BULLETIN, THE

daily newspaper published in Philadelphia from 1847 to 1982, long considered one of the most influential American newspapers. Founded by Alexander Cummings as Cummings Telegraphic Evening Bulletin, the newspaper became The Daily Evening Bulletin in 1856 and then the Evening Bulletin in 1870. The paper was one of the first in the United States to transmit news by telegraph and was the first evening paper to succeed in the city of Philadelphia. In 1895, after several changes of ownership, William L. McLean bought the Evening Bulletin and built it in 10 years to a circulation of 200,000, Philadelphia's largest. In 1947 The Bulletin bought the Philadelphia Record, which had suspended publication rather than meet the demands of striking workers of the American Newspaper Guild (the Record had been first to recognize the union in a contract). The Record was shut down, and The Bulletin then introduced a Sunday edition, which reached a circulation of 500,000. Sold by the McLean family in 1980, The Bulletin closed in January 1982, after a very lengthy strike.