Title: Robert K. McCormick Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1941-1968

Creator:

• McCormick, Robert K., 1911-1985

Call Number: U.S. Mss 23AF; Micro 658; Audio 332A; CC 588-CC 589; DG 084-DG 085; VBC 338-VBC 339; MCHC68-139

Quantity: 4.5 c.f. (10 archives boxes and 1 flat box), 18 reels of microfilm (35 mm), 2 tape recordings, 4 reels of film (16 mm), and 2 videorecordings (3/4-inch U-Matic user copies)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of Robert McCormick, a journalist and NBC news correspondent consisting of an oral history interview with McCormick, correspondence, scripts, and subject files. Scripts, especially those for radio, comprise the majority of the collection. These include material for Monitor, News on the Hour, Today in Washington, Weekend Report, and World News Roundup; there are also a small number of television scripts. Content of the scripts reflects McCormick's changing assignments: the Pacific theater during World War II; Germany, 1951-1955; and the State Department and congressional affairs, 1955-1956. Subject files consist primarily of non-script material for NBC specials, background reports and memoranda to network executives, unused story ideas, and a small amount of material pertaining to his career with Collier's. Of particular interest is the material for two specials, one on the plight of American Indians (Kaleidoscope: “The American Stranger,” 1958), included is a kinescope film copy of the program; and another about Angola (NBC White Paper: “Angola: Journey to a War,” 1961).

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0023af

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

Robert Knight McCormick, journalist and NBC radio and television news correspondent, was born August 9, 1911, in Danville, Kentucky. He attended George Washington University until the Depression forced him to leave after one year. McCormick then went to work for the Washington Daily News. Beginning as copy boy in 1930 he advanced to city reporter, then sports editor, and finally to columnist. In 1936 he joined Collier's, where he wrote an aviation column and authored popularized versions of political, biographical, and science stories.

In 1942 McCormick was hired by the National Broadcasting Company. The following year NBC appointed him chief of its Central Pacific Bureau, with headquarters first at Pearl Harbor and later at Guam. McCormick was named head of the network's Washington, D.C., televison news bureau in 1949, and as such he was one of the pioneers of television news broadcasting. He went to Paris for NBC in 1951 as European manager of NBC-TV News. Later, as bureau chief, he was transferred to Frankfort, Germany, and then to Bonn. Returned to Washington, D.C., in 1955, he became NBC's State Department correspondent. In the early 1960s the network assigned him to coverage of congressional affairs. He retired from NBC News in 1976.

McCormick was co-editor of Innovative Organization for Population Research (1971), in which he authored the short essay, “Population and the Media.” He died in 1985.

The Robert Knight McCormick papers relate almost exclusively to his career as a news correspondent for the National Broadcasting Company. The majority of the papers date from 1951 to 1966, with the bulk of the collection comprised of radio and television news scripts. The collection also includes correspondence, a transcribed tape interview with McCormick, and subject files generated during particular assignments on which he worked throughout his career. McCormick has attached informative, handwritten notes to some papers in the collection. His correspondence with the Society's Field Services Division also contains some pertinent information.

The taped INTERVIEW with McCormick was conducted in 1964 by Leslie H. Fishel Jr., then director of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Topics covered include McCormick's career and his reporting on politics and personalities in the news during the New Deal, World War II, and the post-war era.

The CORRESPONDENCE, 1944-1963, falls into three groups. The first section, 1944-1946, includes letters and expense accounts dating from McCormick's assignment in the Pacific during World War II. Of particular interest are letters to William Brooks, director of the News and Special Events Department, concerning problems in establishing a broadcasting system and a smaller amount of correspondence with Admiral Chester Nimitz and others concerning difficulties created by Nimitz's chief censor. The second group, 1953-1954, contains telegrams about scheduling and assignments sent by NBC to McCormick while he was on assignment in Germany. The third group consists of listener correspondence, 1959-1966.

