Edward R. Murrow Timeline

1908 Apr 25 Edward R. Murrow Is Born
Murrow was born Egbert Roscoe Murrow near Greensboro, in Guilford County, North Carolina, the son of Roscoe C. Murrow and Ethel F. (née Lamb) Murrow. His parents were Quakers. He was the ...
1926 Edward R. Murrow Enrolls At Washington State College
In 1926, he enrolled at Washington State College, now Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington, eventually majoring in speech. A member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, Murrow wa...
1935 Edward R. Murrow Joins CBS
Murrow joined CBS as director of talks in 1935 and remained with the network for his entire career. CBS did not have news staff when Murrow joined save for announcer Bob Trout; his job wa...
1935 Mar 12 Edward R. Murrow Marries Janet Huntington Brewster
Janet Huntington Brewster graduated from Middletown High School in Middleton, Connecticut in 1929. While attending high school, she was an outstanding student, head of the debating societ...
1937 Edward R. Murrow Becomes Director of European Operations for CBS
Murrow went to London in 1937 to serve as the director of CBS' European operations. The position did not involve on air reporting; Murrow's job was persuading European figures to broadcas...
1938 Mar 13 Edward R. Murrow and William Shirer Report on Hitler's Anschluss
Murrow gained his first glimpse of fame during the March 1938 Anschluss, in which Adolf Hitler engineered the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. While Murrow was in Poland arranging a...
1940 Aug 24 Edward R. Murrow and Paul White Create 'London After Dark'
The show began on August 24, 1940 when CBS News Chief Paul White and CBS European Events Director Edward R. Murrow began to arrange the show by cable and short wave conference. Murrow lin...
1945 Apr 15 Edward R. Murrow Reports From the Liberation of Buchenwald
"I asked to see one of the barracks. It happened to be occupied by Czechoslovaks. When I entered, men crowded around, tried to lift me to their shoulders. They were too weak. Many of them ..." —Edward R. Murrow
1947 Edward R. Murrow Fires William L. Shirer
The relationship between Murrow and Shirer ended in 1947 in one of the great confrontations of American broadcast journalism, when Shirer was fired by CBS. He said he resigned in the heat...
1950 Dec Edward R. Murrow Begins Recording 'Hear It Now'
Hear It Now, an American radio program on CBS, began in December 1950, ending in June 1951. It was hosted by Edward R. Murrow and produced by Murrow and Fred W. Friendly. It ran for one h...
1951 'This I Believe' Airs On CBS Radio
"We hardly need to be reminded that we are living in an age of confusion. A lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism, or a for a heavy package of despair, or even a..." —Edward R. Murrow
1951 Nov 18 'See It Now' Premieres On Television
See It Now was a television newsmagazine and documentary broadcast by CBS in the 1950s. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, Murrow being the host of the show. From 19...
1953 Oct 2 Edward R. Murrow Begins Hosting 'Person To Person'
Person to Person was a popular television program in the United States that ran from 1953 to 1961. Well-respected news reporter Edward R. Murrow hosted it until 1959, interviewing celebri...
1954 Mar 9 Murrow Attacks Senator Joseph McCarthy On 'See It Now'
Having reported discrete episodes in the Cold War, Murrow and Friendly decided to expose the architect of the paranoia, McCarthy himself. On 9 March 1954 See It Now employed audiotapes an...
1955 Apr 8 Monroe Appeared on "Person to Person"
On April 8, 1955, Marilyn appeared on Person to Person, a popular television interview program hosted by noted broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow. Murrow enjoyed a sterling reputation ...
1960 Nov 24 Edward R. Murrow Presents The Documentary 'Harvest of Shame'
Harvest of Shame was a 1960 television documentary presented by broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow on CBS that showed the plight of American migrant agricultural workers. It was Murrow...
1961 Jan John F. Kennedy Appoints Edward R. Murrow Head of The United States Information Agency
Murrow's appointment as head of the United States Information Agency was seen as a vote of confidence in the agency, which provided the official views of the government to the public in o...
1965 Apr 27 Edward R. Murrow Dies
Murrow was a heavy smoker throughout his life and was rarely seen without his trademark Camel cigarette, smoking around 60 to 65 a day, or roughly three packs. See It Now was the first te...