Cecil Brown

The son of Jewish immigrants, war correspondent Cecil Brown (1907–1987) was a member of CBS’ esteemed Murrow Boys. Expelled from Italy and Singapore for reporting the facts, he witnessed the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia and the war in North Africa, and survived the sinking of the British battleship HMS Repulse by a Japanese submarine. Back in the U.S., he became an influential commentator during the years when Americans sought a dispassionate voice to make sense of complex developments. He was one of the first journalists to champion civil rights, to condemn Senator McCarthy’s tactics (and President Eisenhower’s reticence), and to support Israel’s creation.
Although he won every major broadcast journalism award, his accomplishments have been largely overlooked by historians. This first biography of Brown chronicles his career in journalism and traces his contributions to the profession.

Reed W. Smith is a professor of multimedia communication at Georgia Southern University. He has published numerous journal articles on journalism and broadcast history.

Reed W. Smith
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 298
Bibliographic Info: 6 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7202-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3088-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments viii
Preface 1
1. Growing up Jewish in America 5
2. A Cub Reporter Becomes a Pioneering Broadcaster 19
3. A Correspondent’s Rewards: Evicted, Strafed and Censored 34
4. Sounding the Alarm for Singapore 50
5. Reporting History Up Close and Personal 67
6. Out of the Sea but into Hot Water 82
7. Welcome Home to Accolades and Controversy 100
8. A Cause Worth Quitting For 119
9. Exercising a Liberal Voice 137
10. Fighting for Unpopular Causes 162
11. Back to the Far East for a New Medium 191
12. Return to the U.S. to Open More Eyes 215
Epilogue 240
Chapter Notes 249
Bibliography 270
Index 291