You might well consider Daniel Schorr something of a national treasure. At 85, after six decades in journalism, Dan is still working away as senior news analyst for National Public Radio, where every afternoon you can hear him holding forth on his opinions in a strong, firm voice.
He now figured it was time, or so he says, in the introduction to his new book “Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism” (Pocket Books), that having only married at age 50, he felt he owed it to his two children to fill them in on his life until they came along. Schorr’s many decades of journalism include an impressive multimedia range: newspapers, television and now radio. The resulting book is not only informative for his children, but is delightfully instructive about some of the major news events of our time.
In that long career, Schorr has picked up three Emmys, the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Golden Baton for Exceptional Contribution to Radio and Television Reporting and Commentary, a Peabody personal award for “a lifetime of uncompromising reporting of the highest integrity,” and the George Polk Radio commentary award. In addition to all these distinctions, he has been inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame.
Last week, the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington welcomed him to talk about his new book with a former colleague and longtime friend Marvin Kalb acting as moderator. Schorr proved lively and thoroughly entertaining recalling jousting with the likes of Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in the heyday of the Cold War. His memory of those meetings seemed as clear and vivid as if they had only occurred the day before.
His quietly-determined manner clearly left an impression on those two heads of states. In February 1960, when the Cuban Revolution was still in its infancy, Schorr and his cameraman managed to get into the farewell reception Castro was holding for Soviet Vice Premier Mikoyan, then visiting Cuba. Positioning himself near the entrance to the reception ballroom, Schorr stopped the distinguished pair as they entered. Schorr recounts the incident with quiet pride and a real satisfaction for a job professionally well done.
“Stopping them, I asked whether I could put a few questions about the trip. Castro, remembering me from an interview in New York during the U.N. summit the previous year, readily assented. “Then, Schorr asked Castro if it was true, as rumored, that he had discussed with Mikoyan the purchase of Soviet MiG fighters. “Castro spread his arms wide and exclaimed: ‘But this is a secret!'”
When Schorr went on to ask Castro to confirm he was acquiring Soviet warplanes out of fear of the United States, he retorted, “I don’t hear very well.” At which point, Mikoyan’s eyes widened in recognition. Turning his back to the camera, he wagged his finger at Schorr, saying “Didn’t we have trouble with you in Moscow?”
Castro, in the meantime, ignoring or pretending he hadn’t heard Mikoyan, congratulated Schorr on his just-ended interview. “I’m going to tell you something. This has been a privilege for you, CBS, to be able to make this program. You asked many questions our reporters would like to ask.” Result for Schorr: Enthusiastic congratulations from his bosses at CBS, and finding his interview widely quoted on the wires and in the newspapers.
Having covered the news for so many decades, it is not surprising that Schorr takes note of how journalistic mores have changed. Back in 1962, when he picked up information on Judith Campbell Exner who shared her favors with Mafia boss Sam Giancana and the late President Kennedy, Schorr quotes from a memo he sent at the time to the Cronkite news producers in New York, to the effect there seemed to be a story there, which he would pursue if so desired. “But frankly,” he wrote, “I have little zest for what may be a scandal involving our dead President.”
He never received any response to his memo, and says now, “I am amazed today at the restraint I showed then about digging into Kennedy’s life. But the ’70s were a different time in journalism.” Indeed they were.
Dan Schorr has been eyewitness to a very great deal of modern history: from the McCarthy anti-Communist hearings of the 1950s to the Clinton impeachment hearings of the 1990s. He opened the CBS bureau in Moscow in 1955, got an unprecedented television interview with Soviet Premier Khrushchev; covered every major European event from the founding of NATO to the building of the Berlin Wall. (I first met Dan in Prague’s only Chinese restaurant in 1968 as Soviet tanks patrolled the streets outside.) And, yes, he may well be one of the only journalists investigated by both the KGB and the FBI ? details of which you will learn on reading this eminently-readable work of a man’s life in history.
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WND Staff