Donald Shepard Hewitt
(December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009) was an American
television news producer and executive, best known for creating the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
television news magazine ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' in 1968, which at the time of his death was the longest-running
prime-time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
broadcast on American television.
Under Hewitt's leadership, ''60 Minutes'' was the only news program ever rated the
nation's top-ranked television program, an achievement it accomplished five times.
Hewitt produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960.
Early life
Hewitt was born in
New York City, New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, the son of Frieda (née Pike) and Ely S. Hewitt (changed from Hurwitz or Horowitz).
[ His father was a ]Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish immigrant from Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, and his mother's family was of German Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
descent.[''The Tablet Magazine'': "Don Hewitt on His Judaism - The ‘60 Minutes’ creator died today at 86. For the book ‘Stars of David,’ he talked about his religion." By Abigail Pogrebin]
August 19, 2009 Hewitt's family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, shortly after his birth, where his father worked as a classified advertising
Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...
manager for the ''Boston Herald American
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...
''. His family later lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
. He graduated from New Rochelle High School
New Rochelle High School (NRHS) is a public high school in New Rochelle, New York. It is part of the City School District of New Rochelle and is the city's sole public high school.
Its student body represents 60 countries from around the world. I ...
, in New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...
.
College and early career
Hewitt attended New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
and started his journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
career in 1942 as head copyboy
A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the ''Herald Sun'' who began work there ...
for the ''New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
''. He joined the United States Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...
in 1943 and served as a journalist for '' Stars and Stripes'' in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Hewitt later returned to sea as an ensign
An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...
in the Naval Reserve. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
ended in 1945, Hewitt returned to his job as copyboy
A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the ''Herald Sun'' who began work there ...
for the ''Tribune'', then worked for The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
at a bureau in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
. However, his wife Mary Weaver—whom he married while working in Memphis—wanted to go to New York City, so he moved back.[ (Website registration required.)]
Back in New York City, Hewitt started working at the E.W. Scripps Company
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
-owned photo agency ACME Newspictures ACME Newspictures sometimes credited as Acme News Photos was a United States-based news agency that operated from 1923 to 1952.
History
ACME operated from 1923 to 1951, under the auspices of Newspaper Enterprise Association. Earlier it was known a ...
, which was later merged into co-owned news service United Press
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
Career at CBS News
Soon he received a lucrative offer at the CBS television network
A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...
, which was seeking someone who had "picture experience" to help with production of television broadcast. Hewitt started at its news division, CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
, in 1948 and served as producer-director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
of the network's evening-news broadcast with Douglas Edwards
Douglas Edwards (July 14, 1917 – October 13, 1990) was an American radio and television newscaster and correspondent who worked for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for more than four decades. After six years on CBS Radio in the 1940s ...
for fourteen years. He was also the first director of ''See It Now
''See It Now'' is an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, with Murrow as the host of the show. From 1952 to 1957, ''See It Now'' won four Emmy ...
,'' co-produced by host Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe fo ...
and Fred W. Friendly
Fred W. Friendly (born Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, October 30, 1915 – March 3, 1998) was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program '' See It Now''. He originated the concep ...
that started in 1951; his use of "two film projectors cutting back and forth breaks up the monotony of a talking head, improves editing, and shapes future news broadcasts." In 1956, Hewitt was the only one to capture on film the final moments of the SS Andrea Doria
SS ''Andrea Doria'' , was an ocean liner for the Italian Line (Società di navigazione Italia) home-ported in Genoa, Italy, known for its sinking in 1956, where of the 1,706 passengers and crew, 1,660 were rescued, while 46 passengers and crew ...
as it sank and disappeared under the water.
Hewitt directed the televised production of the first 1960 U.S. Presidential candidate debate between Senator John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon on September 26, 1960, at the CBS studios in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
. These were the first presidential-candidate debates ever televised. He later became executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
of the ''CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
with Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
'', helming the famous broadcast of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
's assassination as the story developed.
He then launched the eight-time Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winning show ''60 Minutes''. Within ten years, the show reached the top 10 in viewership, a position it maintained for 21 of the following 22 seasons, until the 1999–2000 season.
Hewitt was a primary figure in the televising of a 1996 ''60 Minutes'' documentary on the tobacco-industry scandal involving the tobacco company Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation was a U.S. tobacco company and a subsidiary of multinational British American Tobacco that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing ...
, in which the program eventually reported the allegations of whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand
Jeffrey Stephen Wigand (; born December 17, 1942) is an American biochemist and whistleblower.
He is a former vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky, who worked on the development of reduced-har ...
