- 0:02:35 Introduction to the Talented Edward. R. Murrow
- Mickelson: In 1935, Ed Murrow began his career with CBS. When World War II broke out, it was his voice that brought the battle of Britain home to us through his “This is London Radio Series.†He started with us all, many of us here tonight, when television was in its infancy, with the news documentary show, See it Now. He threw stones at giants: segregation, exploitation of migrant workers, apartheid, J. Edgar Hoover, not the least of which, his historical fight with Senator McCarthy. He is the host of our enormously popular show Person to Person, and tonight he is here with his son, Casey, and wife, Janet, and all of you who he’s worked with, inspired, lectured, and taught. Ladies and gentlemen, the Radio-Television News Directors Association and Foundation welcomes Mr. Edward R. Murrow.
- 0:04:19 Murrow’s Speech on the Future of Television
- Murrow: It is my desire, if not my duty to try to talk to you journeymen with some candor about what is happening to radio and television. And if what I say is responsible, I alone am responsible for the saying of it. Our history will be what we make of it. And if there are any historians 50 or 100 years from now and there should be preserved the kinescopes of one week of all three networks, they will there find, recorded in black and white and in color, evidence of decadence, escapism, and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable, and complacent. We have a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it may see a totally different picture too late.
- 0:05:41 McCarthyism in America
- A Scroll Rolls over the Screen: Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than 200 “card-carrying†communists had infiltrated the United States government. Few in the press were willing to stand up against McCarthy for fear they too would be targeted.
- 0:07:10 Oath of Loyalty to America
- Joe: It’s simply a loyalty oath.
Shirley: To CBS?
Joe: And to America.
Shirley: You Promise to be a loyal American?
Joe: All of the reporters have signed this.
Shirley: Who are you promising this to? CBS? Paley?
Joe: Murrow signed it.
Shirley: Murrow signed it?
Joe: Yeah.
Shirley: “Are you now or have you ever been…â€
Joe: I thought it was a joke at first, but there’s a lot of pressure.
Shirley: “…that appeared on the list of subversive groups?â€
Joe: I don’t know. I don’t.
Shirley: All right, let’s think about it, what is it really saying? Is it a civil liberties issue or censorship?
Joe: I’m telling CBS that I’m not a Communist.
Shirley: Murrow signed this?
Joe: Yeah, and Fred and Stanton.
Shirley: Maybe you should talk to Murrow.
Joe: Maybe I should sign it.
Shirley: If you don’t sign this, are you and I a target?
Joe: If I don’t sign it, they’ll fire me.
Shirley: [Kisses him] Sign it. Finally we can tell everyone the truth.
- 0:10:44 Friendly Encourages the Crew to Find News
- Friendly: We have no show for Tuesday, fellas. So get out there and make some news. Rob a bank. Mug an old lady. Do something.
- 0:11:12 McCarthy’s Indirect Influence on Milo Radulovich
- Murrow: There’s a story here in the Detroit News. Dexter, Michigan. Kid named Milo Radulovich.
Friendly: Italian?
Murrow: Irish. Air Force kicked him out because his dad read some Serbian newspaper.
Friendly: His dad a communist?
Murrow: I don’t know.
Friendly: Who brought the charges?
Murrow: Air Force. Charges were in a sealed envelope. Nobody saw them.
Friendly: Not even at the hearing?
Murrow: He was declared guilty without a trial and told that to keep his job he had to denounce his father and his sister. Thank you, Natalie.
Friendly: His sister?
Murrow: Yeah. He told them to take a hike. Let’s send Joe and Charlie down there, see if he’s any good on camera.
Friendly: Is he being brought before the Committee?
Murrow: No.
Friendly: Then it’s not McCarthy.
Murrow: Isn’t it?
- 0:12:17 Radulovich Speculates When the Accusations Will Stop
- Radulovich: Yes, if I am being judged on my relatives, are my children going to be asked to denounce me? Are they going to be judged on what their father was labeled? Are they going to have to explain to their friends, et cetera, why their father is a security risk? If, if, if -- the thing is let stand as is, as the first recommendation was sent out by the board, I see a chain reaction that has no end to anybody, for anybody.
- 0:12:57 Mickelson Warns the Consequences of Such Opinionated Reporting
- Mickelson: Well, that’s new. I don’t think you can call this a neutral piece.
