Richard Douglas Heffner (August 5, 1925 – December 17, 2013) was the creator and host of '' The Open Mind,'' a public affairs television show first broadcast in 1956. He was a University Professor of Communications and Public Policy at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

and also taught an honors seminar at

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 ...

. He was the author of ''A Documentary History of the United States,'' a verbatim anthology of important public documents in American history, among them the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

, the

Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the ...

and

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's Letter from Birmingham Jail. Heffner collaborated with Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel on the publication of ''Conversations With Elie Wiesel'', released by Schocken books in 2001.

Career

A protégé of

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 f ...

, Heffner helped establish what is now

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

(Channel 13) in New York City and was its first general manager, from 1961–63. From 1974–94 Heffner was chairman of the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) of the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

(MPAA). Heffner earned his BA (1946) and MA (1947) degrees in history from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He taught two courses at

. "Mass Communications and the American Image" is taught through the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, while "Communication and Human Values" is an honors undergraduate seminar taught through the School of Arts and Sciences. He also taught the same honors undergraduate course, "Communication and Human Values", at

Death

Heffner died of a cerebral hemorrhage on December 17, 2013, aged 88.Richard Heffner, Historian, Teacher, Pioneer of Public Television, is Dead at 88

References

External sources

Rutgers University
Richard D. Heffner

(1952) 1925 births 2013 deaths American television personalities Male television personalities American humanities academics Rutgers University faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Place of birth missing Place of death missing Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni {{US-tv-bio-stub

Career

Death

See also

References

External sources