How to make trouble and influence people
By all accounts, the movie, "Good Night, and Good Luck," now playing at Westgate Art Cinemas, tells a compelling story about Edward R. Murrow and his 1954 television program taking on the late Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy.
In fact, one might even come to the conclusion that Murrow, alone, was responsible for McCarthy's downfall. Another victory for the courageous press.
McCarthy, of course, was the Wisconsin senator who made a name for himself by finding communists under every rock. Murrow didn't bring him down. McCarthy brought himself down when he took on the U.S. Army.
But Murrow's broadcast helped introduce the real Joseph McCarthy, a malevolent, nasty drunk, to the American public.
Whether Murrow was a hero or not is open to question. He had the resources of the CBS television network behind him and McCarthy already had the Army against him.
So when it comes to awarding "courage" badges, my candidate is a guy who is far less known by the public.
LeRoy Gore, publisher of the Sauk Prairie Star, a weekly newspaper in Sauk City, also took on McCarthy in 1954. He organized the "Joe Must Go" campaign to recall the senator. The campaign gathered 375,000 signatures, but it needed more than 400,000 to be effective.
Gore didn't become famous.
He ended up losing his newspaper. Sauk County District Attorney Harlan Kelley convinced a justice of the peace to issue warrants for Gore's arrest for aiding and abetting a felony.
The charges, incidentally, were based on a state law forbidding corporations from being involved in election activity, essentially the same charges being levied in Texas against Rep. Tom DeLay. The main difference is that the "corporation" in this case was the Joe Must Go Club. In other words, organizing a recall petition drive was deemed a felony in itself. The Wisconsin Supreme Court threw the case out.
Gore was pretty much reviled throughout the state. Being reviled is not a good business plan for a small town weekly newspaper owner.
One of the great things about being a newspaper reporter is that you get to know interesting people and I fondly remember LeRoy Gore as a good friend and an interesting person.
Gore, who died in 1977 of emphysema, was an absolutely irrepressible character who rejoiced in controversy and insisted on enjoying every minute of the life God gave him.
He once convinced a dairy to churn up a ton of green butter and then peddled it around the state to prove that people like butter so much that they'd eat it green rather than settle for oleomargarine (there was a time when margarine in Wisconsin could not be legally colored yellow).
After leaving the paper, Gore found other jobs. He founded Wisconsin Tales and Trails Magazine; he was a friend of Adlai Stevenson and Harry S Truman, he never had any money to speak of and he always had a good time.
He once explained why he was willing to take on a powerhouse like McCarthy knowing that he faced personal destruction as a result and he just laughed.
"I've wondered sometimes about people like me who take up crusades - I think any newspaper man has a penchant for exhibitionism - you wonder how much of it is high principle and how much is a compulsion you can't help," he answered.
You don't find too many news people with compulsions for exhibitionism anymore. Nor do you find too many of us willing to take on the structures of power.
Reach Bill Wineke @justfuckingoogleit.com
In fact, one might even come to the conclusion that Murrow, alone, was responsible for McCarthy's downfall. Another victory for the courageous press.
McCarthy, of course, was the Wisconsin senator who made a name for himself by finding communists under every rock. Murrow didn't bring him down. McCarthy brought himself down when he took on the U.S. Army.
But Murrow's broadcast helped introduce the real Joseph McCarthy, a malevolent, nasty drunk, to the American public.
Whether Murrow was a hero or not is open to question. He had the resources of the CBS television network behind him and McCarthy already had the Army against him.
So when it comes to awarding "courage" badges, my candidate is a guy who is far less known by the public.
LeRoy Gore, publisher of the Sauk Prairie Star, a weekly newspaper in Sauk City, also took on McCarthy in 1954. He organized the "Joe Must Go" campaign to recall the senator. The campaign gathered 375,000 signatures, but it needed more than 400,000 to be effective.
Gore didn't become famous.
He ended up losing his newspaper. Sauk County District Attorney Harlan Kelley convinced a justice of the peace to issue warrants for Gore's arrest for aiding and abetting a felony.
The charges, incidentally, were based on a state law forbidding corporations from being involved in election activity, essentially the same charges being levied in Texas against Rep. Tom DeLay. The main difference is that the "corporation" in this case was the Joe Must Go Club. In other words, organizing a recall petition drive was deemed a felony in itself. The Wisconsin Supreme Court threw the case out.
Gore was pretty much reviled throughout the state. Being reviled is not a good business plan for a small town weekly newspaper owner.
One of the great things about being a newspaper reporter is that you get to know interesting people and I fondly remember LeRoy Gore as a good friend and an interesting person.
Gore, who died in 1977 of emphysema, was an absolutely irrepressible character who rejoiced in controversy and insisted on enjoying every minute of the life God gave him.
He once convinced a dairy to churn up a ton of green butter and then peddled it around the state to prove that people like butter so much that they'd eat it green rather than settle for oleomargarine (there was a time when margarine in Wisconsin could not be legally colored yellow).
After leaving the paper, Gore found other jobs. He founded Wisconsin Tales and Trails Magazine; he was a friend of Adlai Stevenson and Harry S Truman, he never had any money to speak of and he always had a good time.
He once explained why he was willing to take on a powerhouse like McCarthy knowing that he faced personal destruction as a result and he just laughed.
"I've wondered sometimes about people like me who take up crusades - I think any newspaper man has a penchant for exhibitionism - you wonder how much of it is high principle and how much is a compulsion you can't help," he answered.
You don't find too many news people with compulsions for exhibitionism anymore. Nor do you find too many of us willing to take on the structures of power.
Reach Bill Wineke @justfuckingoogleit.com
posted by professor rat at 9:08 AM
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