Description:

Hearst William
William R Hearst Signed Note Lamenting His Son Is Not Being Responsible


Single page on neon orange paper, 7.5" x 3.5", with the number of 792 in the upper left corner. The question to Mr. Hearst is typed, and includes an autographed, and signed response in the hand of William Hearst, written in graphite.
 
 


The typed portion on the page was a question proposed to William Hearst "it is Ok to get the valves ground on the Buick that John Hearst has been using in Los Angeles, and which he would like to continue to use when he returns?" Hearst's notes sprawled in penciled across the note "John must take care of himself. He should buy a car. He must not continue to use mine or Miss Davies. If Pio can buy a car John can and must! WRH"
 


William Randolph Hearst believed in the adage about working hard, and clearly attempted to not let trust inheritance create lazy offspring. Instead he was stead fast in the doctrine of a solid work ethic. Many of his letters of the period reflect Hearst's attempts to foster such a legacy with his offspring. In this signed note, he is already reflecting on teenage grandson, "
John", John Randolph "Bunky" Hearst Jr. , who at the time lived with William.  In 1945, when John was only 12, his father, John Randolph Hearst, and his mother, Gretchen Wilson, agreed to ship him off to his grandpa's estate. His parents -- his father was a heavy drinker, his mother attracted to heavy drinkers -- were divorced and in the process of starting new families with new spouses. Neither was particularly interested in raising Bunky.  Athletic, gregarious, and rebellious, Bunky soon became William Randolph Hearst's favorite grandchild, the only one of Hearst's 15 grandchildren ever to live with him at what outsiders call the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Calif. (Family members call it "the ranch.")
 

John (Bunky) was not lonely rattling around the 56-bedroom, 61,000-square-foot mountaintop castle overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He spent time with his grandfather's celebrity house guests. He watched movies next to Charlie Chaplin. He played football with gridiron legend Jim Thorpe. And early one morning he learned that breasts float when he came upon Rita Hayworth skinny-dipping in his grandpa's famous marble-lined pool. However in this moment, most likely as John achieved driving age, his grandfather was right there championing him to not be dependent on family wealth and instead  ".. take care of himself ...buy a car ... not continue to use (others)..
If Pio can buy a car, john can and must!". 


An incredible note depicting the ardent desire on how to raise your family from a leader of capitalism. In the end, newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst died in 1951 at the age of 88. The will made clear his feelings about his relatives. None of his five children (all sons) was competent to run his business. 


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