Howard K. Smith
Howard K. Smith | |
---|---|
Born | Howard Kingsbury Smith May 12, 1914 Ferriday, Louisiana, U.S. |
Died | February 15, 2002 Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. | (aged 87)
Occupation | News anchor |
Years active | 1940–2000 |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Benedicte Traberg Smith
(m. 1942) |
Children | 2 |
Howard Kingsbury Smith (May 12, 1914 – February 15, 2002) was an American journalist, radio reporter, television
Early life
Smith was born in
Early career and CBS years
World War II
Upon graduating, Smith worked for the
He was one of the last American reporters to leave Berlin before Germany and the United States went to war. His 1942 book, Last Train from Berlin: An Eye-Witness Account of Germany at War describes his observations from Berlin in the year after the departure of Berlin Diary author William L. Shirer. Last Train from Berlin became an American best-seller and was reprinted in 2001, shortly before Smith's death.
Smith became a significant member of the "Murrow Boys" that made CBS the dominant broadcast news organization of the era. In May 1945, he returned to Berlin to recap the German surrender.
Post-war
In 1946, Smith went to London for CBS with the title of chief European correspondent.[1] In 1947, he made a long broadcasting tour of most of the nations of Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain. In 1949, Knopf published his The State of Europe, a 408-page country-by-country survey of Europe that drew on these experiences and that argued "both the American and the Russian policies are mistaken"; he advocated more "social reform" for Western Europe and more "political liberty" for Eastern Europe.[citation needed]
Despite these criticisms of Soviet policies, Smith was one of 151 alleged Communist sympathizers named in the Red Channels report issued in June 1950 at the beginning of the Red Scare, effectively placing him on the Hollywood blacklist.[citation needed]
Beginning on January 11, 1959, Smith moderated Behind the News with Howard K. Smith, a CBS-TV program "analying news events and the significance of issues in the news". The sustaining program was broadcast on Sundays from 6 to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.[3]
Civil Rights reporting: Who Speaks for Birmingham?
Reporting on civil-rights riots in Birmingham in the early 1960s, Smith revealed the conspiracy that existed between police commissioner
ABC, 1962–1979
On June 5, 1968, Smith and fellow newsman
In the summer of 1968, Smith moderated a series of debates on ABC between conservative journalist William F. Buckley Jr. and liberal author Gore Vidal.[9]
In 1969, the veteran reporter became the co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, first with
During the
Smith remained as co-anchor at ABC until 1975, after which Reasoner anchored solo until Barbara Walters joined the broadcast a year later. Smith continued as an analyst until 1979; he left the network nearing full retirement, and as the Roone Arledge era was beginning at ABC News. Sources say that Smith was embittered over the reduction in time allowed for his commentaries and hence resigned after he criticized the revamped World News Tonight format as a "Punch and Judy show."[12]
Awards and film roles
Among honors which Smith received over the years were DuPont Awards in 1955[1] and 1963, a Sigma Delta Chi Award for radio journalism in 1957, and an award from the American Jewish Congress in 1960. In 1962 he received the Paul White Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association.[13]
Smith also appeared in a number of films, often as himself; The Best Man (1964), The Candidate (1972),[citation needed] The President's Plane Is Missing (1973, a made-for-television production of the Robert J. Serling novel of the same name), Nashville (1975), Network (1976), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper (1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), "The Odd Candidate" (1974) episode of the television series The Odd Couple (playing himself), the "Kill Oscar" episode (1977) of The Bionic Woman (playing himself anchoring an ABC newscast), and both V (1983) and the subsequent 1984 television series. He appeared as the Narrator in the 1987 film Escape from Sobibor.
Along with Last Train from Berlin, he wrote three other books, The Population Explosion (1960), the children's book Washington, D.C.: The Story of our Nation's Capital (1967), and a memoir Events Leading Up to My Death: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Reporter (1996).
Personal life
Smith met his future wife, Danish news reporter Benedicte Traberg, while working in Nazi Germany in 1941. Because she was only 20 at the time, she had to return to Denmark for parental approval, but the couple re-united three months later in Berne, Switzerland.[14] The couple were married until Smith's death in 2002. Benedicte died in 2008. Their son Jack was an ABC correspondent who received Peabody and Emmy awards for his coverage of technology. Having left journalism for a job in Silicon Valley, Jack died at age 58[15] in 2004 of pancreatic cancer in Marin County, California.[16]
References
- ^ a b c d Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900–1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 287.
- ^ a b "Harold Jackson, Obituaries, "Howard K Smith: Legendary US broadcaster famed for his independent reporting". The Guardian. London. February 20, 2002. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- ^ "This Week (Cont'd)". Ross Reports. August 31, 1959. p. 72. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ Howard K. Smith on getting fired from CBS - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG, retrieved March 17, 2023
- ^ Mitgang, Herbert (April 16, 1996). "HOWARD K. SMITH: TV HISTORY". The Washington Post.
- ^ Television in America: An Autobiography - Howard K. Smith, retrieved March 17, 2023
- ^ "Who Speaks for Birmingham? - Bhamwiki". www.bhamwiki.com. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. p. 395.
- ^ Brody, Richard (August 17, 2015). "Buckey, Vidal, and the Birth of Buzz". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (February 18, 2002). "Howard K. Smith, Broadcast Newsman, Dies at 87". The New York Times.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 16, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Howard K. Smith". museum.tv. Archived from the original on February 17, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2008.
- ^ "Paul White Award". Radio Television Digital News Association. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
- ^ "Benedicte Traberg Smith, widow of broadcast journalist Howard K. Smith, dies at 87". archive.naplesnews.com. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "Jack Smith, 58; Veteran ABC News Reporter, A&E; Host". Los Angeles Times. April 8, 2004.
- ^ ""Benedicte Traberg Smith, widow of broadcast journalist Howard K. Smith, dies at 87", October 30, 2008". marconews.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2008.
External links
- Museum of Broadcast Communications Archived February 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- Who's Who in America, 1972 edition
- Howard K. Smith at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
- Appearances on C-SPAN