October 16, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early years of television, few moments carried more weight than the night journalist Edward R. Murrow confronted Senator Joseph McCarthy. America was deep in the Cold War, and McCarthy’s accusations of communist influence had created an atmosphere of fear that silenced many. Murrow chose to speak anyway. On his CBS program See It Now, he aired McCarthy’s own words, letting the public judge for themselves. It was one of the first times television held political power to account, marking a turning point for both journalism and public trust in the media. Kirk Higgins, Senior Director of Content at the Bill of Rights Institute, brings us the story.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, the
story of a broadcast legend, Edward R. Murrow, and how
he took on one of the most powerful men in
America during the nineteen fifties, Senator Joseph McCarthy. Here to
tell the story is Kirk Higgins, the senior director of
content at the Bill of Rights Institute. You can find
(00:31):
their great curriculum on American history at mybri dot org.
That's mybr i dot org. Let's get into the story.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
If there were an no communists in our government, why
did we delay for eighteen.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Months delay our research on the hydrogen bombs? Let us
not assassinate this last for ever you know stance of
deson caster.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
It was the evening of March ninth, nineteen fifty four,
and veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow was about to make
the most consequential television broadcast of his career. Murreau had
served as a war course ponder covering the bombings of
London and Nazi concentration camps during World War Two, but
that evening Murrow was engaging in a different type of battle.
Through his See It Now television program. Murreau would challenge
(01:29):
one of the most powerful men in the United States,
Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. It was a big risk for Murreaw,
but Murreau's life was filled with instances of courage and
integrity that are still remembered and celebrated by broadcasters and journalists.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
To this day.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Egbert Roscoe Murrow he didn't change his name to Edward
until college. In nineteen twenty six, majored in speech and
took a radio broadcasting course that required him to create
a program for the campus station. Ironically, the man who
became one of the greatest news broadcasters of all time
only got a B for the course. But Murrow's foray
into journalism and broadcasting was just beginning.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
To entertainment thrills Lift time We're headed for Columbia's radio playhouse.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
In nineteen thirty five, he joined CBS, a relationship that
would last for the next twenty six years. He started
in the business booking guests for radio programs, but the
young Murreau was mentored by veteran broadcaster Robert Trout, a
legendary radio figure in his own right. On Christmas Eve
nineteen thirty six, Murreaw had the opportunity to read the
news on air for the first but certainly not the
(02:35):
last time, using trout script. Murrow's career was progressing in
New York, but it was about to take a giantly forward.
In nineteen thirty seven, he was sent to Europe to
improve the quality of CBS broadcasts from the continent.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
This will be warm between England and Germany affical statement,
Hanado press conferences.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Soon war was brewing in Europe, and soon Murreaw would
be asked right into the thick of it. In March
nineteen thirty eight, about a year after Murreau arrived in Europe,
Adolf Hitler annexed Austria. Murrow was on the ground in
Vienna and reported the news himself for the first time.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
As I said, everything is quiet and Vienna duni. There's
a certain Arab expectancy about the city.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Everyone waiting and wondering square and at what time her
Hitler will arrive tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
CBS executives approved of his reporting and presentation style, and
from that moment forward, Murrow became a correspondent. CBS's European
operations were headquartered in London, where Murrow spent the bulk
of World War Two. This gave Muraw a front row
seat for the Blitz, a German bombing campaign against the
United Kingdom. Murreau's broadcast became known for his catchphrases.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I'm standing on a rooftop looking out over London. It's
compounder square, noise a junior at the moment is the
sound of the.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Air range siren.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
This is London, and good night and good luck send off.
Many British listeners took to heart, as they often nervously
awaited night time bombing rid. Despite spending most of his
time in London, Mureau was able to occasionally venture into
the field. He reported from Tunisia in North Africa in
nineteen forty three and helped expose the horrors of the
(04:19):
Bukenwald concentration camp in Germany in nineteen forty five. Warning
listeners that his report would not be pleasant listening, Moureau
described the death, disease, and starvation he had personally witnessed
during his visit to Bukenwald. I pray you to believe
what I have said about Bukenwald. I have reported what
I saw and heard, but only part of it. For
(04:40):
most of it, I have no words. After the war,
Moreau returned to the United States as head of News
and public Affairs for CBS. He began presenting weekly digests
of news on the radio called Hear It Now. Television
(05:01):
gained popularity in the early fifties, and he moved his
show to CBSTV, renaming it See It Now.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Stand by Now for the fifteenth edition of See It
Now with Edward R. Merrole, which originates in the control
room of Studio forty one in New York City.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
All of this occurred against the backdrop of the rising
popularity of Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy had been sworn in
as a first term senator from Wisconsin in nineteen forty seven.