Murrow: The other side’s been represented rather well for the last couple of years.
Friendly: We tried to talk to the Air Force. They haven’t gone on the record.
Mickelson: You’d forego the standards you’ve stuck to for 15 years? Both sides, no commentary.
Murrow: We all editorialize.
Mickelson: I’m making sure we identify what it is you’re both doing.
Friendly: We gave them the information up front, and we’re asking them to comment on it.
Murrow: Fred. Hold on, Fred. I’ve searched my conscience, and I can’t for the life of me find any justification for this. And I simply cannot accept that there are on every story two equal and logical sides to an argument. Call it editorializing if you’d like.
Mickelson: It is editorializing, Ed.
Murrow: They are going to have equal time to defend themselves.
Mickelson: Do you understand the position you’re putting us in?
Friendly: We are all in this together, if the Senate wants to investigate…
Mickelson: Do me this favor, Fred. Avoid any big speeches about how we’re all in a big boat together, okay? Please don’t insult me. I have to go back to Mr. Paley and Alcoa, who sponsors your show and also happens to have some military contracts, and I have to tell them that they’re going to be in a bit of a tough bind because of a beef you had with Joe McCarthy.
Murrow: We’re not going at McCarthy.
Mickelson: Well, you’re starting the goddamn fire.
- 0:15:21 Friendly Holds Off Pressure from the Air Force
- Colonel Anderson: Your show airs tomorrow. How can we possibly approve and check the story that you are running in the limited amount of time you have given us?
Friendly: With all due respect, you have been invited to participate in this piece, not to approve this piece. We are going with the story that says that the U.S. Air Force tried Milo Radulovich without one shred of evidence and found him guilty of being a security risk without…
Colonel Anderson: And you who also have not seen the evidence are claiming he’s not a security risk. Wouldn’t you guess that the people who have seen the contents of that envelope…
Friendly: Who?
Colonel Anderson: …might have a better idea of what makes someone a danger to his country? Or do you think…
Friendly: Who? Who are these people, sir?
Colonel Anderson: …it should just be you that decides?
Friendly: Who are the people? Are they elected? Are they appointed? Do they have an ax to grind? Is it you, sir? Or you, Colonel Jenkins? Do you know the contents of that sealed envelope?
Colonel Jenkins: Mr. Friendly, we have been a friend and ally of both Mr. Murrow and CBS News for many years. The story you are going to run tomorrow is without merit. So before you take any steps that cannot be undone, I strongly urge you to reconsider your stand. These are very dangerous waters you are attempting to navigate.
- 0:20:04 Anything is Better than Red
- Murrow: What did the general tell you yesterday?
Friendly: It was a colonel, and there were two of them.
Murrow: That makes a general.
Friendly: They weren’t too pleased.
Murrow: You’re going to get audited this year.
Friendly: Not me, you. I told them I didn’t want to do the story
Murrow: You always were yellow.
Friendly: Better than red.
- 0:21:41 Murrow Argues for the Protection of Individual Rights
- Murrow: We are unable to judge the charges against the lieutenant’s father or sister because neither we, nor you, nor they, nor the lawyers, nor the lieutenant know precisely what was contained in that manila envelope Was it hearsay, rumor, gossip, slander, or hard ascertainable facts that could be backed by credible witnesses? We do not know. We believe the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, even though that iniquity be proved, and in this case it was not. But we believe too that this case illustrates the urgent need for the Armed Forces to communicate more fully than they have so far done the procedures and regulations to be followed in attempting to protect the national security and the rights of the individual at the same time. Whatever happens in this whole area of the relationship between the individual and the state, we will do it ourselves. It cannot be blamed on Malenkov or Mao Tse-Tung or even our allies. And it seems to us, that is Fred Friendly and myself, that this is a subject that should be argued about endlessly. Good night, and good luck.
- 0:28:04 Murrow Discusses Hollenbeck’s Depression and the Radulovich Story
- Murrow: Hey, Don.
Hollenbeck. Ed. You’re getting good at this They’re going to think you like it.
Murrow: Pays the bills. How are you, Don?
Hollenbeck: It’s day-to-day.
Murrow: Well, if she saw how good you looked right now she’d be back.
Hollenbeck: You tell her that if you see her, will you?
Murrow: I read the O’Brian piece.
