Hedrick Smith
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Hedrick Smith is a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning former ''
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 d ...
'' reporter and
Emmy 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 ...
award-winning producer and correspondent. After serving 26 years with ''The New York Times'' from 1962-88 as correspondent, editor and bureau chief in both
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
, Smith moved into television in 1989, reporting and producing more than 50 hours of long-form documentaries for
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
over the next 25 years on topics from the inside story of the terrorists who mounted the 9/11 attacks and Gorbachev’s
perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
to Wall Street, Walmart and The Democracy Rebellion of grassroots citizen reform movements. Smith has authored five best-selling books including ''The Russians'', ''The Power Game: How Washington Works'', and '' Who Stole the American Dream?'', and co-authored several other books, including ''The Pentagon Papers'' and ''Reagan: The Man, the President'.'' Smith is currently Executive Editor of the websit
ReclaimTheAmericanDream.org
and the YouTube channe
The People vs. The Politicians


Early life and education

Smith was born on July 9, 1933, in
Kilmacolm Kilmacolm () is a village and civil parish in the Inverclyde council area, and the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the northern slope of the Gryffe Valley, southeast of Greenock and aroun ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. He was educated at
The Choate School Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private hi ...
(now Choate Rosemary Hall) in
Wallingford, Connecticut Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The population was 44,396 at the 2020 census. The community was named after Wallingford, in En ...
and at
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...
, where he earned a B.A. in American history and literature in 1955. From 1955-56, Smith did graduate work in PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) as a
Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. He served in the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
from 1956 to 1959. In 1969, he won a
Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. ...
to study at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, concentrating in Russian studies.


Newspaper career

Smith’s career in print journalism began in the 1950s, with summer jobs as a cub reporter for The Greenville (S.C.) News. After college and serving three years in the U.S. Air Force, Smith joined
United Press International 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 ...
in 1959, serving in bureaus in Memphis, Nashville, and Atlanta. In the early 1960s, Smith began his long tenure with ''The New York Times'' covering
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 ...
,
John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
, and the
civil rights struggle The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
, including hot spots such as
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, the desegregation of Ole Miss, and the
March on Washington The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...
. As a foreign correspondent, Smith reported on the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
in
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
(1963-64), on the Middle East region based in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
(1964-66), and on the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
from both Washington (1967-70) and Moscow (1971-74). Smith won the
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic R ...
from Russia and Eastern Europe in 1974. In 1971, Smith and fellow ''New York Times'' journalist
Neil Sheehan Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan (October 27, 1936 – January 7, 2021) was an American journalist. As a reporter for ''The New York Times'' in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified ''Pentagon Papers'' from Daniel Ellsberg. His series of articles reve ...
were members of the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning team that produced the Pentagon Papers series, based on Defense Secretary
Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the Lis ...
's top secret history of the Vietnam War under four U.S. presidents. Prior to publishing, Smith and Sheehan spent over three months studying 7,000 pages of classified documents and history, hiding from the government in New York’s 6th Avenue Hilton hotel under an assumed name. Recalling his work with Sheehan on the Pentagon Papers, Smith said, “What Neil Sheehan did was bring to the public a reckoning with the truth..It was a real pleasure and real honor for me to have had the fun and the accomplishment of sharing the experience with Neil Sheehan.” In 1975, Smith became deputy national editor of the Times and then moved on to serve as Washington Bureau Chief (1976-79) and Chief Washington Correspondent (1979-88). During his Washington tours he covered five American presidents and their administrations.


Books

Smith's book ''The Russians'' (1976), based on his years as the ''New York Times'' Moscow Bureau Chief from 1971-74, was a No. 1 American best-seller. It has been translated into 16 languages and widely used in university courses. His next book, ''The Power Game: How Washington Works'' (1988), was another major best-seller. In a video tour of the White House, C-SPAN filmed the book sitting on President Clinton’s bedside table. It became a political bible for many newly elected members of Congress and their staff. Nearly three decades after his first Moscow tour, Smith returned to Russia to witness the crumbling of Soviet Communism and the break up of the old Soviet Union. In ''The New Russians'' (1991), Smith gave a first-hand account of Mikhail Gorbachev’s dramatic political and economic reforms known as
perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
. Over the past 25 years, Smith has focused on the American domestic scene, producing two books – ''Rethinking America'' (1995) and '' Who Stole the American Dream?'' (2012) that provide extended reporting and analysis on the causes of sharply rising economic inequality in the United States and its increasingly dysfunctional political system as well as efforts to restore greater fairness, transparency and inclusion in both the American economy and American politics.


