Joseph Pulitzer was born in Makó, in present-day Hungary. Originally, he wanted to do a military career, but was turned down by the Austrian army. They said his health was bad and that he did not see very well. He went to live in the United States in 1864 to serve the Union in the American Civil War. After the war he settled in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1868 he began working there for a German-language daily newspaper, the "Westliche Post". He joined the Republican Party and was elected to the Missouri State Assembly in 1869. In 1872, Pulitzer bought the "Post" for $3,000. Then, in 1878, he bought the "St. Louis Dispatch" for $2,700 and merged the two papers, which became the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch", which remains St. Louis' daily newspaper. It was at the Post-Dispatch that Pulitzer developed his role as a champion of the common man with exposés and a hard-hitting populist approach.