Edward R. Murrow airs “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy” aired
On March 9, 1954, Edward R. Murrow and his team took on Senator Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunt.
Murrow: Good evening. Tonight See it Now devotes its entire half hour to a report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy told mainly in his own words and pictures. …
Opening for the program Edward R. Murrow, See it Now (CBS-TV, March 9, 1954) (plosin.com)
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965), Journalist
USPS Issued Jan 21, 1994
Designer: Chris Calle
Journalist Murrow devoted an episode of his popular See it Now news show to call out McCarthy’s conspiracies and abuses of power. The show A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy used McCarthy’s own speeches and insane claims that had destroyed many lives. McCarthy was already under pressure for his botched Army hearings and the public’s wanning appetite for McCarthyism.
… [The] March 1954 See it Now Special [consisted] largely of excerpts from McCarthy’s television appearances, this broadcast and McCarthy’s televised response did much to reveal the senator’s illogical, crude, and undemocratic crusade to a general public. Murrow’s stature and analysis did the rest. Murrow’s broadcast came right in the middle of the Army – McCarthy dispute over preferential treatment for a former McCarthy aide, Gerard David Shine. Starting in late April 1964, the 36 days of televised Army – McCarthy hearings were key to three developments: McCarthy’s eventual censure by the Senate in December 1954, his loss of political power, and the public’s disenchantment with the senator after his behavior was exposed on ABC over seven weeks. Murrow at CBS, USA, 1946-1961 | The Life and Work of Edward R. Murrow – Online Exhibits (tufts.edu)