Hearst Over the People

The archconservative newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst was notorious for his xenophobia, vehement criticism of the New Deal, and support of Hitler and Benito Mussolini. In this photomontage, first published in the influential left-wing magazine New Masses, Morgan transforms Hearst’s grinning face into the body of an octopus—a symbol of corporate greed and corruption. Giant tentacles slither over a crowd of workers in a compelling evocation of the many-armed monster of Hearst’s sensationalist news empire.