Edward R. Murrow: An American Original

by Joseph E. Persico

Edward R. Murrow (1908-65) virtually invented modern radio & television journalism. He served, in turn, as CBS's European director, war correspondent, vice president & director of public affairs, news analyst, producer & broadcaster of the groundbreaking See It Now & Person to Person tv programs, & director of the US Information Agency. His name has become synonymous for quality, courage & integrity in broadcast journalism. Whether reporting from the rooftops of London during the blitz & at the gates of Buchenwald by war's end or exposing Senator Joseph McCarthy on See It Now, Murrow's broadcasts (the best of which have been collected in In Search of Light, available from Da Capo Press) shaped the way the American public saw the world. Edward R. Murrow reveals the exciting events behind his provocative reporting while letting readers witness the inner life of a legendary journalist. Like its subject, this biography sets the standard.

Genres: Biography, Journalism, History, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Joseph E. Persico was the author of Roosevelt’s Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage; Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918–World War I and Its Violent Climax; Piercing the Reich; and Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial, which was made into a television docudrama. He also collaborated with Colin Powell on his autobiography, My American Journey. He lives in Guilderland, New York.

Reviews

[Eric_W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: I wrote this review in 1991 just as the first invasion of Iraq got underway.

There has been much discussion on the tube regarding what the proper role of the journalist should be in a major conflict such as we now have in the Persian Gulf. Several years ago I read a terrific book by Phillip Knightley The First Casualty From the Crimea to Vietnam The War Correspondent As Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker Knightley's premise, as evidenced through much documentation, dispatches and anecdotes, is that the true journalist has an obligation to be anti-war if not anti-government. Be that as it may, Knightley displays how the military have become quite adept at manipulating public opinion through the control of journalists' reporting.

Censorship is used not so much to protect the soldiers but rather the reputations of the generals and diplomats; to hide the bungling. Knightley does not discuss the impact of technology on delivery of information and the speed with which it can be delivered, surely an increasingly important factor in the equation; he speaks of it only in the context of television's greed for more and more footage of the battlefield which has increased the pressure on those in charge to release more.
If Knightley's book lacks in objectivity then a good alternative might be Persico's or Alexander Kendrick's Prime Time the Life of Edward R. Murrow
Murrow's name has become synonymous with quality, courage and integrity in broadcast journalism. One of Murrow's greatest assets was that he realized that sometimes one needed to think before filing a story.

A classic example was his story on Buchenwald. Rather than file immediately he tarried and his report lagged three days behind his fellow reporters, but Murrow's report was carried by all the major newspapers, many on the front page. The New York Times Book Review called it a classic: "one concrete image after another...living testimony not only to a stern and heroic time...taut with restrained rage." Murrow's goal was to increase the public understanding of an event, to burrow beneath the surface, question the rules, and not accept unchallenged the hypotheses delivered to reporters by the powers in charge.

Speaking of The Powers That Be, David Halberstam's book by that title (The Powers That Be) can also provide valuable insights into the machinations of the newspaper business. Basically it's a very readable history of the Los Angeles Times in all its sordid and grubby detail, although despite all the paper manages to achieve a remarkable level of praise from Halberstam whether intended or not.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best biographies I have ever read. Very informative about the man and as well as the times he lived in. Well written.

[Bill Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edward R. Murrow grew up in a small logging community on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, State. The area is now famous for Olympic National Park. He worked in logging camps in the Sol Duc Valley on breaks in his schooling until he went off to Washington State University. He could not afford his higher aspirations of attending an east coast college. Defaulting to Washington State proved to be fortuitous as it was here that he encountered Ida Lou Anderson, a speech and drama instructor. She had graduated from WSU just a few years earlier. Ida Lou, who at the age of eight, was stricken with polio. Her life became an "unremitting struggle against sickness and pain". Despite her handicap and deformity from polio, she became a gifted student and actress and came back to WSU to teach speech and drama. When Edward R. Murrow asked to attend her class, she turned him down because she did not take first-year students. He persisted, and the second time he asked, she relented. She poured all her knowledge into him, setting on the career we know today. He acknowledged her in all he did after that.

This book is not only a biography of this passionate journalist; it is a look at the history of world events, broadcasting from 1930 to 1965, the advent of the radio supplementing the newspaper and TV supplementing the radio. We fly with Murrow, the reporter, in a bomber, over Germany. We see him while having dinner with the Roosevelts when Pearl Harbor is attacked. We see him calling out Senator Joe McCarthy and the Red Scare.

We witness him reaping the fruits of his success but never really being satisfied. We also see the growth of CBS under the founder and Chairman William Paley, a relationship that started mutually compatible but became fractious as the goal of CBS became more of making money rather than reporting serious news.