Hollenbeck: Yeah, it’s tough. I’m a pinko. I slant the news. I’m just waiting for him to say my wife left me too.
Murrow: Nobody worth their salt reads him.
Hollenbeck: You read him.
Murrow: Well, see, I rest my case.
Hollenbeck: Does Paley read him?
Murrow: Bill Paley’s not going to do anything, Don.
Hollenbeck: Thanks, Ed. Oh, I just came by to tell you how great the lieutenant piece was. How’s the fallout?
Murrow: Thanks. Mostly good, surprisingly.
Hollenbeck: Is this the start? Are you taking sides?
Murrow: It’s just a little poke with a stick, see what happens.
Hollenbeck: You let me know if I can help.
Murrow: But you’re a pinko, Don.
Hollenbeck: I’ll see you, Ed.
- 0:29:39 Joe is Torn Between His Fear of Communism and Loyalty to Murrow
- Surine: What would you say if I told you Murrow was on the Soviet payroll in 1935?
Joe: McCarthy going to the Eisenhower dinner?
Surine: I have no idea. I don’t keep the Senator’s calendar for him, Joe.
Joe: Really?
Surine: Oh. [Hands him a classified folder]
Joe: Don, ever seen any spy movies? You don’t just hand me a classified folder. You’re supposed to slip it into my briefcase.
Surine: I didn’t know who to give this information to, Paley or Murrow. As you can imagine, Fred and I aren’t very friendly. No pun intended.
Joe: Well, no pun allocated. What do you got?
Surine: In short? Murrow’s been a communist sympathizer since the 1930s. Member of the International Workers, sponsored educational trips to Moscow, and on the Soviet payroll in 1935. It’s all there.
Joe: You want to know why that’s not possible? Why you’ll lose this one, Donald? Because everyone in this country knows Ed Murrow is a loyal American. He’s a patriot.
Surine: Did you know the word “gullible†isn’t in the dictionary, Joe?
Joe: Can I give this to him?
Surine: Oh, I’d love it. I have copies.
Joe: I think you guys go too far.
Surine: If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck…
- 0:31:31 Murrow’s Uncomfortable Meeting with Paley
- Paley: Hello, Ed.
Murrow: Bill.
Paley: Sit over here, will you. How’s Janet? Your son?
Murrow: All well, thanks. How’s Babe?
Paley: Oh, she’s fine. She’s fine. Her fundraiser got rained on so…
Murrow: That’s why I never plan on anything.
Paley: Really? You’d never know.
Murrow: Reading fiction?
Paley: I hope so. You tell me.
Murrow: Well, now we know how they’ll come at us.
Paley: That’s just their first shot. Somebody’s going to go down. Have you checked your facts? Are you sure you’re on safe ground?
Murrow: Bill, it’s time. Show our cards.
Paley: My cards. You lose, what happens? Five guys find themselves out of work. I’m responsible for a hell of a lot more than five goddamn reporters. Let it go. McCarthy will self-destruct, Cohn, all of them.
Murrow: Bill, you said corporate would not interfere with Editorial and that the news would be left…
Paley: We don’t make the news, we report the news.
Murrow: 99 percent of the time he’s wrong about the people he’s…
Paley: If he goes too far, the Senate will investigate him and we will report on that.
Murrow: But he’s wrong 100 percent of the time when he oversteps people’s civil liberties.
Paley: And what are you doing when you’re trying him in the press? Does he get the right to face his accuser? Ed, you’ve just decided on this and now you’re presenting it as fact. I write your check. I put you in your country house, and I put your son through school. You should have told me about this before it went so far down the road…. Every one of your boys needs to be clean. Do you understand? No ties. If Aaron’s mother so much as went to a group fundraiser in 1932, he’s out. Hewitt too. Anyone in that room, you make no mistake, I will cut them loose. Corporate won’t interfere with Editorial. But Editorial will not jeopardize the hundreds of employees of the Columbia Broadcasting System. Do I make myself clear? Yes?
- 0:34:46 Murrow Dismisses the Threat and Fear of Communism
- Murrow: Oh, if none of us had ever read a dangerous book or had a friend who was different or never joined an organization that advocated change, we’d all be just the kind of people Joe McCarthy wants. We are going to go with the story because the terror is right here in this room.
