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Photo of Edward R. Murrow prior. Image by CBS Radio –

Top 10 Surprising Facts about Edward R. Murrow

Edward Roscoe Murrow was born on April 25th, 1908. He was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe for the news division of CBS. During the war, he recruited and worked closely with a team of war correspondents who came to be known as the Murrow Boys.

He is a pioneer of radio and television news broadcasting. He produced a series of reports on his television program See It Now. It helped lead to the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, Bill Downs, Dan Rather, and Alexander Kendrick consider Murrow one of journalism’s greatest figures.

1. He was born Egbert Roscoe Murrow

He was born at Polecat Creek, near Greensboro, North Carolina. His parents were Roscoe Conklin Murrow and Ethel F. Murrow. He was the youngest of four brothers and was a mixture of Scottish, Irish, English, and German descent.

He graduated from high school in 1926. He enrolled at Washington State College (now Washington State University) across the state in Pullman. He majored in speech. He was active in college politics. His nickname as a teenager was Ed.  During his second year of college, he changed his name from Egbert to Edward.

2. He did not start as a journalist

Edward R. Murrow and Jackie Gleason when Gleason was the subject of Murrow’s Person to Person interview program in 1956. Image by CBS Television –

In 1935 Murrow joined CBS as s director of talks and education. His description of the work was to develop cultural and discussion shows. It also involved lining up newsmakers that would appear on the network to talk about the issues of the day.

An opportunity arose when Adolf Hitler engineered the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. He ended up putting together a European News Roundup of reactions to the Anschluss. It brought correspondents from various European cities together for a single broadcast. On March 13, 1938, the special was broadcast and aired. It was hosted by journalists and reporters stationed in various countries. Murrow reported live from Vienna, in the first on-the-scene news report of his career.

3. Murrow had a signature phrase

Edward R. Murrow. Image by Voice of America –

His reports began with what became his signature opening, “This is London.”  It was delivered with his vocal emphasis on the word this, followed by a pause and then the rest of the phrase.

Londoners did not know if they would see each other the following morning because of the bombing. They used to say, “Good night, and good luck.”

He began using the phrase “Good night and good luck” after a 14-year-old Princess Elizabeth closed a broadcast to British children by saying: “Good night and good luck to you all. With that,  another Murrow catchphrase was born.

4. He reported live amidst bombs

Edward R. Murrow on the television news set. Image by Copyright 1953, Pan American Coffee Bureau – Life magazine, page 59 –

Murrow did not like the style of reporting that was being used. He was not a fan of recordings. He wanted to give vivid accounts of the things on the ground. That is why all of his wartime reports were life.

Permission was granted to go live. He made his live rooftop broadcast was made on September 21, 1940. The bombing was heavy that night but, by good luck or bad, it stopped just a minute before the broadcast began. Still, listeners could hear the antiaircraft guns and the whistles of either police officers or air-raid wardens.

5. He brought World War II into the living rooms of American homes

Rarely had people heard the sounds of actual war unless they had fought in one themselves. To hear the shooting along with Murrow’s outstanding reporting was something new and exciting. It established radio’s place as a legitimate source of journalism.

Murrow had a skill at improvising vivid descriptions of what was going on around or below him. One time he stood and put his microphone on the ground to record the sounds of people calmly walking to bomb shelters, 鈥渓ike ghosts with steel shoes.鈥� He wanted to show there was no panic in London. This was to the dismay of the Germans who wanted to instill fear with daily bombings.

6. He had an affair with Winston Churchill鈥檚 daughter in law

Murrow closely worked with the British. In 1943 Winston Churchill offered to make him joint Director-General of the BBC in charge of programming.  He declined the job but fell in love with Churchill’s daughter-in-law, Pamela Beryl Harriman.

Pamela was formerly married to Randolph Churchill. She had filed a divorce on grounds of desertion. She later sought an annulment after converting to catholicism.

She enjoyed the company of powerful men. She initially wanted Murrow to marry her. He did consider it and even promised twice. However after his wife gave birth to their only child, Casey, he ended the affair.

7. Murrow was a heavy cigarette smoker

(r-l) prime minister David Ben Gurion, spokesperson Moshe Pearlman, pm’s secretary Yitzhak Navon and American journalist Ed Murrow, in Sdeh Boker. Israeli GPO photographer –

He was a chain smoker throughout his life. He was always seen with his trademark Camel cigarette. He could burn through sixty and sixty-five cigarettes a day.

 He once said in his show that he could not go through an hour without a cigarette. He developed lung cancer and went through an operation to remove his left lung.

He died at his home on April 27, 1965, two years after his surgery. Strangely the same demon had taken his older brother, Lacey. Lacey was an alcoholic and heavy smoker. He had also gotten his lung removed due to lung cancer in the 1950s. He committed suicide in 1966.

8. Murrow was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, and cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian award. It recognizes exceptional service. Murrow was noted for his reports from London, covering the brutality of the Nazis’ march across Europe during World War II.

9. His show changed public opinion of a controversial senator

Edward R. Murrow. Image by Unknown Author –

The media is a very strong tool in society. It can even change public opinion. Murrow鈥檚 show, See It Now, focused on several controversial issues.

It is best remembered as the show that criticized McCarthyism and the Red Scare. It helped stop the anticommunist persecutions led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. It led to his downfall.

In 1953, Murrow told the story of a soldier who was removed from the military for being a security risk. He has deemed a risk because his father and his sister had leftist political leanings. After the story appeared on See It Now, the soldier was reinstated.

10. Murrow was appointed head of the United States Information Agency by John F. Kennedy

Murrow鈥檚 career struggled after the war. His relationship with CBS became strained. He finally resigned and accepted a position as head of the United States Information Agency by President John F. Kennedy.

His appointment was a smart move. It restored the agency’s confidence in the public in other nations. Murrow sought to atone for McCarthy鈥檚 sins. His celebrity status gave the agency a higher profile. This helped it earn more funds from Congress.

However, the early effects of cancer kept him from furthering many agendas. He did advise the president during the Cuban Missile Crisis but was ill at the time the president was assassinated.