His wife, Janet (formerly Janet Brewster), was a descendant on her father's side of Elder William Brewster, the spiritual leader of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. She comes across as the anchor in his life, but not enough is said about her. She accompanies him on some of his missions and tolerates his obsession with news. She was by his side when he died on April 27, 1965, at 57 years of age.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quote from the foreward about says it all: "He had every reason to be a happy man. He was not." This is a fascinating portrait of the man who saw, heard, and reported some of the most important events of the 20th century, one who stood at the dawning of not one but two new mediums for news (radio and television) and managed to bridge the gap from one to the next while excelling at both. Just listen to this broadcast during the Blitz - it is reporting at its finest.
Some things that stuck out to me during my reading:
- the "high" of the war years and the time spent in London was what he measured everything else in his life against; nothing could really compare; it all fell short of that experience
- the struggle he had (that many of us do) to figure out if one's work matters in the world; he wanted something more tangible, less ephemeral
- the fact that he didn't vote for anyone, ever; this fascinated me and left me with so many questions as to why (he never really had a reason)

Favorite quotes: "What difference did it make who reported a story five minutes before someone else? What mattered was how the story was told, and what it revealed; meaning not speed."

"The war years had become the permanent backdrop against which the rest of his life would be acted out."

"I am a prisoner of cameras, lights and newsclips." - Edward R. Murrow

"[His mother] had taught him how to work, but not how to play, too much about life's duties and not enough about life's joys."

[David Shaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished Joseph Persico's Edward R. Murrow. A man who saw the greatness of radio and was its voice from his time reporting the Blitz from the rooftops of London to the Liberation of Buchenwald he was the voice of the war to many as Ernie Pyle was its author. The voice of his own program "Hear It Now."

He represented both the golden age of radio and television and was a bridge between the two. He saw radio as the superior medium believing the picture conveyed less than the spoken word. He abhorred commercialism in both mediums and saw the game show Era and the subsequent game show

He saw that both as a way to bring understanding and world events to the common man.

Not the greatest writer or spoken voice but the composite of both. He attempted to recruit Walter Cronkite as a Murrow Boy while in London and had a ongoing rivalry with him when he declined. He was the voice of morality to many.

I previously read Murrow: His Life and Times by A. M. Sperber and both are excellent although I believe this does a superior job on his early pre-radio life.

A solid 4 star rating and I strongly endorse the reading of this book fine biography.

[John Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the most widely read biography of radio and television news pioneer Edward R. Murrow. It is not a flawless rendition of his life. In sketching out the events that formed the backdrop for Murrow's life, the author sometimes resorts to lazy and inaccurate generalizations which probably would not be questioned by a person of the author's general background and political beliefs (college-educated mid-twentieth century liberal, with synpathies edging toward the illiberal left, though he undoubtedly would not acknowledge it). Also, the arc of the story simply moves from one event to the next in Murrow's life, without any special emphasis on or analysis of facets of hs character which may have provided greater insight for the reader - for example, the dynamics within Murrow's birth family, his intramural conflict with his oldest brother, his ambition and ego, and the tangled web of desire, loyalty, and betrayal within his own marriage. Still, on the whole, this is a worthwhile and informative book.

[Bob Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’re Early Days Better Days?

Tom Brokaw called those who fought in, endured and even thrived World War II “The Greatest Generation.” I’ve always felt he was correct, about that generation, about my parents and their friends who endured those times with a brave face and to the man whose radio broadcasts from London made Europe’s war a real thing to insulated Americans, Edward R. Murrow.
I first saw him on TV at about age 5 on my grandma’s black and white television. And I listened to the resonate voice even though his subjects were mostly over my head. I knew his views were important. By high school he was already dead, but his words and legacy were not.
This book had a big job to do - illuminating the life of an American original. For those who remember Murrow, even a little, this is an illuminating and fascinating read.

[Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" No. Where have you gone, Edward R. Murrow?

This book reinforced much of what I already knew about the man and made me long for another like him, while kind of resenting what we have on TV and radio today (with a few notable exceptions).

My big criticism of this book: 24 pages. Really? A 500 page book and only 24 pages are devoted to the McCarthy broadcasts? The author clearly spent much time researching Murrow, but when it came time to write about the McCarthy broadcasts -- the pinnacle of Murrow's career -- it almost looks as if he rushed it.

24 pages for the McCarthy shows. That's a mere 5 percent of the book. I feel shortchanged.

[David A-S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edward R. Murrow managed to define himself through his stand against McCarthyism, heroic wartime reporting, and populist news. His integrity is and was his name plate. This speaks to the making of a public legend: the hows and the whys, but it also speaks to the personal challenges. It truly is a great read as it not only is effective as biography but the larger history happening around the subject.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my heroes

[Preston Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

He set the standard by which TV journalism is measured and since him nobody has fully measured up. Well written.