Good Night, and Good Luck

Edward R. Murrow:
This might just do nobody any good. At the end of this discourse, a few people may accuse this reporter of fouling his own comfortable nest, and your organization may be accused of having given hospitality to heretical and even dangerous ideas. But the elaborate structure of networks, advertising agencies, and sponsors will not be shaken or altered. It is my desire if not my duty to try to talk to you journeymen with some candor about what is happening to radio and television, and if what I say is responsible, I alone am responsible for the saying of it. Our history will be what we make of it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes of one week of all three networks, they will there find, recorded in black and white and in color, evidence of decadence, escapism, and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable, and complacent. We have a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information - our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses, and recognize that television, in the main, is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture, too late.

Edward R. Murrow:
We will not walk in fear, one of another.

Edward R. Murrow:
No one familiar with the history of his country, can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating. But the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the Junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been confusing the public mind as between the internal and the external threats of communism. We must not confuse dissent from disloyalty. We must remember always, that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another, we will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason. If we dig deep into our history and our doctrine, we will remember we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Sen. McCarthy's methods to keep silent or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom where ever it still exists in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And who's fault is that? Not really his; he didn't create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. Good night, and good luck.

Edward R. Murrow:
Funny thing, Freddie, every time you light a cigarette for me, I know you're lying.

Edward R. Murrow:
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

Edward R. Murrow:
Referring to a line from Julius Caesar recited by Senator McCarthy: Had Senator McCarthy looked just three lines earlier he would have found this: "The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves..."

Edward R. Murrow:
I've searched my conscience, and I can't for the life of me find any justification for this, and I simply cannot accept that there are on every story two equal and logical sides to an argument.

Edward R. Murrow:
I began by saying that our history will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, then history will take its revenge and retribution will not limp in catching up with us. Just once in awhile, let us exalt the importance of ideas and information. Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night, a time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan, is given over to a clinical survey on the state of American education. And a week or two later, a time normally used by Steve Allen, is devoted to a thorough-going study of American policy in the Middle East. Would the corporate image of their respective sponsors be damaged? Would the shareholders rise up in their wrath and complain? Would anything happen, other than a few million people would have received a little illumination on subjects that may well determine the future of this country - and therefore the future of the corporations? To those who say people wouldn't look, they wouldn't be interested, they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply -- there is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate - and yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it towards those ends. Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck.

Joseph McCarthy:
"Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great?" a quote from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Fred Friendly:
There's no news, boys, so go out there and make some news. Rob a bank, mug an old lady, whatever - just do something.

William Paley:
I'm with you today Ed, and I'm with you tomorrow.

Edward R. Murrow:
We'll split the advertising, Fred and I. He just won't have any presents for his kids at Christmas.

Sig Mickelson:
He's a Jew.

Edward R. Murrow:
Well don't tell him that. He loves Christmas.

Edward R. Murrow:
Did you know that Shirley and Joe are married?

Fred Friendly:
Yeah.

Edward R. Murrow:
Did everybody know?

Colonel Anderson:
Wouldn't you guess that the people who have seen the contents of that envelope might have a better idea of what makes someone a danger to his country, or do you think it should just be you, sir, who decides?

Fred Friendly:
Who? Who? Who are these people, sir? Who are the people? Are they elected? Are they appointed? Do they have an axe to grind? Is it you?

Edward R. Murrow:
What'd the general have to say?

Fred Friendly:
It was a colonel. Two of them.

Edward R. Murrow:
That makes a general.

Edward R. Murrow:
You always were yellow.

Fred Friendly:
Better than red.

Fred Friendly:
Did you write your closing piece?

Edward R. Murrow:
It's Shakespeare.

Fred Friendly:
Uh-huh. Write your closing.

Don Hollenbeck:
I could use a scotch.

Edward R. Murrow:
I think everyone could use a scotch.

Fred Friendly:
Shirley, honey, would you go across the street and get the early editions?

Shirley Wershba:
All of them?

Edward R. Murrow:
Just get O'Brian.

Edward R. Murrow:
He's gonna hope a senator trumps a newsman.

Fred Friendly:
He'll lose.

Edward R. Murrow:
Not if we're playing bridge.

Shirley Wershba:
Name me one woman who asks her husband to take off his wedding ring before he goes to work.

Joe Wershba:
Ava Gardner.

William Paley:
There's a Knickerbocker game tonight, I've got front row seats. Are you interested?

Edward R. Murrow:
I'm a little busy bringing down the network tonight, Bill.

Fred Friendly Is he being brought before the committee?

Edward R. Murrow:
No.

Fred Friendly Then it's not McCarthy

Edward R. Murrow:
Isn't it?

We will not walk in fear of one another.

In A Nation Terrorized By Its Own Government, One Man Dared to Tell The Truth

They Took On The Government With Nothing But The Truth

Edward R. Murrow'S Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, Delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois:
I have no technical advice or counsel to offer those of you who labor in this vineyard, the one that produces words and pictures. You will, I am sure, forgive me for not telling you that the instruments with which you work are miraculous, that your responsibility is unprecedented, or that your aspirations are frequently frustrated. It is not necessary to remind you of the fact that your voice, amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other, does not confer upon you greater wisdom than when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other.

Edward R. Murrow'S Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, Delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois:
All of these things -- All of these things you know. You should also know at the outset that, in the manner of witnesses before Congressional committees, I appear here voluntarily -- by invitation; that I am an employee of the Columbia Broadcasting System; that I am neither an officer nor any longer a director of that corporation; and that these remarks are strictly of a "do-it-yourself" nature. If what I have to say is responsible, then I alone am responsible for the saying of it. Seeking neither approbation from my employers, nor news sponsors, nor acclaim from the critics of radio and television, I cannot very well be disappointed.

Edward R. Murrow'S Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, Delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois:
Believing that potentially the commercial system of broadcasting as practiced in this country is the best and freest yet devised, I have decided to express my concern about what I believe to be happening to radio and television. These instruments have been good to me beyond my due. There exists in my mind no reasonable grounds for any kind of personal complaint. I have no feud, either with my employers, any sponsors, or with the professional critics of radio and television. But I am seized with an abiding fear regarding what these two instruments are doing to our society, our culture, and our heritage.

Edward R. Murrow:
Stonewall Jackson, who is generally believed to have known something about weapons, is reported to have said, "When war comes, you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." The trouble with television is that it is rusting in the scabbard during a battle for survival.

Edward R. Murrow:
Thank you for your patience.

Edward R. Murrow:
We're going with this story. Because the terror is right here in this room.

Edward R. Murrow:
No one familiar with the history of his country, can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating.

Joseph Mccarthy:
Good evening. Mr. Edward R. Murrow, Educational Director of the Columbia Broadcasting System, devoted his program to an attack on the work of the United States Senate Investigating Committee, and on me personally as its chairman, and over the past four years he has made repeated attacks upon me and those fighting Communists.

Joseph Mccarthy:
Now, ordinarily--I would not take time out from the important work at hand to answer Murrow. However, in this case, I feel justified in doing so because Murrow is a symbol,a leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose individual Communists and traitors.

Fred Friendly:
Turn the phones on!

Fred Friendly:
Might as well go down swinging.

William Paley:
My cards. You lose, what happens? Five guys find themselves out of work. I'm responsible for a hell of a lot more than five god damned reporters. Let it go. McCarthy will self-destruct.