It was on August 17, 1903, that Joseph Pulitzer made a transformative gift of $2,000,000 to Columbia University. A lifelong newspaper publisher and journalist, Pulitzer was driven by a deep desire to foster ethical journalism — both through education and recognition. The bulk of his generous donation went toward establishing a journalism school at Columbia, while a quarter of the total was set aside to create what would become the Pulitzer Prize, a highly respected annual award honoring excellence in journalism and literature that has been bestowed every year since 1917.
Born in Hungary in 1847, Pulitzer emigrated to America and went on to serve in the Union Army. His career in journalism took root when an article he wrote exposing a job scam caught the attention of editors at The Westliche Post, a German newspaper based in St. Louis. From there, his reputation grew rapidly — he became widely recognized as a hard-hitting journalist committed to ethical reporting. Through his writing, he championed the everyday man, shone a light on social injustice, took on corruption, and wielded real influence in politics. Remarkably, he had established his own newspaper by the age of 25. Pulitzer also spent time in public service, representing his district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1885 to 1886.
When Pulitzer first approached Columbia University in 1892 with his vision for a journalism school, the institution turned him down. Undeterred in his mission to formalize training for responsible journalists, he threw his support behind the first school of its kind at the University of Missouri. It wasn't until 1902, when Columbia's new president came around to Pulitzer's ideas, that the path forward opened up. The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism officially came into being in 1912 — one year after Pulitzer's death. The first Pulitzer Prizes followed in 1917. To this day, Joseph Pulitzer's pioneering journalism and lasting legacy continue to shape the field he cared so deeply about.