Davd Brinkley - (1920-2000)
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"11 Presidents, 4 Wars, 22 Political Conventions, 3
Assassinations, 2,000 Weeks of News and Other Stuff on Television and 18 Years of Growing Up in North Carolina." -David Brinkley I. Early Life
David McClure Brinkley was born on July 10, 1920, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He graduated from New Hanover High School in his hometown and later attended the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, studying English from 1939-40. From 1941-43, he attended Emory and Vanderbilt Universities, again studying English. He also served in the
U.S. during World War II. While studying, he worked as a reporter at the North Carolina Star-News. Of course studying was not his only priority. He was married twice. His first marriage was
to Ann Fischer in 1946 and divorced her after having children Alan, Joel, and John. His second marriage is to Susan Melanie Benfer in 1972. They named their only child Alexis.
Other than education and family, his priorities consisted of work. Brinkley is best known for his news broadcasts for NBC. II. Professional Life
In 1956, political conventions became popular and of great interest to the TV audience, this advancement gave Brinkley his big break from radio to television. It was then that Brinkley
was signed into the NBC family and given the spot on The Huntley- Brinkley Report. This show won Emmys in 1959 and 1960. Brinkley brought a sense of comfort in delivering the
news using powerful declarative sentences and excellent writing styles. Before him, news was boring, consisting of dull reports with dull reporting styles. Brinkley also understood
that video footage spoke for itself and helped deliver the news. "Brinkley writes silence better than anyone else I know," says his former producer and boss Reuven Frank. When
he was teamed with Chet Huntley of California TV, audiences were taken by surprise. Their broadcast started at 15-minutes but increased to 30 in 1963. It was their show that
revolutionized broadcasting and brought about new techniques, such as discussions between different locations or cities. Brinkley was located in Washington, reporting local
and political news and Huntley was located in New York, reporting global news. After every newscast until their last together in 1970, they ended with "Goodnight, David...Goodbye, Chet."
When Huntley retired in 1970, Brinkley reported on the NBC Nightly News, NBC Magazine with David Brinkley, but it just was not the same without Huntley, and he became known
as a grumpy old man. In 1981, he was hired by ABC, working on This Week with David Brinkley in Washington, and as a commentator for ABC's World News Tonight. His spirits
were brought back to life while discussing the week's news event with George Will, the "liberal" and Sam Donaldson, the "conservative". Brinkley covered every presidential election and nominating convention from 1956 to 1996,
starting with FDR. He was very opinionated and anyone who ever watched his shows could easily select his own beliefs. On November 7, 1996 he commented on President
Clinton's victory speech, "We all look forward with great pleasure to four years of wonderful, inspiring speeches, full of wit, poetry, music, love, and affection plus more
g-----n nonsense." Also adding that it was "one of the worst things I've ever heard," and that "[Clinton] has not a creative bone in his body." However, on November 12, 1996 he
retired and left apologizing to Clinton and sealing it with a handshake. III. Achievements, Awards, and Famous Broadcasts
Besides covering major issues, such as presidential elections, Brinkley also covered such topics as the 50th anniversary of the Japanese bombing on Pearl Harbor in 1991. This
documentary, "Pearl Harbor: Two Hours that Changed the World," won the George Foster Peabody Award, one of the most distinguished broadcasting awards. But this is not a
great surprise; Brinkley won every major broadcasting award of his time. These awards include ten Emmys and three George Foster Peabody Awards. One of these awards was
presented in 1990 for "...the exceptional contributions he has made to broadcasting during his tenure as one of the country's richest treasures."
In 1995, he was honored by the Museum of Television and Radio for lifetime achievement. For his prestigious values to broadcast journalism, he won the "Paul White Award" from
the Radio and Television News Directors Association's. In 1989, he was enlisted into the Academy of Television Arts and Science's Television Hall of Fame. Other awards include:
the Lowell Thomas Award from Marist College, the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith's Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize, the Fourth Estate Award
presented by the National Press Club of Washington, DC, the Joan Barone Award, and a tribute for his "unique contributions to broadcast journalism," at the 40th annual Alfred I DuPont-Columbia University Awards Ceremony. He published his bestseller Washington Goes to War in 1988. In October of 1995, his autobiography and memoirs were published. In October of 1996 his book, Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion
was written. David Brinkley obviously had a love and passion for literature and journalism that was fulfilled and foreseen. His achievements show this and
show that no matter how opinionated and openly expressive he was, he was still loved and respected by many, and will be missed. IV. Bibliography "David Brinkley's Big Exit." ABC News. 1999.
Rothschild, Matthew. "This is Matthew Rothschild, the Editor of the Progressive magazine." The Progressive. Madison, WI. 1998.
http://www.progressive.org/brinkley.htm
Waite, Clayland H. "Brinkley, David." MBC.
http://www.mbcnet.org/ETV/B/htmlB/brinkleydav/brinkleydav.htm
"Brinkley, David McClure." Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2000.
http://www.bartleby.com/65/br/Brinkley.html
"TV journalist David Brinkley Signs Off." Associated Press. Cable News Network, Inc. September 28, 1997.
http://gabrielmedia.org/news/brinkley.html
"David Brinkley." Baertracks. 2000.
http://www.bemorecreative.com/one/1017.htm
Candace Rich. "Movietone News." The News. 2000.
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/news.htm
This essay was submitted by a student of Rita Achenbach, a teacher at Fuquay-Varina High School in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.