- 0:37:58 Joe and Shirley Get Ready for Work and Discuss the McCarthy Piece
- Joe: My argument was: if you just show the images, it doesn’t make any difference. If you agree with him, you’re going to hate the piece. If you don’t, you’ll hate it.
Shirley: Maybe they should wait till they get more footage.
Joe: I don’t think we can take that chance. We’ve got to hit McCarthy before he comes after Ed.
Shirley: The blue one. Well, they haven’t gone after the Alsops or Herb Block.
Joe: Well, honey, the Alsops and Herb Block didn’t work for the Institute of International Education in 1934.
Shirley: Then I guess it’s time.
Joe: You worried?
Shirley: I didn’t think I was. I don’t know why. I was in the office on Friday, and I answered the phone and it was Howard calling from London, and he asked what was going on with McCarthy. And before I answered him, I turned and looked over my shoulder to see who was listening.
Joe: And who was listening?
Shirley: Chairman Mao.
- 0:39:40 Paley Finally Gives his Support
- Murrow: This is Ed.
Paley: There’s a Knickerbocker game tonight. I’ve got front-row seats. Are you interested?
Murrow: I’m a little busy bringing down the network tonight, Bill.
Paley: Is that tonight?
Murrow: We’re covered, Bill.
Paley: All right. I’m with you today, Ed, and I’m with you tomorrow.
Murrow: Thanks, Bill.
- 0:42:09 Murrow Makes History Criticizing McCarthy on See it Now
- Murrow: On one thing the Senator has been consistent. Often operating as a one-man committee, he has traveled far, interviewed many, terrorized some, accused civilian and military leaders of the past administration of a great conspiracy to turn over the country to communism…. The Reed Harris hearing demonstrates one of the Senator’s techniques. Twice he said: “The American Civil Liberties Union was listed as a subversive front.†The Attorney General’s list does not and never has listed the ACLU as subversive, nor does the FBI or any other federal government agency. And the American Civil Liberties Union holds in its files letters of commendation from President Truman, President Eisenhower, and General MacArthur. Earlier, the Senator asked: “Upon what meat does this our Caesar feed?†Had he looked three lines earlier in Shakespeare’s Caesar, he would’ve found this line which is not altogether inappropriate: “The fault, dear Brutus, in not in our stars, but in ourselves.†No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to associate, to speak, and to defend the causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the results. We proclaim ourselves, indeed as we are, the defenders of freedom wherever it continues to exist in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.†Good night, and good luck.
- 0:49:03 Mixed Reviews, Mixed Feelings
- Shirley: The Times.
Crew Member: Good, who wrote it?
Shirley: Jack Gould. “Edward R. Murrow’s television program on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was an exciting and provocative examination of the man and his methods. It was crusading journalism of high responsibility and courage. For TV so often plagued by timidity and hesitation, the program was a milestone that reflected enlightened citizenship. The program…†Hold on, hold on. “The program was no less an indictment of those who wish the problems posed by the Senator’s tactics and theatrics would just go away and leave them alone. That was Mr. Murrow’s and television’s triumph and a very great one.â€
Crew Members Applaud and Cheer
Murrow: Send the New York Times a bottle of scotch.
Friendly: I already did. How do you think we got that review?
Crew Member: How’s the Post?
Joe: It’s pretty good.
Hollenbeck: What about O’Brian?
Shirley: Uh, the same.
Hollenbeck: Go on, go on. Read O’Brian.
Shirley: I don’t have it.
Joe: Got it.
Shirley: Oh, here. Here we go.
Friendly: Shirley, that… [Shakes his head]
Shirley: “We can’t say we were surprised at Edward R. Murrow’s hate-McCarthy telecast last evening when his explosively one-sided propaganda edited with deviously clever selectivity from McCarthy’s march against communism was finished last evening. By equally Machiavellian coincidence, the following telecast featured Murrow’s PM protégé Hollenbeck. In an obviously gloating mood, Hollenbeck hoped viewers had witnessed his patron’s triumph from and for the left.†And so on. Yeah, so on, and so on.
Hollenbeck: Shirley, it’s okay. Go ahead, finish it.
Shirley: No, that’s it. It’s… That’s it, that’s…
Hollenbeck: Shirley, please. Finish it.
