Editing Howard K. Smith

{{short description|American news anchor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Howard K. Smith
|image       = Howard K. Smith, Journalist - ABC News, Publicity Photograph (1972).jpg
|alt         =
|caption     = Smith in 1972
|birth_name  = Howard Kingsbury Smith
|birth_date  = {{birth date|1914|5|12}}
|birth_place = [[Ferriday, Louisiana]], U.S.
|death_date  = {{death date and age|2002|2|15|1914|5|12}}
|death_place = [[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
|occupation  = News anchor
|party       = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|years_active= 1940–2000
|spouse      = {{marriage|Benedicte Traberg Smith|1942}}
|children    = 2
}}
'''Howard Kingsbury Smith''' (May 12, 1914 – February 15, 2002) was an American journalist, radio reporter, television [[anchorman]], political commentator, and film actor. He was one of the original members of the team of war correspondents known as the [[Murrow Boys]].

==Early life==
Smith was born in [[Ferriday, Louisiana|Ferriday]] in [[Concordia Parish]] in eastern [[Louisiana]] near [[Natchez, Mississippi|Natchez]], [[Mississippi]].<ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900–1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|page=287}}</ref><ref name=guardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/feb/20/guardianobituaries.haroldjackson|title=Harold Jackson, Obituaries, "Howard K Smith: Legendary US broadcaster famed for his independent reporting|work=The Guardian|location=London | date=February 20, 2002 | access-date=May 4, 2010}}</ref>

==Early career and CBS years==

===World War II===
Upon graduating, Smith worked for the ''[[New Orleans Item]]'', with [[United Press]] in London, and with ''[[The New York Times]]''. In January 1940, Smith was sent to Berlin, where he joined the [[Columbia Broadcasting System]] under [[Edward R. Murrow]].<ref name=MCreg /> He visited [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s mountain retreat at [[Berchtesgaden]] and interviewed many leading [[Nazism|Nazis]], including Hitler himself, [[Schutzstaffel]] or "SS" leader [[Heinrich Himmler]] and Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]].

He was one of the last American reporters to leave Berlin before Germany and the United States went to war. His 1942 book, ''Last Train from Berlin: An Eye-Witness Account of Germany at War'' describes his observations from Berlin in the year after the departure of ''[[Berlin Diary]]'' author [[William L. Shirer]]. ''Last Train from Berlin'' became an American best-seller and was reprinted in 2001, shortly before Smith's death.

Smith became a significant member of the "[[Murrow Boys]]" that made CBS the dominant broadcast news organization of the era. In May 1945, he returned to Berlin to recap the German surrender.

===Post-war===
In 1946, Smith went to London for CBS with the title of chief European correspondent.<ref name=MCreg /> In 1947, he made a long broadcasting tour of most of the nations of Europe, including behind the [[Iron Curtain]]. In 1949, Knopf published his ''The State of Europe'', a 408-page country-by-country survey of Europe that drew on these experiences and that argued "both the American and the Russian policies are mistaken"; he advocated more "social reform" for Western Europe and more "political liberty" for Eastern Europe.{{Citation needed |date=November 2023}} 

Despite these criticisms of Soviet policies, Smith was one of 151 alleged Communist sympathizers named in the ''[[Red Channels]]'' report issued in June 1950 at the beginning of the [[Red Scare]], effectively placing him on the [[Hollywood blacklist]].{{Citation needed |date=November 2023}}

Beginning on January 11, 1959, Smith moderated ''Behind the News with Howard K. Smith'', a CBS-TV program "analying news events and the significance of issues in the news". The sustaining program was broadcast on Sundays from 6 to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=August 31, 1959 |page=72 |title=This Week (Cont'd) |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele84ross/page/n1/mo |magazine=Ross Reports |access-date=November 14, 2023 }}</ref>

===Civil Rights reporting: Who Speaks for Birmingham?===
Reporting on civil-rights riots in Birmingham in the early 1960s, Smith revealed the conspiracy that existed between police commissioner [[Bull Connor]] and the [[KKK]] to beat up black people and [[Freedom Riders]]. He planned to end his report "Who Speaks for Birmingham?" (broadcast date: May 18, 1961<ref>{{Citation |title=Howard K. Smith on getting fired from CBS - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrVGDUN-Wa8 |access-date=2023-03-17 |language=en}}</ref> with a quote from [[Edmund Burke]], "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," but the CBS lawyers intervened. Nonetheless, the documentary caused a stir (leading CBS to be sued and its Birmingham TV station to disaffiliate), and because his contract with [[CBS]] forbade editorializing, Smith was suspended and subsequently fired by CBS President [[William S. Paley]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mitgang |first=Herbert |date=16 April 1996 |title=HOWARD K. SMITH: TV HISTORY |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/04/16/howard-k-smith-tv-history/1134ceca-32b0-4ece-a9c5-1a205c50128e/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Television in America: An Autobiography - Howard K. Smith | date=October 21, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-SWbG0zgZ8 |access-date=2023-03-17 |language=en}}</ref>

