Hearst habitually used his newspapers to skew public opinion in line with his personal issues. His legendary vindictive nature, narcissism, and his obsession with power resulted in a truly unique place in history as a political puppet master. When asked why he concentrated his business in the newspaper industry, instead of films, he replied, “I thought of it, but I decided against it. Because you can crush a man with journalism, and you can’t with motion pictures.” Orson Welles made a bold career decision to direct and star in Citizen Kane, a very unflattering film loosely based on Hearst’s life. Citizen Kane is now considered by many critics to be the greatest film of all time, but it wasn’t until decades after the film’s release that Welles…show more content… Herer provided a great deal of evidence suggesting that William Randolph Hearst, Andrew Mellon, and the DuPont family manufactured the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 as a means to suppress the hemp industry from competing with their business interests. Many researchers have added additional information to enhance Herer’s accusations. The competition from a reinvigorated hemp industry would have cost them billions of dollars. Industrial hemp’s benefits were common knowledge, but marijuana was a much easier target. All three of those possible conspirators had the means, motive, and character to pull off such a conspiracy. It’s important to examine Herer’s theory to learn the truth behind the prohibition of marijuana. Also, there were a few other related scandals during this period of time which coincided with his theory. These events demonstrated how easily top business tycoons were able to corrupt our political…show more content… Such an aggressive political stance contradicted his general political ideology because he had previously developed a reputation as a strong isolationist. However, Hearst often reversed on his political opinions in accordance with his personal interests. Woodrow Wilson had lightly defended the man called the “Robin Hood of Mexico” by the New York Times. Hearst’s papers chastised Wilson frequently with headlines such as “American Flag Only One Mexico Does not Respect.” Wilson later sent a 12,000 man army to capture Villa after they attacked American soil, but Hearst still wasn’t satisfied. His writers mocked Gen. Pershing’s battalion as a “perishing expedition” when they were ordered to leave Mexico to enter