Shirley: “The Columbia Broadcasting System has been in a lengthy clean-house-of-lefties mood. The worst offenders on lesser levels have been quietly pushed out of the company. Don Hollenbeck, a graduate of the demised pinko publication PM, attacked conservative papers with sly and slanted propaganda. He, then, proceeded through an equally tilted review of the day’s events with McCarthy dominating his words, actions, attitudes…†So on and so on. It’s O’Brian.
Joe: Yeah, he didn’t get the Scotch, that’s all.
Crew Member: Is that grammatically correct?
Hollenbeck: I’ll have that cigarette, Ed.
Crew Member: Thanks, Shirley
Crew Member: Thank you, Joe. Shirley. For the legwork.
Friendly: [To Hollenbeck] It doesn’t matter.
- 0:54:03 Friendly Urges Palmer to be Honest with the Lawyers
- Friendly: Palmer? The CBS lawyers want to talk to you.
Palmer: When?
Friendly: Tomorrow. I don’t want you to get paranoid, they’re talking to everyone.
Palmer: Any Ideas?
Friendly: Just tell them what you know.
- 0:57:01 Murrow Voices his Expectations for McCarthy’s Rebuttal
- Murrow: Johnny. Johnny, we know what it’s going to be. He’s going to come after me. There’s nothing more he can do. He’s going to bet that a Senator trumps a newsman.
Friendly: He’ll lose.
Murrow: Not if we’re playing Bridge.
- 0:57:38 Hollenbeck asks for Help
- Hollenbeck: I have to ask you something, Ed. It’s about O’Brian.
Murrow: O’Brian doesn’t matter.
Hollenbeck: He’s killing me, Ed.
Murrow: It doesn’t amount to a hell of a lot in the newsroom.
Hollenbeck: It’s not just him, Ed. We got to let that guy have it.
Murrow: We’re not going after O’Brian. Don, I will not take on McCarthy and Hearst. I can’t defeat them both. Just don’t read the papers. Or don’t read O’Brian anyway.
Hollenbeck: Okay. I guess not.
Murrow: I’m sorry, Don.
- 1:01:26 A Senator Takes a Stand For Individual Rights in the Moss Hearing
- Senator: She’s already lost her job; she’s been suspended because of this action. I’m not defending her. If she’s a communist, I want her exposed. But to make these statements as, “We’ve got corroborating evidence that she is a communist.†Under these circumstances, I think she’s entitled to have it produced here in her presence and let the public know about it and let her know about it. I don’t like to try people by hearsay evidence. I like to get the witnesses here and try them by testimony under oath…. You can’t strike these statements made by counsel here as to evidence that we are having and withholding. You cannot strike that from the press nor from the public mind once it’s planted there. That’s the, that is the evil of it. Well, I don’t think it’s fair to a witness, to a citizen of this country, to bring them up here and cross-examine them and then when they get through say: “We’ve got something, the FBI’s got something on you that condemns you.†It is not sworn testimony; it’s convicting people by rumor and hearsay and innuendo.
- 1:02:56 Murrow’s Comment about Moss on See it Now
- Murrow: You will notice that neither Senator McClellan nor Senator Symington nor this reporter know or claim that Mrs. Moss was or is a communist. Their claim was simply that she had the right to meet her accusers face to face.
- 1:04:12 McCarthy’s Rebuttal
- McCarthy: Good evening. Mr. Edward R. Murrow, educational director of the Columbia Broadcasting System, devoted his program to an attack on the work of the United States Senate Investigating Committee and on me personally as its chairman. Now, over the past four years, he has made repeated attacks upon me and those fighting communists. And, of course, neither Joe McCarthy nor Edward R. Murrow is of any great importance as individuals. We are only important in our relation to the great struggle to preserve our American liberties. Now, ordinarilyâ€"ordinarily, I would not take the time out from the important work at hand to answer Murrow. However, in this case I feel justified in doing so because Murrow is the symbol, the leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose individual communists and traitors. I am compelled by the fact to say to you that Mr. Edward R. Murrow, as far back as 20 years ago, was engaged in propaganda for communist causes. For example, the Institute of International Education, of which he was the acting director, was chosen to act as a representative by a Soviet agency to do a job which would normally be done by the Russian Secret Police. Now, Mr. Murrow, by his own admission, was a member of the IWW, that’s the Industrial Workers of the World, a terrorist organization cited as subversive by an Attorney General of the United States. Now, Mr. Murrow said on this program, and I quote: “The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have given considerable comfort to the enemy.†That is the language of our statute of treason, rather strong language. If I am giving comfort to our enemies, I ought not to be in the Senate. If, on the other hand, Mr. Murrow is giving comfort to our enemies, he ought not to be brought into the homes of millions of Americans by the Columbia Broadcasting System. And I want to assure you that I will not be deterred by the attacks of the Murrows, the Lattimores, the Fosters, the Daily Worker, or the Communist Party itself. And I make no claim to leadership. In complete humility, I do ask you and every American who loves this country to join with me.