In nineteen fifty he began to tap into americans growing
fears about communism in the wake of several communist spy
rings selling atomic secrets to the Soviets, who used the
(05:38):
knowledge to explode an a bomb in nineteen forty nine.
McCarthy claimed that the State Department was quote riddled with
Communists and professed to have a list of two hundred
and five names. As time went on, his finger pointing continued.
At every opportunity he blamed what he saw as the
deteriorating morality of America on suspected Communists. As a journalist,
(06:00):
Mureau fervently believed that the press ought to seek and
uncover the truth. He thought it was the responsibility of
a free press to hold public officials accountable. He also
believed that communist threats abroad and at home could best
be countered by free and open expression at home. In
October nineteen fifty three, Mureau aired the report that would
(06:21):
signal the beginning of a public conflict with McCarthy. Mureau
learned that the Air Force Reserve had dismissed a young
Lieutenant Bilo Radulovich, because his father and sister were thought
to hold quote un American views. While no one accused
Radulovitch of having the same views, authorities recommended that he
condemn his father and sister in order to save his possession.
Radulovitch refused, declaring that such an action was not what
(06:43):
it meant to be an American. When Murreau aired the
story on Sea It Now, he openly questioned the evidence
for the charges, stating, was it hearsay, rumor gossip slander,
or was it hard ascertainable fact that could be backed
by creditable witnesses. We do not know. Rodulovitch's commission was reinstated.
(07:05):
Murreau had publicly and successfully challenged McCarthy, but the spat
between the two men was far from over. Murall learned
that he too was on McCarthy's attack list. The senator's
so called evidence that Murreau was on the Soviet's payroll
was that he worked during the nineteen thirties as an
advisor to the Institute of International Education. That organization sponsored
(07:25):
exchange seminars between American and Soviet professors. McCarthy may have
harbored hopes of damaging Mura's reputation, but ultimately it was
Murrow who helped bring an end to McCarthy and his
wild accusations. As Murreau took to the air for his
March ninth, nineteen fifty four see it now broadcast, he
looked serious and composed. Good evening he began.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Because of report on Senator McCarthy is by definition controversial.
We want to say exactly what we mean to say.
Our working thesis tonight is this quotation. If this fight
against communism is made a fight between America's two great
political parties, the American people know that one of these
parties will be destroyed and the Republic cannot endure very
(08:08):
long as a one party system. We applaud that statement,
and we think Senator McCarthy ought to He said it
seventeen months ago in Milwaukee.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Moreau's strategy was to report on the facts of McCarthy's
tactics without condemning or slanting him. He wanted the public
to hear what the senator had done and said in
the Army McCarthy hearings investigating communism in the military, then
the public could consider the evidence and come to their
own conclusions. To see it now broadcast, offered a portrait
of Joseph McCarthy in his own words.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
The American people realize that this cannot be made a
fight between America's too a great political party.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Moreau showed the public reels of footage of the Senator
McCarthy mocking President Dwight Eisenhower, McCarthy insulting an Army general,
McCarthy challenging the integrity of his critics, and McCarthy telling
half truths. Moreau concluded the show with the words, quote.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Mus not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always
that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon
evidence and new process of law. We will not walk
in fear one of another. We will not be driven
by fear into an age of unreason. If we did
deepen our history in our doctum, and remember that we
are not descended from fearful man, not from men who
(09:20):
feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend
the causes that were, for the moment unpopular.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Following the broadcast, public opinions shifted sharply against McCarthy. Six
days later, McCarthy demanded a chance to respond, and Murrow
and CBS agreed to a second broadcast. In his rebuttal,
McCarthy referred to Murrow, among other things, as quote the
leader of the jackal pack of his opponents. The appearance
did little to restore public confidence in McCarthy. The senator's
(09:50):
hold on the nation had ended. Nine months later, the
United States Senate censored Joseph McCarthy. Murau is not the
only journalist who challenge McCarthy, but he is credited with
skillfully using a new medium, television, so that the American
people considered the validity of the Senator's views, as Murrow
later acknowledged, quote, the timing was right and the instrument
(10:12):
was powerful. There was a great conspiracy of silence at
the time. When there is such a conspiracy, somebody makes
a loud noise. It attracts all the attention. Upon Murrow's passing,
President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had once awarded Murrow the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, called Murrow a gallant fighter who
had quote dedicated his life as a newsman and as
(10:32):
a public official to the unrelenting search for truth.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And a special thanks to Kirk Higgins, the senior director
of Content at the Bill of Rights Institute. The story
of Edward R. Murrow versus Senator McCarthy here on our
American Stories
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, the
story of a broadcast legend, Edward R. Murrow, and how
he took on one of the most powerful men in
America during the nineteen fifties, Senator Joseph McCarthy. Here to
tell the story is Kirk Higgins, the senior director of
content at the Bill of Rights Institute. You can find
(00:31):
their great curriculum on American history at mybri dot org.
