Title: Robert Pierpoint Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1943-1982

Creator:

• Pierpoint, Robert

Call Number: U.S. Mss 195AF; Audio 1120A; Disc 176A; AC 280-281; CA 904; Micro 1071; PH 3647-3648

Quantity: 5.8 c.f. (5 cartons, 2 archives boxes, 1 flat box), 5 tape recordings, 1 disc recording, 3 films, 2 reels of microfilm (35 mm), and photographs

Repository:

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

Archival Locations:

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

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Robert Pierpoint, a journalist best known as a CBS White House correspondent. The papers document his professional career as a producer and broadcaster for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation in the late 1940s; his initial affiliation with CBS as a stringer in Scandinavia (1949-1951), his years as a Korean War correspondent for the network (1951-1953) and Far East bureau chief (1953-1957), his assignment to the White House press corps (1957-1980), and his years covering the State Dept. (1980-1982). Included are manuscripts and other material relating to his book, At the White House: Assignment to Six Presidents (1981). The collection is supplemented by miscellaneous photographs, films, and sound recordings from various stages in his career. Of special note are slides of prisoner exchanges following the Korean War.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0195af

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CBS correspondent Robert Charles Pierpoint was born in Redondo Beach, California, on May 16, 1925. After graduating from Pomona High School in 1943, he joined the United States Naval Reserve and spent four semesters as a Navy V-12 student at the California Institute of Technology studying electrical engineering. Pierpoint was discharged from the military in November 1945. In 1947 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in economics and a minor in political science from the University of Redlands, Redlands, California. In August 1947, Pierpoint entered the University of Stockholm where he spent one year studying the Swedish language, as well as the history and culture of Scandinavia. He also spent several weeks at the Summer School of International Studies at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

In 1948 Pierpoint went to work as a program producer and broadcaster in the short-wave division of the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, where he was featured in a series of daily English-language news programs beamed to listeners in the United States. He also worked as a free-lance writer and editor for the Swedish Institute, Swedish Railways, and the Sandrew-Bauman Film Corporation.

In 1949 Pierpoint learned through underground sources of plans for a communist-inspired coup in Finland. He alerted CBS News, offering to cover it for them and was hired by the network as a “stringer.” Two year later he accepted a staff position with CBS to cover the Korean War. He reported on the fighting there (often from the front lines) from April 1951, until the armistice in July 1953. In October of that year CBS appointed him Far East bureau chief. Although Pierpoint was headquartered in Tokyo he reported throughout the region and on several occasions went to the Middle East, as well, to report on crises there.

Pierpoint remained Far East bureau chief until September 1957, when he was transferred to the White House beat in Washington, D.C. There he was responsible for covering the activities of the President, his staff, and the first family. Except for brief periods in 1961 (when he covered Congress) and 1964 (when he was assigned to Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign), Pierpoint remained at the White House for the next 23 years.

In 1980 Pierpoint was named diplomatic correspondent for CBS, succeeding Marvin Kalb. His new duties included coverage of the National Security Council, as well as other matters related to foreign affairs. In 1982 Pierpoint was made national security correspondent for CBS.

In 1975 Pierpoint was elected to the executive committee of the White House Correspondents Association; from May 1980 to May 1981 he was its president. Pierpoint has been twice honored with awards, one for his part in investigation of the bank connections of Charles “Bebe” Rebozo, the second as a member of the team which reported on the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. Pierpoint and CBS newsman Edward Fouhy also received an honorable mention from the Drew Pearson Foundation for their investigative work on the Rebozo matter. Pierpoint has also been active on the lecture circuit (particularly on college and university campuses) as a speaker on the presidency and the press and as a commentator on current events. In 1981 he published At the White House: Assignment to Six Presidents, which described his experiences as a White House correspondent. In 1983 Pierpoint became a fulltime correspondent for Sunday Morning, for which he did one cover story and one feature per month.

The collection documents 39 years of Robert Pierpoint's life and career as reporter, news commentator and analyst, public speaker, and author. The bulk of the material dates from his years as a White House correspondent for CBS, with a heavy concentration on the years of the Nixon presidency. Documentation on the Korean War and events in the Far East during the 1950s is strong as well. In addition to providing information of general interest to students of journalism, Pierpoint's news stories provide a particularly vivid account of the Korean War, while the Watergate-era materials will be of value to those studying the interplay between elected officials and the press.

The papers, which were received in random order, have been organized into five series: biographical material, reporter's notebooks, news stories, personal materials, and material related to At the White House.