The SCRIPTS, 1943-1966, are divided into three categories: radio, television, and unidentified media. Within each category the scripts are arranged alphabetically by program title and chronologically thereunder. In content, the scripts generally reflect McCormick's varied international and political assignments.

Because his reports were primarily broadcast over the radio, NBC RADIO SCRIPTS comprise the major portion of the collection. Within this section scripts for News on the Hour bulk largest. This five-minute program was broadcast on the hour seventeen times daily. For a while McCormick's regular assignment was the 4:00 P.M. News on the Hour broadcast. Another frequent assignment was News of the World, a 7:30 P.M. daily news program anchored by Morgan Beatty. McCormick's contribution consisted primarily of one-page reports on political events. The collection also contains scripts broadcast over Monitor, primarily reports on post-war Germany, hourly news headlines, congressional news, and comments on national and international affairs. Other programs for which McCormick occasionally wrote include Emphasis, Hotline, News in Depth, Nightline, Today in Washington, and Weekend Report.

Filed as miscellany are a bulletin interrupt, a promotion for a local Virginia station, and scripts entitled “Hourly” for which the precise program format could not be determined. Under the heading World War II are scripts broadcast during the war for which the program title was uncertain. The specials category includes reports on a wide variety of topics such as the 1960 New Hampshire primaries, the Senate investigation of Billie Sol Estes, a 1964 civil rights march, the funeral of John F. Kennedy, and a 1964 nuclear explosion.

The NBC TELEVISION SCRIPTS, 1955-1966, which make up a relatively small portion of the collection, document such programs as Comment, Day Report, Eleventh Hour News, News and Comment, Situation Report, Today, and Vietnam Weekly Review. The latter file includes an interview with Senator William J. Fulbright. In addition, there are few scripts for news carried over WNBW and WNBC-TV, including material for programs entitled Your Senator Reports and Your Man in Office on which Senators Jacob Javits and Abraham Ribicoff and Representative Peter Rodino were interviewed. Other scripts for use on local stations are filed under the category syndication. The miscellaneous category contains scripts for one-time appearances on series such as Outlook and Here and Now, a filler, and several brief news spots.

The NBC SCRIPTS-UNIDENTIFIED MEDIA divide into four categories: scripts broadcast over an unidentified New York station, scripts broadcast from Germany, scripts for some specials, and miscellany.

The SUBJECT FILES consist primarily of non-script material related to specials, background reports and memoranda for NBC officials, unused story ideas, and a small amount of non-NBC material relating to magazine articles. Of particular interest are McCormick's scripts for the first coast-to-coast television broadcast, a special on American Indians (“The American Stranger”), and one on the Angolan situation (“Angola: Journey to a War”).

“The American Stranger,” which was broadcast November 16, 1958, as part of the Kaleidoscope series, was an hour-long documentary dealing with conditions on certain reservations and the policies of the federal government toward Indians and Indian lands. The program was critical of government policy and generated a great deal of controversy which is reflected in the correspondence files. The papers relating to this program provide relatively complete documentation from inception of the original idea, through research and production, to viewer reaction. Attached to some items are explanatory notes prepared by McCormick. The researcher is warned, however, that some material appears not to correspond with his descriptions, and it is possible that some items may have been removed from the collection between its original processing in 1964 and its reprocessing in 1978.

“Angola: Journey to a War” was another controversial television program with which McCormick was involved. This program was broadcast on September 19, 1961, as part of the NBC White Paper series. Some of the material was also used on the Today program in October, 1961. Of special interest in this subject file is the correspondence between McCormick and Robert Sarnoff and other NBC officials. The subject file entitled Japanese Peace Treaty includes clippings and scripts for the first coast-to-coast television broadcast which was made at the time of the signing of the peace treaty with Japan. One typewritten script introduces Dean Acheson; the closing script is handwritten. The remainder of the subject files are small, and their titles are self explanatory.