That's mybr i dot org. Let's get into the story.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
If there were an no communists in our government, why
did we delay for eighteen.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Months delay our research on the hydrogen bombs? Let us
not assassinate this last for ever you know stance of
deson caster.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
It was the evening of March ninth, nineteen fifty four,
and veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow was about to make
the most consequential television broadcast of his career. Murreau had
served as a war course ponder covering the bombings of
London and Nazi concentration camps during World War Two, but
that evening Murrow was engaging in a different type of battle.
Through his See It Now television program. Murreau would challenge
(01:29):
one of the most powerful men in the United States,
Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. It was a big risk for Murreaw,
but Murreau's life was filled with instances of courage and
integrity that are still remembered and celebrated by broadcasters and journalists.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
To this day.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Egbert Roscoe Murrow he didn't change his name to Edward
until college. In nineteen twenty six, majored in speech and
took a radio broadcasting course that required him to create
a program for the campus station. Ironically, the man who
became one of the greatest news broadcasters of all time
only got a B for the course. But Murrow's foray
into journalism and broadcasting was just beginning.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
To entertainment thrills Lift time We're headed for Columbia's radio playhouse.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
In nineteen thirty five, he joined CBS, a relationship that
would last for the next twenty six years. He started
in the business booking guests for radio programs, but the
young Murreau was mentored by veteran broadcaster Robert Trout, a
legendary radio figure in his own right. On Christmas Eve
nineteen thirty six, Murreaw had the opportunity to read the
news on air for the first but certainly not the
(02:35):
last time, using trout script. Murrow's career was progressing in
New York, but it was about to take a giantly forward.
In nineteen thirty seven, he was sent to Europe to
improve the quality of CBS broadcasts from the continent.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
This will be warm between England and Germany affical statement,
Hanado press conferences.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Soon war was brewing in Europe, and soon Murreaw would
be asked right into the thick of it. In March
nineteen thirty eight, about a year after Murreau arrived in Europe,
Adolf Hitler annexed Austria. Murrow was on the ground in
Vienna and reported the news himself for the first time.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
As I said, everything is quiet and Vienna duni. There's
a certain Arab expectancy about the city.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Everyone waiting and wondering square and at what time her
Hitler will arrive tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
CBS executives approved of his reporting and presentation style, and
from that moment forward, Murrow became a correspondent. CBS's European
operations were headquartered in London, where Murrow spent the bulk
of World War Two. This gave Muraw a front row
seat for the Blitz, a German bombing campaign against the
United Kingdom. Murreau's broadcast became known for his catchphrases.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I'm standing on a rooftop looking out over London. It's
compounder square, noise a junior at the moment is the
sound of the.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Air range siren.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
This is London, and good night and good luck send off.
Many British listeners took to heart, as they often nervously
awaited night time bombing rid. Despite spending most of his
time in London, Mureau was able to occasionally venture into
the field. He reported from Tunisia in North Africa in
nineteen forty three and helped expose the horrors of the
(04:19):
Bukenwald concentration camp in Germany in nineteen forty five. Warning
listeners that his report would not be pleasant listening, Moureau
described the death, disease, and starvation he had personally witnessed
during his visit to Bukenwald. I pray you to believe
what I have said about Bukenwald. I have reported what
I saw and heard, but only part of it. For
(04:40):
most of it, I have no words. After the war,
Moreau returned to the United States as head of News
and public Affairs for CBS. He began presenting weekly digests
of news on the radio called Hear It Now. Television
(05:01):
gained popularity in the early fifties, and he moved his
show to CBSTV, renaming it See It Now.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Stand by Now for the fifteenth edition of See It
Now with Edward R. Merrole, which originates in the control
room of Studio forty one in New York City.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
All of this occurred against the backdrop of the rising
popularity of Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy had been sworn in
as a first term senator from Wisconsin in nineteen forty seven.