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOKS constitute the largest grouping in the collection. Largely undated, the individual stenographer's pads have been organized by geographic assignment: Scandinavia, the Far East, the Middle East, the White House, and the State Department. The White House notebooks are further subdivided by presidential administration, although there are no notebooks about the Kennedy years. Unfortunately the handwriting makes all of the books difficult to use.

NEWS STORIES consist of typewritten scripts which were broadcast over both radio and television. Although the majority are Pierpoint's work, some from his CBS colleagues Lou Cioffi and George Herman are inter-filed. Nearly all of the stories date from Pierpoint's years in the Far East, and concern such topics as the Korean War, the Panmunjom truce talks, the exchange of prisoners, fighting in Indo-China, atomic bomb tests in the Pacific, and Communist influence in the region. There are, however, almost no news stories from Pierpoint's years in Washington. Because of their deteriorating condition the news stories on the Far East are only available on microfilm.

The PERSONAL MATERIALS include narrative expense reports and paycheck stubs which contain information on the programs on which his stories appeared, other financial records, and professional and personal correspondence. The activities and publicity files, which constitute the bulk of this series, include miscellaneous academic records, posters, and programs relating to Pierpoint's appearances and public speaking engagements; biographical newspaper clippings; miscellaneous memorabilia; and copies of articles for publications such as H.B. Remissan (Swedish), University of Redlands Alumnus, Montana Journalism Review, and William and Mary Quarterly. There is a conspicuous absence of professional or personal correspondence; financial data from Pierpoint's years in Scandinavia and Washington, D.C., is also lacking.

The final (and second-largest) series consists of items pertaining to the writing and publication of AT THE WHITE HOUSE. Primarily drafts, these materials were received in a wholly disorganized fashion--mainly bits and pieces, nearly all undated--which have consequently been arranged by chapter. Some groupings of complete, or nearly complete, manuscripts were found, and these have been left intact. Also included in this series are working papers (notes, memoranda, miscellaneous references materials, annotated manuscript fragments), reactions of readers to the books, and published book reviews. There is also an unrelated manuscript by Joel Swerdlow, Pierpoint's collaborator on At the White House, entitled American Night: One Night in the Life of the See-Me Era.

Also part of the collection are a number of photographs, films, and sound recordings. All of the media in the collection is somewhat miscellaneous in character, but all features Pierpoint, if only in a minor role. Included, for example, are his audio notes on the 1967 Glassboro Summit, film of an Eisenhower press conference in which Pierpoint rises to ask a question, and recordings of some of his news stories from Plains, Georgia; Sweden; Korea; and Central America. Also of note are several folders of photographs of Pierpoint at work and posed with various prominent individuals and many slides of the Korean War prisoner exchanges in 1953.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Robert C. Pierpoint, Bethesda, Maryland, 1983. Accession Number: MCHC83-7

Processing Information

Processed by David B. Peterson, 1985, and by Carolyn J. Mattern, 1986.

