RALPH PULITZER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 08/07/1916 - HFSID 23447

RALPH PULITZER
As owner of the New York World, he declines an invitation to join yet another organization.
Typed Letter signed: "Ralph Pulitzer", 1 page, 8x10½. New York, N.Y. 1916 August 7. On letterhead of the Editor's Room, New York World to Henry E. Crampton, Acting Recording Secretary, New York Academy of Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, New York City. In full: "I have received your invitation of August 1st to become an Active Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and highly appreciate the compliment. Owing to the number of organizations to which I already belong and the limited amount of time I have available for them, I have had to make it a rule to refuse all further invitations save those which hold a peculiar personal interest to me. It is with great regret, therefore, that I must decline your kind invitation. Faithfully yours". Ralph Pulitzer (1879-1939) was the son of Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), creator of the Pulitzer Prize. After Joseph's death, Ralph inherited ownership of the New York World, continuing the intense journalistic competition with rival press magnate William Randolph Hearst. Pulitzer became the first civilian to overfly the battle lines of World War I, courtesy of the French Air Force, and wrote a vivid account, Over the Front (1915). His second marriage was to Margaret Leetch, herself the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in history. One vertical and one horizontal fold. Lightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.