during the Cuban revolution, and if not for his efforts, it is probable that the war would not have even been fought. But Hearst, who would do anything for a headline, cooked up incredibly falsified tales of Spanish brutality. As stories of Cuban injustice became old news to the public, especially as there was no real war, a reporter telegraphed Hearst that he would like to leave. Hearst replied, "Please remain. You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." (Swanberg 127) Such an obvious similarity can only have been deliberate, as Kane practically quoted Hearst. In the movie, Thatcher was furious with Kane's success in attacking trusts in defense of "the people" and providing false headlines such as those about the Spanish Armada being anchored off of the Jersey coast, a headline printed with virtually no proof to substantiate it. Kane even used his paper to attack a company of which he himself, along with Thatcher, was the major shareholder. As Thatcher prepared to leave after his discussion with Kane on what new is, he mentioned to Kane his enormous losses, which totaled one million dollars for the year, a staggering sum to have been lost by one person, especially at that time. Kane,. however, laughed it off, joking that, at that rate, he'll have to close down in sixty years (Citizen Kane). All these things were characteristic of Hearst as well. He attacked the trusts in favor of "the people" (a favorite phrase of Hearst's) and hired lawyers to try to get injunctions against the trusts and eventually destroy them. He supported the eight hour workday and the labor unions (Swanberg 235). He made up headlines preying on people's fear and hatred of Spain and Japan which, not coincidentally, he had aroused by previous articles in The Examiner and other publications of his about Spanish atrocities in Cuba and the "yellow menace" of Japan (Swanberg 122, 352) Hearst threw money away as though to him it literally grew on trees. A man with ...