- 1:08:10 Murrow’s Response to McCarthy’s Rebuttal
- Murrow: Last week Senator McCarthy appeared on this program to correct any errors he may have thought we made in our report of March 9th. Since he made no reference to any statements of fact that we made, we must conclude that he found no errors of fact. He proved again that anyone who exposes him, anyone who does not share his hysterical disregard for decency and human dignity and the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, must be either a communist or a fellow traveler. I fully expected this treatment. The Senator added this reporter’s name to a long list of individuals and institutions he has accused of serving the communist cause. His proposition is very simple: Anyone who criticizes or opposes Senator McCarthy’s methods must be a communist. And if that be true, there are an awful lot of communists in this country. For the record let’s consider briefly some of the Senator’s charges. He claimed but offered no proof that I had been a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. That is false. I was never a member of the IWW, never applied for membership. The Senator charged that Professor Harold Laski, a British scholar and politician, dedicated a book to me. That’s true. He is dead. He was a socialist, I am not. He was one of those civilized individuals who did not insist upon agreement with his political principles as a precondition for conversation or friendship. I do not agree with his political ideas. Laski, as he makes clear in the introduction, dedicated the book to me, not because of political agreement, but because he held my wartime broadcasts from London in high regard. And the dedication so reads. I believed 20 years ago and I believe today that mature Americans can engage in conversation and controversy, the clash of ideas, with communists anywhere in the world without becoming contaminated or converted. I believe that our faith, our conviction, our determination are stronger than theirs and that we can compete, and successfully, not only in the area of bombs but in the area of ideas. I have worked with CBS for more than 19 years. The company has subscribed fully to my integrity and responsibility as a broadcaster and as a loyal American. I require no lectures from the junior Senator from Wisconsin as to the dangers or terrors of communism. Having searched my conscience and my files, I cannot contend that I have always been right or wise but I have attempted to pursue the truth with some diligence and to report it, even though, as in this case, I had been warned in advance that I would be subjected to the attentions of Senator McCarthy. We shall hope to deal with matters of more vital interest to the country next week. Good night, and good luck.
- 1:11:10 Opinion of McCarthy versus Murrow, and the Investigation of McCarthy
- Zousmer: “In the last analysis, the Senator was perched on the television high-dive and all prepared to make a resounding splash. He jumped beautifully, but he neglected to check first where he was going to land. It must have been something of a shock to discover that Mr. Murrow had drained the water out of the pool.â€
Crew Members Laugh
Murrow: Is that the Times? Gould?
Zousmer: Yeah, it’s Jack Gould at the Times.
Murrow: Well, he’s a hell of a writer, I’ll tell you that. You should hire him away from the Times.
Crew Member: If we can afford him.
Aaron: The Senate’s investigating McCarthy.
Zousmer: What?
Aaron: The Army’s charging that McCarthy and Cohn exercised undue pressure to get preferential treatment for Schine. I saw Crichton down at the Sun.
Joe: You got the second source?
Aaron: There’s not a second source but this is coming out on the wire in two hours.
Murrow: Who’s heading up the investigation?
Aaron: Well, it’s not going to be McCarthy.
- 1:13:09 Hollenbeck’s Obituary
- Joe: “The fact of newscaster Don Hollenbeck’s suicide yesterday does not remove from the record that peculiar history of the leftist slanting of the news indulged consistently by the Columbia Broadcasting System. Hollenbeck was what most astute students of CBS’s strange and questionable new methods considered typical of its newscasters. By Jack O’Brian.â€
- 1:15:14 Hollenbeck’s Obituary on See it Now
- Murrow: One of the best programs I ever heard was called CBS Views the Press. A great many people liked it, some didn’t, but no one ever called it anything but honest. It was the work of an honest reporter, Don Hollenbeck. He also worked occasionally on See it Now. He did the 11 p.m. news over some of these stations. He had been sick lately and he died this morning. The police said it was suicide. Gas. Not much of an obit. But at least we got our facts straight, and it was brief. And that’s all Don Hollenbeck would have asked. Good night, and good luck.