U.S. Mss 195AF	Series: Biographical Information
Box   1 Folder   1	1951-1980
PH 3647	Photographs, circa 1948-1980, covering Pierpoint at work and with various prominent individuals
U.S. Mss 195AF	Series: Reporter's Notebooks	⇧
Box   1 Folder   2	Scandinavia, 1949-1951
Box   1 Folder   3-27	Far East, 1951-1957
Box   1 Folder   28	Middle East, 1956-1958
	White House
Box   1 Folder   29-30	Eisenhower Administration, 1957-1960
AC 280	Brief footage of Eisenhower's , 1959 May 5 press conference in which Pierpoint asks a question
U.S. Mss 195AF Box   1 Folder   31-44	Johnson Administration, 1963-1969
1120A/4	Oral notes, Glassboro Summit, 1967 June
U.S. Mss 195AF	Nixon Administration
Box   1 Folder   45-48	1957-1960
Box   2 Folder   1-35	, 1957-1960 (continued)
	Ford Administration
Box   2 Folder   36-38	1974-1977
Box   3 Folder   1-7	, 1974-1977 (continued)
	Carter Administration
Box   3 Folder   8-12	1977-1980
Box   3A	, 1977-1980 (continued)
Box   4 Folder   1-8	State Dept. , (1980-1982)
	Series: News Stories	⇧
Box   4 Folder   9-10	Sweden, 1946-1951
CA 904	Sunlit Nights Land Cruise, 1951, film of a rail tour of Sweden narrated by and featuring Pierpoint
Disc 176A	Disc, 1948 March 23 Note: Recorded in Helsinki. Pierpoint is featured in a predominantly foreign language recording (not transcribed).
	Far East
PH 3648	Color slides of prisoner exchanges and Eisenhower's visit to Korea
Micro 1071 Reel   1	1951-1953 September
Reel   2	1953 October-1957
1120A/1	Hear It Now (CBS), 1951 June 1, radio documentary with Edward R. Murrow of Memorial Day celebrations and recordings of Pierpoint's Korean War coverage
U.S. Mss 195AF Box   4 Folder   11	Middle East, 1956-1958
	White House
Box   4 Folder   12	1961-1979
1120A/3	New stories, 1969 July, recorded by Pierpoint and Dan Rather concerning their coverage of Johnson's meeting with Latin American leaders in El Salvador
1120A/5	News story, 1976 November 16, recorded by Pierpoint on the Carter Administration transition team, together with remarks on the technical support for radio news
U.S. Mss 195AF Box   4 Folder   13	“Editor's Notebook,” 1955-1956
Box   4 Folder   14	Face the Nation,1958
Box   4 Folder   15	Fifteen-minute show, 1952-1954
Box   4 Folder   16	Story writing special, 1953-1955
	Series: Personal Material	⇧
	Financial records
Box   4 Folder   17	Compensation, 1951-1954
Box   4 Folder   18-19	Expenses, 1951-1957
	Correspondence
Box   4 Folder   20	Professional, 1948-1980
Box   4 Folder   21	Personal, 1947-1982
AC 281	Film letter, circa 1954, from Pierpoint to friends and family in the United States concerning his work, Christmas in Korea, and his quarters
U.S. Mss 195AF	Activities and publicity
Box   4 Folder   22	Academic records, 1943-1948
Box   4 Folder   23	Appearances, 1963-1980 Note: Posters and programs.
Box   4 Folder   24-25	Clippings, 1948-1982
Box   4 Folder   26	Memorabilia, 1951-1981
Box   7	Awards and certificates
Box   4 Folder   27	Other writings, 1951-1980
1120A/2	Lecture, “A View from the White House, 1973 December 9, delivered by Pierpoint in Wichita, Kansas
U.S. Mss 195AF Box   4 Folder   28	Miscellany, 1975-1981
	Series: At the White House	⇧
	Annotated manuscripts
	Individual chapters, 1980
Box   4 Folder   29	Acknowledgments
Box   4 Folder   30	Introduction
Box   5 Folder   1-2	Chapter 1: The White House Press
Box   5 Folder   3	Chapter 2: The Press Room
Box   5 Folder   4-5	Chapter 3: The Press Conference
Box   5 Folder   6-7	Chapter 4: The Press and Presidents
Box   5 Folder   8-9	Chapter 5: Press Secretaries
Box   5 Folder   10-11	Chapter 6: Television Takes Over
Box   5 Folder   12	Chapter 7, First Ladies
Box   5 Folder   13-14	Chapter 8: Press Ethics
Box   5 Folder   15	Chapter 9: Anatomy of an Award
Box   5 Folder   16	Conclusion
	Chapter groups
Box   5 Folder   17	“Original manuscript,” circa 1977 Scope and Content Note: Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, 6, 9
Box   5 Folder   18-19	“Preliminary Manuscript,” undated Scope and Content Note: Chapters 1-4 and 6-8
Box   6 Folder   1	Chapters 1-5 and 7-8, 1977
Box   6 Folder   2	Chapters 3-9, circa 1980
Box   6 Folder   3-4	Complete manuscript “Zirinski to Pierpoint,” 1980
Box   6 Folder   5	“Final Mailings to Elizabeth Jakab, Senior editor, G.P. Putnam's,” 1980 Scope and Content Note: Introduction, Chapters 1-3 and 5-9
Box   6 Folder   6	Annotated author's galleys, 1981
Box   6 Folder   7	Uncorrected advance proof, 1981
	Working papers
Box   6 Folder   8	Correspondence, 1976-1982
Box   6 Folder   9	Introduction, Chapters 1-4 and 6-8, 1980
Box   6 Folder   10	Research inserts, undated
	Research material regarding presidents (notes, reference manuscript pages)
Box   6 Folder   11	Eisenhower, Kennedy
Box   6 Folder   12	Johnson
Box   6 Folder   13	Nixon
Box   6 Folder   14	Ford
Box   6 Folder   15	Carter
Box   6 Folder   16	Miscellaneous reference materials, 1963-1978
Box   6 Folder   17	Miscellany
Box   6 Folder   18	Correspondence in reaction to book, 1981-1982
Box   6 Folder   19	Book reviews, 1981
Box   6 Folder   20	Swerdlow manuscript, 1980