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| Edward R. Murrow |
Almost
a half century after his death, he is still considered one of the most respected and
distinguished radio and television journalists of all time: A journalist whose listeners and
viewers trusted and believed him, A role model for future generations of
journalists, A broadcasting legend - Edward R. Murrow.
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| Egbert Roscoe Murrow |
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| The Murrow Brothers - Dewey, Lacey & Egbert |
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On
April 25, 1908 at Polecat Creek, near Greensboro, North Carolina, Egbert Roscoe
Murrow was born to Roscoe C. Murrow and Ethyl Lamb Murrow. Egbert was the youngest of three sons
and raised a Quaker. In 1914, the
family moved to Blanchard, Washington striving for a better life near the
lumber industry.
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| Edward R. Murrow |
It was during college at Washington State when
Murrow changed his first name to Edward.
He graduated in 1930, majoring in Speech. After graduation, he moved to New York and worked as the
assistant secretary for the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign
Scholars.
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| Janet Murrow |
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| Murrow with son, Casey |
During that time he met and fell in love with Janet
Huntington Brewster. On March 12,
1935, they were married. They had
one son, Charles Casey Murrow, in 1945.
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| Director of Talks & Education |
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| CBS Publicity shot |
In 1935 he was hired by CBS as their first Director
of Talks and Education. Two years
later, in 1937, CBS sent Murrow to Europe to set up cultural programs. Realizing that a world-wide storm was brewing, Murrow created a network of radio correspondents that
could report on the upcoming rapid changes occurring.
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| Murrow's Boys During the War |
With a keen
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| Murrow's Boys After the Wat |
understanding of what would
be needed, Murrow gathered some of the best writers from the wire services and
newspapers stationed around the world to work for him. These included William
Shirer, Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, Cecil Brown, Mary Marvin Breckinridge,
Richard C. Hottelet, Bill Downs, Winston Burdett, Tom Grandin, Larry LeSueur
and Charles Collingwood. These men
(and Mary) became the eyes and ears of World War II, sending reports and
broadcasting back home to the U.S., reporting about what was happening on the
front lines of the war and its effects around the world. This small group would later become
known as “Murrow’s Boys,” friends and associates of Murrow, who also believed
in and set the highest standards for reporting.
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| Covering London |
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| Battle of Britain |
Murrow made a name for himself by his coverage
leading up to and during the war.
In 1938, he reported the German occupation of Austria from Vienna as it
happened. In 1939, he made the
German Blitzkrieg come alive for listeners in America. In 1940, it was during the
10-month-long Battle of Britain that Murrow developed his calm, yet poignant
style of reporting – explaining what was happening in descriptive words and
phrases, while all the time immersing the audience even deeper with the actual
background sounds.
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| "This is London..." |
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| "Good night and good luck." |
During World War II, Murrow delivered over
5,000 radio broadcasts. It was
during this time that he developed his signature ominous open to each newscast
– “This is London.” And each radio
show would close with his trademark wish, “Good night and good luck.”
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| B-17 Flying Fortress |
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| Writing a Story |
During the war Murrow flew 25 bombing missions over
Germany, recording what he saw and heard after he returned. Americans had never been this absorbed
in a war before Murrow started taking them with him every night – on to rooftops,
down in bunkers, flying missions.
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| See It Now Title Graphic |
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| Vice President of News Programs |
After the war, Murrow returned to the New York and CBS,
where he was promoted to Vice President of News Programs and offered the chance
to create a radio program, Hear It Now.
In 1951, he made the move to television with See It Now. This was television’s first news
program delivered in a documentary-style format. Murrow presented it in a narrative format while taking the
viewer out in the field, where the news was happening. Most of the stories dealt with social
or political issues of the time. See
It Now was the forerunner of later
news programs such as 60 Minutes,
20/20 and 48 Hours.
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| A McCarthy Hearing |
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| McCarthy on See It Now |
In 1954, Murrow and See It Now took on Senator Joseph McCarthy and his communist
red scare tactics. By using video clips of McCarthy speaking and appearing
across the country, Murrow let McCarthy damn himself with his own words and
gestures. This program broke the spell Senator McCarthy had seemingly cast over
the nation concerning Communism. The Senate voted 67 to 22 to censure him eight
months after the show aired.
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| Peabody Award |
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| William S. Paley |
Murrow won a Peabody award for See It Now, and public sentiment
ran 15 to 1 in favor of the McCarthy broadcast.
However, William S. Paley, head of CBS took exception to the
hard-hitting program, fearing a loss of revenue. Payle cancelled See It Now soon after, although special
segments of the program were broadcast until 1958.
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| Television in the 1950's |
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| Murrow in the CBS Control Room |
Murrow continued to believe that radio and television could be
used, not just to entertain, but also to educate and inform. The media of the late 1950’s, as he saw
it, was allowing Americans to become insulated “from the realities of the
world in which we live.”
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| Murrow in Chicago |
On October 15, 1958, Murrow addressed the attendees
of the Radio and Television News Directors Association about his concerns,
saying:
“This instrument can teach, it can illuminate;
yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans
are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights
in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against
ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be
useful.”
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| Murrow and Harvest of Shame |
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| Migrant Workers in 1960 |
Murrow’s last program at CBS was broadcast the day
after Thanksgiving, 1960. It dealt
with the plight of the migrant farm workers in the U.S. and was entitled
“Harvest of Shame.”
In 1961, after several run-ins with CBS Chief
Executive, Bill Paley, Murrow resigned from the network where he had spent 26
years.
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| Director of the U.S. Information Agency |
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| President Kennedy and Murrow |
Murrow accepted a position with the Kennedy
Administration soon after as the director of the U.S. Information Agency – the
forerunner of Voice of America. He held this job for three years, until he was
diagnosed with lung cancer. He
underwent surgery and had his left lung removed. But the cancer continued to spread.
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| Murrow with his trademark cigarette |
Murrow died at his farm in Pawling, New York on
April 27, 1965 of lung cancer. It was reported that he smoked up to 70 cigarettes
a day, about three packs. He was 57 years old. More than 1,300 people attended his funeral. His body was cremated and his ashes
were scattered on his farm, Glen Arden, near Pawling, New York.
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| Medal of Freedom |
Murrow received numerous awards and accolades as a broadcaster. He was awarded 9 Emmys and two special
George F. Polk Awards for Journalism. He was presented with the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor a President can bestow on an
American citizen, by President Johnson in 1964. Murrow was indicted into the
Radio Hall of Fame in 1988, and his picture appeared on a 29¢ U.S.
commemorative postage stamp in January 1994.
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| Glen Arden Farm |
As his college, friend, and a member of the elite
group known as Murrow’s Boys, Eric Sevareid said,
"He was a shooting star; and we will live
in his afterglow a very long time."
~ Joy