In nineteen fifty he began to tap into americans growing
fears about communism in the wake of several communist spy
rings selling atomic secrets to the Soviets, who used the
(05:38):
knowledge to explode an a bomb in nineteen forty nine.
McCarthy claimed that the State Department was quote riddled with
Communists and professed to have a list of two hundred
and five names. As time went on, his finger pointing continued.
At every opportunity he blamed what he saw as the
deteriorating morality of America on suspected Communists. As a journalist,
(06:00):
Mureau fervently believed that the press ought to seek and
uncover the truth. He thought it was the responsibility of
a free press to hold public officials accountable. He also
believed that communist threats abroad and at home could best
be countered by free and open expression at home. In
October nineteen fifty three, Mureau aired the report that would
(06:21):
signal the beginning of a public conflict with McCarthy. Mureau
learned that the Air Force Reserve had dismissed a young
Lieutenant Bilo Radulovich, because his father and sister were thought
to hold quote un American views. While no one accused
Radulovitch of having the same views, authorities recommended that he
condemn his father and sister in order to save his possession.
Radulovitch refused, declaring that such an action was not what
(06:43):
it meant to be an American. When Murreau aired the
story on Sea It Now, he openly questioned the evidence
for the charges, stating, was it hearsay, rumor gossip slander,
or was it hard ascertainable fact that could be backed
by creditable witnesses. We do not know. Rodulovitch's commission was reinstated.
(07:05):
Murreau had publicly and successfully challenged McCarthy, but the spat
between the two men was far from over. Murall learned
that he too was on McCarthy's attack list. The senator's
so called evidence that Murreau was on the Soviet's payroll
was that he worked during the nineteen thirties as an
advisor to the Institute of International Education. That organization sponsored
(07:25):
exchange seminars between American and Soviet professors. McCarthy may have
harbored hopes of damaging Mura's reputation, but ultimately it was
Murrow who helped bring an end to McCarthy and his
wild accusations. As Murreau took to the air for his
March ninth, nineteen fifty four see it now broadcast, he
looked serious and composed. Good evening he began.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Because of report on Senator McCarthy is by definition controversial.
We want to say exactly what we mean to say.
Our working thesis tonight is this quotation. If this fight
against communism is made a fight between America's two great
political parties, the American people know that one of these
parties will be destroyed and the Republic cannot endure very
(08:08):
long as a one party system. We applaud that statement,
and we think Senator McCarthy ought to He said it
seventeen months ago in Milwaukee.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Moreau's strategy was to report on the facts of McCarthy's
tactics without condemning or slanting him. He wanted the public
to hear what the senator had done and said in
the Army McCarthy hearings investigating communism in the military, then
the public could consider the evidence and come to their
own conclusions. To see it now broadcast, offered a portrait
of Joseph McCarthy in his own words.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
The American people realize that this cannot be made a
fight between America's too a great political party.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Moreau showed the public reels of footage of the Senator
McCarthy mocking President Dwight Eisenhower, McCarthy insulting an Army general,
McCarthy challenging the integrity of his critics, and McCarthy telling
half truths. Moreau concluded the show with the words, quote.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Mus not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always
that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon
evidence and new process of law. We will not walk
in fear one of another. We will not be driven
by fear into an age of unreason. If we did
deepen our history in our doctum, and remember that we
are not descended from fearful man, not from men who
(09:20):
feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend
the causes that were, for the moment unpopular.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Following the broadcast, public opinions shifted sharply against McCarthy. Six
days later, McCarthy demanded a chance to respond, and Murrow
and CBS agreed to a second broadcast. In his rebuttal,
McCarthy referred to Murrow, among other things, as quote the
leader of the jackal pack of his opponents. The appearance
did little to restore public confidence in McCarthy. The senator's
(09:50):
hold on the nation had ended. Nine months later, the
United States Senate censored Joseph McCarthy. Murau is not the
only journalist who challenge McCarthy, but he is credited with
skillfully using a new medium, television, so that the American
people considered the validity of the Senator's views, as Murrow
later acknowledged, quote, the timing was right and the instrument
(10:12):
was powerful. There was a great conspiracy of silence at
the time. When there is such a conspiracy, somebody makes
a loud noise. It attracts all the attention. Upon Murrow's passing,
President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had once awarded Murrow the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, called Murrow a gallant fighter who
had quote dedicated his life as a newsman and as
(10:32):
a public official to the unrelenting search for truth.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And a special thanks to Kirk Higgins, the senior director
of Content at the Bill of Rights Institute. The story
of Edward R. Murrow versus Senator McCarthy here on our
American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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