The entire Robert Knight McCormick collection has been microfilmed, at which time deteriorating files were returned to the donor. The researcher may also want to consult the papers and recordings which are part of the National Broadcasting Company Papers (17AF) for further McCormick material.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Robert K. McCormick, Washington, D.C., 1959 and 1968. Accession Number: MCHC-140, MCHC68-139, MCHC64-060

Processing Information

Processed by K. Stallard and Carolyn J. Mattern, June 1978.

	Series: Interview, 1964 May 8
332A/1-2	Recording
U.S. Mss 23AF/Micro 658 Box/Folder   1/1 Reel/Frame   1/1	Transcription
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box/Folder   1/2 Reel/Frame   1/28	World War II, 1944-1946
Reel/Frame   1/127	Germany, 1953-1954
Reel/Frame   1/136	Fan mail, 1959-1961, 1963 February
	Series: Scripts	⇧
	Subseries: NBC Radio Scripts
Box/Folder   1/3 Reel/Frame   1/316	Emphasis, 1961-1964
Box/Folder   1/4 Reel/Frame   1/358	Hotline, 1958-1966
Box/Folder   1/5 Reel/Frame   1/396	Miscellaneous Scripts, 1951-1957
	Monitor
Box/Folder   1/6-8 Reel/Frame   1/422	1955-1965 April 24
Box/Folder   1/9 Reel/Frame   2/1	1965 May 1-1966
Box/Folder   1/10 Reel/Frame   2/127	News in Depth, 1962 January-September
Box/Folder   1/11-12 Reel/Frame   2/142	News of the World, 1958-1966
	News on the Hour
Reel/Frame   2/605	1957 February-November
Reel/Frame   3/1	1957 December-1958 February
Box/Folder   1/13 Reel/Frame   3/448	1958 March
Box/Folder   2/1-2 Reel/Frame   3/607	1958 April-May
Box/Folder   2/3-9 Reel/Frame   4/1	1958 June-1959 March
Box/Folder   2/10-12 Reel/Frame   5/1	1959 April-August
Box/Folder   3/1-3 Reel/Frame   5/564	1959 September-December
Box/Folder   3/4-9 Reel/Frame   6/1	1960
Box/Folder   3/10-11 Reel/Frame   7/1	1961 January-May
Box/Folder   4/1-3 Reel/Frame   7/339	1961 June-December
Box/Folder   4/4-8 Reel/Frame   8/1	1962 January-1963 March
Box/Folder   5/1-5 Reel/Frame   9/1	1963 April-1964 May
Box/Folder   5/6-9 Reel/Frame   10/1	1964 June-December
Box/Folder   6/1-2 Reel/Frame   10/594	1965 January-April
Box/Folder   6/3-4 Reel/Frame   11/1	1965 May-June, 1966 April-May
Box/Folder   6/5 Reel/Frame   11/302	1966 June-July
Reel/Frame   11/413	Nightline, 1957-1958
Box/Folder   6/6 Reel/Frame   11/498	Specials, 1959-1966
	Today in Washington
Box/Folder   6/7 Reel/Frame   11/622	1959 November-1961 June
Box/Folder   6/8 Reel/Frame   12/1	1961 July-1966
Box/Folder   7/1-3 Reel/Frame   12/208	Weekend Report, 1954-1962
	World News Roundup, 1954-1958
Reel/Frame   12/771	1954-1958 April
Reel/Frame   13/1	1958 May-1966
Reel/Frame   13/102	World War II, 1943
	Subseries: NBC Television Scripts	⇧
Box/Folder   7/4 Reel/Frame   13/146	Comment, 1955-1958
Box/Folder   7/5 Reel/Frame   13/204	Day Report, 1961-1962
Box/Folder   7/6 Reel/Frame   13/221	Eleventh Hour News, 1962-1963
Box/Folder   7/7 Reel/Frame   13/242	Eleventh Hour News (WNBW), 1963-1964
Box/Folder   7/8 Reel/Frame   13/268	Miscellaneous scripts, 1958-1965
