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Edward R. Murrow, 1908-1965
In the mid-1950s, Edward R. Murrow was the dean of broadcast journalism -- a genre he had pioneered. Hired as director of news by CBS in 1935, Murrow broadcast the outbreak of war in Europe; from 1938 to 1945, his signature opening, "This... is London," brought the war into American living rooms. In the postwar's new medium, television, Murrow launched "See It Now" (1951-58), a news documentary program that he called "an entirely new weapon of journalism." Its high point was a March 1954 broadcast that helped topple Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow also hosted the popular "Person to Person," in which he visited celebrities in their homes during prime time (1952-61). Murrow left CBS in 1961 and directed the United States Information Agency until his death in 1965.
Al Hirschfeld, 1956. |