Oriental Irritants and Occidental Aspirants: Immigrant Portrayals in Hearst Magazines, 1905–1945

Abstract

William Randolph Hearst became editor and proprietor of the San Francisco Examiner in 1887, and by 1935, he had assembled a media empire consisting of nearly 30 major newspapers, 13 magazines, 8 radio stations, 3 news wires, and 2 motion picture companies. Most scholarship about Hearst has focused on his newspapers; less studied have been the magazines he acquired early in the 20th century. This monograph examines immigrant representations in Hearst magazines published between 1905 and 1945, focusing on how magazine fiction, nonfiction, and “fact-fiction” articles presented immigrants and immigration as social and political issues. Like Hearst himself, the publications favored immigrants from Germany and the Scandinavian countries of northern Europe and tended to disfavor those from China and Japan and, to a lesser extent, Mexico. According to the magazines, immigrants from the Far East and Mexico were “undesirables” who threatened society by, allegedly, importing, selling, and using hazardous drugs. Newspaper advertisements, news articles, and editorials extended these portrayals to wider audiences. Hearst also applied cross-media promotion to motion pictures, with writers converting fiction from his magazines into screenplays for Cosmopolitan Productions and MGM. The monograph contains examples of how magazine content and iconic covers have informed contemporary films and television series. In recent years, stylized representations have glamorized lifestyles but have also perpetuated cultural stereotypes that may contribute to anti-immigrant attitudes.