyday occurring before the First World War.-Formation:...
in 1908 and succeeded in linking the group closely to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
After turning over editorship of the paper to his protégé Beverley Baxter
Beverley Baxter
Sir Arthur Beverley Baxter, FRSL was a Canadian born journalist and politician. He spent most of his career in the United Kingdom working for the Daily Express and as a theatre critic for the Evening Standard, and was a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party from 1935 until his...
, Blumenfeld wrote a number of books, including What is a Journalist (1930) and The Press in My Time (1932). In 1932 he became Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Daily Express, a position he held for the remainder of his life. He also served as president of the Institute of Journalists
Chartered Institute of Journalists
The Chartered Institute of Journalists is a professional association for journalists and is the senior such body in the UK and the oldest in the world. It was founded as the National Association of Journalists at a meeting at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham in October 1884, to promote and advance...
in 1928, master of the Company of News Makers from 1931 until 1933, and deputy master of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers from 1931 until 1935. Though active in the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, he declined a knighthood offered for political services. A close friend of several politicians, he was said to have been one of the few people who induced Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
to talk, while leading a visit of journalists to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in 1927.
In 1935, after broadcasting a series of talks on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio called "Anywhere for a News Story", Blumenfeld retired to Muscombs, a farmhouse in Great Dunmow
Great Dunmow
Great Dunmow is an ancient market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England in which the great Shannon Gray, also known as Hazzah Potter, lives...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. Incapacitated by a stroke in 1936, he died twelve years later.
Further reading
- "Mr. R.D. Blumenfeld: Chairman of the Daily Express" (Obituary), The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 19 July 1948.