Television productions

In 1989-90, Smith converted his best-selling book, ''The Power Game'', into a four-hour documentary series giving his inside analysis of how power politics work - or don’t work - in Washington and launched a 25-year television production career that generated 26 prime-time specials and mini-series for
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
. Smith followed up with a pioneering PBS four-hour documentary series Inside Gorbachev’s
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, exploiting his knowledge of Russia history and his ability to conduct TV interviews in Russian to get American television’s first broad inside look at Gorbachev’s perestroika reform campaign That series won the prestigious Columbia- Dupont Gold Baton, or grand prize, for the best public affairs program on U.S. television in 1991. Smith has won all of television’s major awards with other PBS programs. He earned national Emmys for The Wall Street Fix (2003) and Can You Afford to Retire? (2006) which he created for PBS ''Frontline''. Two more of his programs won
Emmy 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 ...
nominations - Critical Condition (2000), a three-hour examination of the U.S. health care system, and ''Tax Me If You Can'' (2004), a one-hour investigation of the tax dodges of corporations and the wealthy. In 2002, Smith shared the prestigious duPont-Columbia Gold Baton for ''Inside the Terror Network'', his in-depth account of the
al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
bombers organizing, training and preparing for their attack on the U.S. on September 11, 2001. Coupled with Frontline investigative exposes like ''Bigger Than Enron'' (2002), ''Is Wal-Mart Good for America?'' (2004) ''Spying on the Home Front'' (2007), and ''Poisoned Waters'' (2009), one distinctive feature of Smith’s television reporting is his focus not just on examining problems but in ''Seeking Solutions'' (1999), his mini-series on teen violence and hate crime, used by the
Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
and Congressional committees; ''Making Schools Work'' (2005), a two-hour special on effective educational programs boosting student success; and ''Surviving the Bottom Line'' (1998) a four-hour report comparing the fairness of America’s economy with Germany, Japan and China. Those programs earned Smith and his production team public service awards from the
Sidney Hillman Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor' ...
foundation and from
Sigma Delta Chi The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
, the national honor society of journalists. His most recent PBS documentary ''The Democracy Rebellion'' (2020) shows how grass roots citizen movements have challenged entrenched politicians and power brokers to win election law reforms against dark money, gerrymandering or vote suppression and to make America’s broken democracy fairer, more open and more inclusive. It is now featured 24/7 on Smith’s YouTube channel,
The People vs the Politicians
”   Over 25 years, PBS viewers also came to know Hedrick Smith as a regular panelist on
Washington Week in Review ''Washington Week''—previously ''Washington Week in Review''—is an American Public affairs programming, public affairs television program, which has aired on PBS and its predecessor, National Educational Television, since 1967. Unlike other p ...
and as a special correspondent for
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the prog ...
.


Awards, honors, and organizations

Smith received a Fulbright Scholarship to study Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University in 1955. In 1969, he won a Nieman Fellowship to study at Harvard University, concentrating in Russian studies. In 1971, he was a member of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for its work on the Pentagon Papers. He won the
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic R ...
in 1974 for stories from Russia and Eastern Europe. Smith has also won many television awards. His ''Frontline'' shows, ''The Wall Street Fix'' and ''Can You Afford to Retire?'' won Emmys and two other awards and his ''Frontline'' shows, Critical Condition and Tax Me If You Can were nominated. He has won or shared the Columbia-Dupont Gold Baton for the year's best public affairs program on U.S. television twice. He has also won the
George Polk George Polk (October 17, 1913 – May 1948) was an American journalist for CBS who was murdered during the Greek Civil War, in 1948. World War II During World War II, Polk enlisted with a Naval Construction Battalion. After the invasion of Guadal ...
,
George Peabody George Peabody ( ; February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an American financier and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as the father of modern philanthropy. Born into a poor family in Massachusetts, Peabody went into business in dry go ...
and
Hillman Hillman was a British automobile marque created by the Hillman-Coatalen Company, founded in 1907, renamed the Hillman Motor Car Company in 1910. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had b ...
awards for his excellence in reporting along with two national public service awards. Smith is a member of
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
and the
Gridiron Club The Gridiron Club is the oldest and among the most prestigious journalistic organizations in Washington, D.C. History Frank A. De Puy (1854–1927) was one of several who met January 24, 1885, at the Welcker's Hotel in Washington, D.C. – 7 ...
.


