Murrow, Edward R. (1908-1965) | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Edward R. Murrow's use of word pictures while reporting from London during World War II made him an American hero. He rewrote the rules of broadcast journalism on radio and then wrote most of the rules for television journalism and documentary reporting. For years, he was the most respected voice in broadcast news, and yet, he also hosted the earliest version of the celebrity tabloid show.

Murrow was born into a farming and logging family in North Carolina, but he grew up in Washington state. While attending Washington State College, he studied speech and played the lead in many theater productions.

In 1934, Murrow began arranging, through the International Institute of Education, for the placement of Jewish intellectuals from Germany in institutions of higher learning in the United States. Because it was during the Great Depression, he also had to arrange for financial support for these intellectuals. Some of these leading scientists, including Albert Einstein, participated in interviews that Murrow set up with the radio networks.

As a result of his work with German refugees, Murrow was offered a job with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) as "Director of Talks" in 1935. He was promoted in 1937 and became the head of CBS operations in Europe. In this position, he was not supposed to report news; he was not considered to be a journalist. However, Murrow broke the rules when, in 1938, Adolf Hitler's armies entered Austria. Murrow went to Vienna and filed a report on the invasion. His stylewas unique, allowing sounds and the words he chose to paint pictures for the listeners. In doing this, he had developed a new type of reporter, the radio correspondent.

Back in London, during the bombing raids by the Germans, Murrow remained above ground, out of the bomb shelters. This made it possible for him to report to an anxious audience every night on the nature and events of the war. These reports, which would always start with his trademark phrase "This is London," made him famous in America and a hero to the British.

Murrow tried to create reports that caused those who listened to live the experience and to be moved by it as he had been moved. In order to do this, he often put himself in great danger against his boss's orders. He flew along on bombing runs over Berlin, and he moved with the troops during the Allied thrust into Europe. One of his most moving broadcasts was of the Allied arrival at the Buchenwald concentration camp, wherein he described the horrors that had been inflicted upon the people who had been interred there.

When the war ended, Murrow returned to America, where he became the vice-president of CBS News. As the most famous radio news voice of World War II, Murrow was not satisfied with the desk job, so he went back to being a reporter in 1947. He then collaborated with Fred Friendly on a series of recorded documentaries called I Can Hear It Now (an oral history of the period from 1932 to 1945). After Murrow returned home from reporting on the Korean War, he and Friendly turned their collaboration into a weekly radio program on CBS. It was called simply Hear It Now, and it ran from December 1950 to June 1951.

Murrow did not like television, with its natural emphasis on pictures instead of ideas, as a medium for news. However, he could not stop the wheels of progress, so in 1951, he and Friendly created See It Now, a television version of their radio series. This program, which ran until 1958, helped to create the television documentary. Person to Person, Murrow's more popular television program, was of a completely different nature. Running from 1953 to 1959, this program was a celebrity interview show that featured guests such as Marilyn Monroe, Roy Campanella, Arthur Godfrey, and even then-Senator John F. Kennedy. Through remote hookups, Murrow (in New York) would question the celebrities (in their homes)

about their lifestyles. While the program disappointed fans of Murrow's serious work, it made a lot of money for both CBS and Murrow. In addition to these two television programs, Murrow continued to broadcast a nightly radio show.

One of the principles that Murrow lived by was "Tell the truth, and fear no man" (which had been ingrained in him as part of his Quaker upbringing). This principle would play a prominent role in the most important moment of his television career. Senator Joseph McCarthy was heading the House Un-American Activities Committee, which had fostered and exploited a fear of communism infiltrating America. CBS, along with other media organizations, had "black lists" of people who reportedly had Communist connections and were, therefore, unemployable. CBS also had a loyalty oath that employees were required to sign, thereby disavowing any Communist ties and affirming their loyalty to America.

While Murrow signed the oath, he knew the procedures being used by McCarthy were wrong, and he looked for a television story that would be appropriate for See It Now and would expose McCarthy's tactics. On October 20, 1953, Murrowchose to air a story that questioned the methods that were used in discharging a lieutenant, Milo Radulovich, from the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Based on sealed evidence and closed hearings, the soldier had been dismissed as a security risk because his father and sister had what were considered to be leftist leanings. After the show aired, the lieutenant was reinstated, but one month later, it became clear that McCarthy was trying to blacklist Murrow in retaliation for his stand in defense of the lieutenant. Murrow, who respected McCarthy's power but refused to fear him, ordered the See It Now crew to prepare a show about McCarthy's authoritarian tactics. After three months, he decided on March 9, 1954, that the time was right to go ahead with the program, regardless of the consequences. Fortunately, Murrow was the most respected reporter in America, and the vast majority of people supported his program. Murrow had given voice to a majority view that had been silenced. Finally, it was okay to disagree with McCarthy—because Murrow had done it. When Murrow was criticized for his personal attack on the senator, he said that history would judge whether he or McCarthy had served America better. In 1954, the answer to this question came when the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly censured Senator McCarthy for his actions.

One of Murrow's follow-ups to See It Now was Small World, which ran from 1958 to 1959 and extended the technology of electronic newsgathering by using simultaneous hookups around the world to present unrehearsed discussions among important international opinion leaders. Murrow then began producing documentaries for another series, CBS Reports. His most famous documentaries included Harvest of Shame (1960) and Biography of a Bookie Joint (1961). Murrow left CBS in 1961 to join the John F. Kennedy administration as the director of the U.S. Information Agency. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and was named an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1965 (shortly before his death from lung cancer).

Journalism, History Of; Radio Broadcasting, History Of; Television Broadcasting, History Of.

Finkelstein, Norman H. (1997). With Heroic Truth: The Life of Edward R. Murrow. New York: Clarion Books.

Persico, Joseph E. (1988). Edward R. Murrow: An American Original. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Ranville, Michael. (1996). To Strike at a King: The Turning Point in the McCarthy Witch Hunt. Troy, MI: Momentum Books.

Sperber, Ann M. (1998). Murrow, His Life and Times. New York: Fordham University Press.

Winfield, Betty H., and DeFleur, Lois B. (1986). The Edward R. Murrow Heritage: Challenge for the Future. Ames: Iowa State University Press.

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