==ABC, 1962–1979==
On June 5, 1968, Smith and fellow newsman [[Bill Lawrence (news personality)|Bill Lawrence]] were anchoring coverage of the California [[presidential primary]] that had stretched to 3&nbsp;am. New York time. As the closing credits for the special were airing, word came that [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Robert F. Kennedy]] of New York had [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|been shot]] at the [[Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)|Ambassador Hotel]] in Los Angeles. ABC simply showed a wide shot of the chaotic [[newsroom]] for several minutes until Smith was able to confirm the initial story and go back on the air with a [[special report]].  He and Lawrence remained at their anchor desks for several more hours for reports of Kennedy's condition.<ref>{{cite book|first=Alex|last=McNeil|title=Total Television|location=New York|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1996|edition=4th|page=395}}</ref>

In the summer of 1968, Smith moderated a series of debates on ABC between conservative journalist [[William F. Buckley Jr.]] and liberal author [[Gore Vidal]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Brody|first1=Richard|title=Buckey, Vidal, and the Birth of Buzz|url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/buckley-vidal-and-the-birth-of-buzz|access-date=February 10, 2016|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=August 17, 2015}}</ref>

In 1969, the veteran reporter became the co-anchor of the ''ABC Evening News,'' first with [[Frank Reynolds]], then the following year with another CBS alumnus, [[Harry Reasoner]]. He began making increasingly [[Conservative (politics)|conservative]] commentaries, in particular a hard-line stance in support of the [[Vietnam War]]. He contrasted United States President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s decisive stance in Vietnam with the international failure to take preemptive action against Hitler.<ref name=guardian/> During this period, his son, future ABC newsman, [[Jack Smith (journalist)|Jack Smith]] (April 25, 1945 – April 7, 2004), was serving with the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[7th Cavalry Regiment]] in [[South Vietnam]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/18/obituaries/howard-k-smith-broadcast-newsman-dies-at-87.html|title = Howard K. Smith, Broadcast Newsman, Dies at 87|newspaper = The New York Times|date = February 18, 2002|last1 = Goldstein|first1 = Richard}}</ref> and fought at the [[Battle of Ia Drang]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vietnamwall.org/news.php?id=1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 5, 2009 |archive-date=March 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316205537/http://www.vietnamwall.org/news.php?id=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> These commentaries endeared him to President Nixon, who rewarded him with a rare, hour-long, one-on-one interview in 1971, at the height of the administration's animus against major newspapers, CBS, and NBC,  despite Smith's having broadcast his "political obituary" only nine years earlier.

[[File:Howard K. Smith.jpg|thumb|200px|left|ABC News commentator Howard K. Smith with [[Richard Nixon]] in 1971.]]
During the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 presidential campaign]], a letter was published that Smith had written to [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Edmund S. Muskie]] of [[Maine]], indicating Smith's full support for Muskie. The endorsement was written on stationery with ABC's [[letterhead]]. Nothing ever came of this controversy, however, and Smith kept his job. Notwithstanding his past temporary friendly relations with Nixon (who defeated [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] [[George S. McGovern]] of [[South Dakota]] for re-election), Smith became the first national television commentator to call for Nixon's resignation over [[Watergate]].