List of PBS productions

Smith has produced 24 programs and miniseries, four one-hour PBS specials, 11 ''
Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...
'' productions, and nine ''
NewsHour ''Newshour'' is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, which is broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). Each edition lasts one hour. It consists of ...
'' segments. His most recent work, the feature-length documentary
The Democracy Rebellion
" is featured on his YouTube channel. PBS programs, specials, and miniseries * ''The Power Game: How Washington Works'' (4 hours; 1989) * ''Transition to Power - George HW Bush: Election to Inauguration'' (1989) * ''Inside Gorbachev’s USSR'' (4 hours; 1990) ** (Hosted) ''Soviets'' (1991) ** (Hosted) ''Baltic Requiem'' (1991) * ''Challenge to America'' (4 hours; 1994) * ''Pathways to Success'' (1995) * ''Across the River'' (1995) * ''The People and the Power Game'' (4 hours; 1996) * ''Surviving the Bottom Line'' (4 hours; 1998) * ''Seeking Solutions to Hate Crimes and Prejudice'' (4 hours; 1999) * ''Duke Ellington’s Washington'' (2000) * ''Critical Condition: The State of US Health Care'' (3 hours; 2000) * ''Juggling Work and Family'' (2001) * ''Rediscovering Dave Brubeck'' (2001) * ''Making Schools Work'' (2 hours; 2005) *
The Democracy Rebellion
' (2020) PBS ''Frontline'' productions * ''After Gorbachev’s USSR'' (1992) * ''Guns, Tanks and Gorbachev'' (1992) * ''Dr. Solomon’s Dilemma'' (2000) * ''Inside the Terror Network'' (2002) * ''Bigger Than Enron'' (2002) * ''The Wall Street Fix'' (2003) * ''Tax Me If You Can'' (2004) *
Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
' (2004) *
Can You Afford to Retire?
' (2006) *
Spying on the Home Front
' (2007) *
Poisoned Waters
' (2009) PBS ''NewsHour'' segments * ''Issue of Control - The Greening of the Republican Class of 1994'' (1996) * ''Surviving the Revolution - How Republicans fared in the Election'' (1996) * ''The Money Trail'' (3 segments; 1997) * ''Surviving the Bottom Line'' (2 segments; 1998) * ''“Grow-Your-Own” Workers'' (2 segments; 1998)


Bibliography

* ''The Russians'' (1976) *''The Pentagon Papers: The Secret History of the Vietnam War'' (co-authored with
Neil Sheehan Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan (October 27, 1936 – January 7, 2021) was an American journalist. As a reporter for ''The New York Times'' in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified ''Pentagon Papers'' from Daniel Ellsberg. His series of articles reve ...
, 1971) *''Reagan: The Man, the President'' (1981) * ''The Power Game: How Washington Works'' (1987) * ''The New Russians'' (1990) * ''The Media and the Gulf War'' (1992) * ''Rethinking America'' (1995) * '' Who Stole the American Dream?'' (2012)


References


External links


Hedrick Smith Productions
*
LibraryThing author profile

Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Hedrick 1933 births Living people Nieman Fellows Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners American male journalists The New York Times writers The New York Times editors Writers about the Soviet Union Choate Rosemary Hall alumni Williams College alumni People from Wallingford, Connecticut Nautilus Book Award winners American documentary filmmakers PBS people American political writers