Box/Folder   7/9 Reel/Frame   13/286	News and Comment, 1957-1963
Box/Folder   7/10-11 Reel/Frame   13/391	Situation reports, 1962-1966
Box/Folder   7/12 Reel/Frame   13/662	Specials, 1957-1963
Box/Folder   7/13 Reel/Frame   13/760	Syndication, 1962-1966
Box/Folder   7/14 Reel/Frame   13/777	Today
Box/Folder   8/1 Reel/Frame   13/876	Vietnam Weekly Review
Box/Folder   8/2 Reel/Frame   13/895	WNBC-TV, 1961-1966
	Subseries: Unidentified Media	⇧
Box/Folder   8/3 Reel/Frame   13/915	Miscellaneous scripts, 1951-1966
Box/Folder   8/4 Reel/Frame   13/926	New York news broadcasts, 1958
Reel/Frame   14/1	News broadcasts from Germany, 1952-1955
Box/Folder   8/5 Reel/Frame   14/148	Specials, 1954-1966
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
	“The American Stranger” (Kaleidoscope), 1958 November 16
Box/Folder   8/6-7 Reel/Frame   15/3	Department of Interior reports
Box/Folder   8/8 Reel/Frame   15/362	Initial background reports
	Research notes and materials for background reports
Box/Folder   8/9 Reel/Frame   15/433	Blackfeet Indians
Box/Folder   8/10 Reel/Frame   15/513	Colville Indians
Box/Folder   8/11 Reel/Frame   15/573	Klamath Indians
Box/Folder   8/12 Reel/Frame   15/742	Menominee Indians
Box/Folder   9/1-5 Reel/Frame   16/1	General research material
Box/Folder   9/6 Reel/Frame   17/1	Clippings
Box/Folder   9/7 Reel/Frame   17/59	Script-related material
	Correspondence
Box/Folder   9/8-10 Reel/Frame   17/232	1958 June-December
Box/Folder   10/1 Reel/Frame   17/526	1958 December
Box/Folder   10/2-3 Reel/Frame   18/1	1959 February-September
CC 588-CC 589	“The American Stranger”: segments only (master)
DG 084-DG 085	“The American Stranger”: kinescope (access print)
VBC 338-VBC 339	“The American Stranger”: video copy of kinescope Physical Description: 3/4-inch U-Matic
U.S. Mss 23AF/Micro 658	“Angola, Journey to a War,” (NBC White Paper), 1961 September 19
Box/Folder   10/4 Reel/Frame   14/271	Correspondence, 1961-1963
Box/Folder   10/5 Reel/Frame   14/325	Research material and notes, undated
Box/Folder   10/6 Reel/Frame   14/422	Preliminary drafts and camera captions, undated
MCHC68-139 PH Box   22	Photographs of Angolan atrocities
U.S. Mss 23AF/Micro 658 Box/Folder   10/7 Reel/Frame   14/439	Background reports and memoranda, 1943-1967
Box/Folder   10/8 Reel/Frame   14/544	Collier's, 1941-1943
Box/Folder   10/9 Reel/Frame   14/637	Crime bill, 1968
Box/Folder   10/10 Reel/Frame   14/660	Dodd hearings, 1967
	Election material
Box/Folder   10/11 Reel/Frame   14/683	, 1958 (Southern states)
Box/Folder   10/12 Reel/Frame   14/731	1960
Box/Folder   10/13 Reel/Frame   14/741	Geneva Summit Conference, 1954-1955
Box/Folder   10/14 Reel/Frame   14/770	Hepatitis, circa 1948
Box/Folder   10/15 Reel/Frame   14/824	Japanese peace treaty, 1951
Box/Folder   10/16 Reel/Frame   14/835	Meet the Press, 1958-1962
Reel/Frame   14/858	Population, circa 1959
Box/Folder   10/17 Reel/Frame   14/936	Unused story ideas, 1958-1959
Box   11	Scrapbook with McCormick's writings, especially from Collier's, undated