Smith remained as co-anchor at ABC until 1975, after which Reasoner anchored solo until [[Barbara Walters]] joined the broadcast a year later. Smith continued as an analyst until 1979; he left the network nearing full retirement, and as the [[Roone Arledge]] era was beginning at ABC News. Sources say that Smith was embittered over the reduction in time allowed for his commentaries and hence resigned after he criticized the revamped ''World News Tonight'' format as a "[[Punch and Judy]] show."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/smithhoward/smithhoward.htm|title=Howard K. Smith|publisher=museum.tv|access-date=December 26, 2008|archive-date=February 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217192214/http://museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/smithhoward/smithhoward.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Awards and film roles==
Among honors which Smith received over the years were [[Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award|DuPont Award]]s in 1955<ref name=MCreg /> and 1963, a [[Sigma Delta Chi Award]] for radio journalism in 1957, and an award from the [[American Jewish Congress]] in 1960. In 1962 he received the [[Paul White (journalist)|Paul White]] Award from the [[Radio Television Digital News Association]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |title=Paul White Award |publisher=[[Radio Television Digital News Association]] |access-date=May 27, 2014 |archive-date=February 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225052416/http://rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Smith also appeared in a number of films, often as himself; ''[[The Best Man (1964 film)|The Best Man]]'' (1964), ''[[The Candidate (1972 film)|The Candidate]]'' (1972),{{Citation needed |date=May 2021}} ''[[The President's Plane Is Missing (film)|The President's Plane Is Missing]]'' (1973, a made-for-television production of the [[Robert J. Serling]] novel of the same name), ''[[Nashville (film)|Nashville]]'' (1975), ''[[Network (1976 film)|Network]]'' (1976), ''[[The Pink Panther Strikes Again]]'' (scenes cut) (1976), ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'' (1977), ''[[The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper]]'' (1981), ''[[The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (film)|The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas]]'' (1982), "The Odd Candidate" (1974) episode of the television series [[The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)|''The Odd Couple'']] (playing himself), the "Kill Oscar" episode (1976) of ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' (playing himself anchoring an ABC newscast), and both ''[[V (1983 miniseries)|V]]'' (1983) and the [[V (1984 TV series)|subsequent 1984 television series]]. He appeared as the Narrator in the 1987 film ''[[Escape from Sobibor]]''.

Along with ''Last Train from Berlin'', he wrote three other books, ''The Population Explosion'' (1960), the children's book ''Washington, D.C.: The Story of our Nation's Capital'' (1967), and a memoir ''Events Leading Up to My Death: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Reporter'' (1996).

==Personal life==
Smith met his future wife, Danish news reporter Benedicte Traberg, while working in Nazi Germany in 1941. Because she was only 20 at the time, she had to return to Denmark for parental approval, but the couple re-united three months later in Berne, Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Benedicte Traberg Smith, widow of broadcast journalist Howard K. Smith, dies at 87 |url=https://archive.naplesnews.com/community/benedicte-traberg-smith-widow-of-broadcast-journalist-howard-k-smith-dies-at-87-ep-400987598-332697061.html/ |access-date=2023-03-17 |website=archive.naplesnews.com}}</ref> The couple were married until Smith's death in 2002. Benedicte died in 2008. Their son Jack was an ABC correspondent who received [[Peabody Awards|Peabody]] and [[Emmy Awards|Emmy]] awards for his coverage of technology. Having left journalism for a job in Silicon Valley, Jack died at age 58<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-08-me-smith8-story.html | title=Jack Smith, 58; Veteran ABC News Reporter, A&E; Host | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=April 8, 2004 }}</ref> in 2004 of [[pancreatic cancer]] in [[Marin County, California|Marin County]], California.<ref name=bts>{{cite web|url=http://www.marconews.com/news/2008/oct/30/benedicte-traberg-smith-widow-broadcast-journalist/|title="Benedicte Traberg Smith, widow of broadcast journalist Howard K. Smith, dies at 87", October 30, 2008|publisher=marconews.com|access-date=December 26, 2008|archive-date=May 22, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522212945/http://www.marconews.com/news/2008/oct/30/benedicte-traberg-smith-widow-broadcast-journalist/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{Portal bar|Biography|United States|Maryland|Journalism|Television|Film|Politics}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/smithhoward/smithhoward.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217192214/http://museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/smithhoward/smithhoward.htm |date=February 17, 2009 }}
*''Who's Who in America'', 1972 edition
* {{EmmyTVLegends name|howard-k-smith|Howard K. Smith}}
* {{C-SPAN|9108}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-media}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Frank Reynolds]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[ABC Evening News]] anchor|years=May 19, 1969 – September 5, 1975<br /><small>with [[Frank Reynolds]] May 19, 1969 – December 4, 1970<br />with [[Harry Reasoner]] December 7, 1970 – September 5, 1975</small>}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Harry Reasoner]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Stuart Novins]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Face the Nation|''Face the Nation'' Moderator]]|years=November 14, 1960 – July 10, 1961}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Paul K. Niven Jr.|Paul Niven]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Howard K.}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American journalists]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:20th-century American memoirists]]
[[Category:American radio reporters and correspondents]]
[[Category:American Rhodes Scholars]]
[[Category:American television news anchors]]
[[Category:Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)]]
[[Category:Cajun people]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Maryland]]
[[Category:Mass media people from Bethesda, Maryland]]
[[Category:People from Ferriday, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Writers from New Orleans]]
[[Category:Alcee Fortier High School alumni]]
[[Category:Tulane University alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford]]
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[[Category:American war correspondents]]
[[Category:Male actors from New Orleans]]
[[Category:CBS News people]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
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[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]