. Initially wary of a lawsuit, Hewitt sided with CBS News management and killed the Wigand story by censoring his interview. After blowback, a more complete presentation of the story was allowed to air, but the handling of the issue remained "a dark, sorry period in the otherwise virtuous life of 60 Minutes''.'" The overall scandal was the inspiration for the 1999 film '' The Insider''. Hewitt was portrayed in the film by Philip Baker Hall
Philip Baker Hall (September 10, 1931 – June 12, 2022) was an American character actor.
Hall is known for his collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson, including '' Hard Eight'' (1996), ''Boogie Nights'' (1997) and ''Magnolia'' (1999). He als ...
.
Declining ratings at ''60 Minutes''—after decades of being in the top 10, the show had dropped in rankings to number 20—contributed to what became a public debate in 2002 about whether it was time for CBS to replace Hewitt at ''60 Minutes''. According to ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Jeff Fager
Jeffrey B. Fager (born December 10, 1954) is an American television producer who is the former chairman of CBS News and former executive producer of ''60 Minutes''.
Biography
Fager was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to an Episcopalian family, t ...
, producer of ''60 Minutes II
''60 Minutes II'' (also known as ''60 Minutes Wednesday'' and ''60 Minutes'') is an American weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the origina ...
'', was being floated as a possible replacement, speculation that proved to be accurate. The show was still generating an estimated profit of more than $20 million a year, but the decline in viewership and profit meant the show could no longer "operate as an island unto itself, often thumbing its nose at management while demanding huge salaries and perquisites." Within a couple of years, Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer at the age of 81, signing a ten-year contract with CBS to be an executive producer-at-large for CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
.
In January 2010, ''60 Minutes'' dedicated an entire show to the story and memory of Don Hewitt.
In 2018, an internal CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
investigation found that in the 1990s Hewitt had been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a former CBS employee over a period of years. CBS determined that the employee's allegations were credible and by 2018 had paid her over $5 million in settlements in exchange for her silence.
Personal life and death
Hewitt was married three times:
*Mary Weaver with whom he had two sons: Jeffrey and Steven.[''New York Times'': "Don Hewitt, Creator of ‘60 Minutes,’ Dies at 86" By JACQUES STEINBERG]
August 19, 2009
* Frankie Teague Hewitt - American theater producer and founder of the Ford's Theatre Society
Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater box ...
who was responsible for restoring and reopening the historic site as a working theater. They had a daughter: Lisa Gabrielle Hewitt Cassara, former coordinating producer of the syndicated television show "A Current Affair
''A Current Affair'' may refer to:
* ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network
* ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...
"; and he adopted her daughter Jilian Childers from a previous marriage.
*Marilyn Berger
Marilyn Berger Hewitt (born August 23, 1935), is an American broadcast and newspaper journalist and author. She worked for newspapers including ''The New York Times'' and ''The Washington Post'', and hosted local television news programs in New Y ...
- American broadcast and newspaper journalist. Through Berger, Hewitt is the great-uncle of Rob Fishman
Rob Fishman (born March 31, 1986) is an American entrepreneur and writer.
Early life and education
Fishman is from Scarsdale, New York and is a graduate of Cornell University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is the g ...
.
In March 2009, Hewitt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
from which he died on August 19, 2009, at his home in Bridgehampton
Bridgehampton is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the South Fork, Suffolk County, New York, South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 1,7 ...
, New York.
Honors
*1987: Hewitt received the Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association
The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...
*1988: In addition to several Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
s given to ''60 Minutes'', Hewitt was given a personal Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
, for his accomplishments that have "touch dthe lives of just about every American."
*1989: Inducted into The Television Academy Hall Of Fame
*1992: Hewitt won the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism
The Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism is an annual award presented by Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The recipient is deemed to represent a leading figure in the journalism ...
.
*1993: Hewitt and ''60 Minutes'' were elected to the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
The NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame is a yearly honor from the National Association of Broadcasters. One inductee from radio and one from television are named at the yearly NAB conference.
Radio
For a list of award winners, see footnote
* 1977: J ...
.
*2008: Hewitt was honored with Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism.
Bibliography
In 1985, Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
published ''Minute by Minute'' (), a look at the history of ''60 Minutes''. In 2001, PublicAffairs
PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is an imprint of Perseus Books, an American book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016.
PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos. ...
published ''Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television'' (), in which Hewitt chronicles his life as a newsman.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewitt, Don
1922 births
2009 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American people of German-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American television news producers
Businesspeople from New Rochelle, New York
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Emmy Award winners
International Emmy Founders Award winners
Peabody Award winners
People from Bridgehampton, New York
Television producers from New York (state)
United States Merchant Mariners
United States Merchant Mariners of World War II
United States Navy officers
United States Navy personnel of World War II
United States Navy reservists
New Rochelle High School alumni