"Prize Arab Horses": The Importation of Arabians from the Middle East for William Randolph Hearst, 1947-1948

 In August 1947, several American newspapers carried a short article on the start of the journey of three men to the Middle East to acquire Arabian horses for media mogul William Randolph Hearst's ranch in San Simeon, California. The three were ranch manager Preston Dyer, Jr., photographer John Williamson, and veterinarian Dr. Fred Pulling. 

(The Santa Barbara News-Press spelled "Hearst" wrong.
He didn't own the paper.)

Theirs was a very long journey. It wasn't until May 16, 1948 that Hearst's own publication, the San Francisco Examiner, reported on the return of the Dyer party with 

This Hearst stallion was registered as *Ghamil 4217.
The caption said that he was "titled 'Jamil.'"

The paper added a photograph of Hearst's best-known Arabian stallion, Ghazi 560. The "greatest of Arab stallions" was, according to the caption, "welcoming kin to his new home with neigh." 

Ghazi 560 

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Photographer John Williamson was a grandson of American cereal millionaire W. K. Kellogg. More on his life can be found in the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch Records, 1910-1949, part of Special Collections and Archives, University Library, Cal Poly Pomona. (I ran the search for you, below.)

https://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=W.K.+Kellogg+Arabian+Horse+Ranch+Records%2C+1910-1949&search_field=all_fields&q=John+Williamson