- 1:16:19 Joe and Shirley Can’t Sleep; Joe’s Scared
- Joe: Here’s a thought. What if we’re wrong?
Shirley: We’re not wrong.
Joe: We’re not going to look back and say we protected the wrong side?
Shirley: Protected them from what? In the name of what? What would we be preserving?
Joe: An argument could be made for the greater good.
Shirley: Not once you give it all away. It’s no good then.
Joe: It’s just a thought.
- 1:17:20 Footage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings
- Chairman Welch: [to Senator McCarthy] Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
- 1:20:45 The End of See it Now
- Paley: The problem isn’t simply that you’ve lost your sponsor. With Alcoa, See it Now still loses money.
Friendly: Mr. Paley, the fee is $50,000, last week’s episode we did for less than $50,000.
Paley: Fred, you’re speaking beyond your competence.
Murrow: We’ll find another sponsor. We can certainly find someone who wants…
Paley: 64 Thousand Dollar Question brings in over 80,000 in sponsors and it costs one third of what you do. Ed, I’ve got Tuesday night programming that’s number one. People want to enjoy themselves. They don’t want a civics lesson.
Murrow: What do you want?
Paley: I don’t want to get a constant stomachache every time you take on a controversial subject.
Murrow: I’m afraid that’s the price you have to be willing to pay.
Paley: Let’s walk very carefully through these next few moments.
Murrow: The content of what we’re doing is more important than what some guy in Cincinnati…
Paley: What you’re doing, Ed, not me. Not Frank Stanton. You.
Murrow: CBS News, See it Now, all belong to you, Bill.
Paley: You wouldn’t know it.
Murrow: What is it you want? Credit?
Paley: I never censored a single program. I hold on to affiliates who wanted entertainment from us. I fight to keep the license with the very same politicians that you were bringing down, and I never, never, said no to you. Never.
Murrow: I would argue that we have done very well by one another. I would argue that this network is defined by what the news department has accomplished. And I would also argue that never saying no is not the same as not censoring.
Paley: Really? You should teach journalism. You and Mr. Friendly. Let me ask you this. Why didn’t you correct McCarthy when he said that Alger Hiss was convicted of treason? He was only convicted of perjury. You corrected everything else. Did you not want the appearance of defending a known communist? I would argue that everyone censors, including you.
Murrow: What do you want to do, Bill?
Paley: I’m taking your program from a half an hour to an hour. And it won’t be a weekly program, and it won’t be Tuesday nights.
Murrow: When would it be?
Paley: Sunday afternoons.
Murrow: How many episodes?
Paley: Five.
Murrow: Why don’t you just fire me, Bill?
Paley: I don’t think it’s what either of us wants. You owe me five shows.
Murrow: You won’t like the subject matter.
Paley: Probably not.
- 1:24:03 Murrow and Friendly Discuss the Last Five Episodes of See it Now
- Friendly: He wants me to lay a few people off.
Murrow: I’m sure he does.
Friendly: Let’s do our first show about the downfall of television.
Murrow: Senate’s going to vote to censure McCarthy tomorrow.
Friendly: Probably.
Murrow: And then what happens?
Friendly: He sits in the back row.
Murrow: Right. They keep him in the Senate. They don’t kick him out.
Friendly: No, he stays. [Shrugs] Well, we might as well go down swinging.
- 1:25:34 Murrow Finishes his Speech on the Future of Television
- Murrow: I began by saying that our history will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, then history will take its revenge and retribution will not limp in catching up with us. Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information. Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night, a time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan, is given over to a clinical survey on the state of American education. And a week or two later, a time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East. Would the corporate image of their respective sponsors be damaged? Would the shareholders rise up in their wrath and complain? Would anything happen other than a few million people would have received some illumination on subjects that may well determine the future of this country and therefore the future of the corporations? To those who say, “People wouldn’t look, they wouldn’t be interested, they’re too complacent, indifferent and insulated,†I can only reply: there is in one reporter’s opinion considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse, and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach. It can illuminate, and, yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it towards those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck.
