Charles Collingwood (journalist)
| Charles Collingwood | |
|---|---|
With Jacqueline Kennedy at the White House during the taping of A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy.
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| Born |
June 4, 1917 Three Rivers, Michigan |
| Died | October 3, 1985 (aged 68) New York City |
| Education | Deep Springs College, Cornell University, Oxford University |
| Occupation | Broadcast journalist |
| Notable credit(s) | CBS News |
| Spouse(s) |
Louise Allbritton (1946-1979; her death) Tatiana Jolin (? - 1985; his death) |
Charles Collingwood (June 4, 1917 – October 3, 1985) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He was an early member of Edward R. Murrow's group of reporters known as "Murrow's Boys". He was also among the early ranks of television journalists that included Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, and Murrow himself.
Collingwood was born in Three Rivers, Michigan, and graduated from Deep Springs College and Cornell University. In 1939 he received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. He covered World War II for United Press in London, and was soon recruited to CBS by Edward R. Murrow. He established himself as an urbane and spontaneously eloquent on-air journalist.
In 1942 Collingwood was sent to cover the North African Campaign, where he proved his reporting abilities despite being considered "green" as a broadcast journalist.
On D-Day he landed at Utah Beach hours after the first wave of soldiers hit the beaches. Of the CBS reporters accompanying the ground invasion, he recorded a report on June 6 that made it to broadcast two days later. The other CBS correspondents on the ground, Bill Downs and Larry LeSueur, were not able to deliver reports until days later because of trouble setting up mobile transmitters.
When General Omar Bradley told Collingwood that the Free French Resistance was about to rise up and liberate Paris, Collingwood prepared and sent a recording with news of the liberation to CBS in London so it would be ready when the city was actually freed. The recording bore a label that said to hold it back until Paris was actually liberated, but the technician at CBS did not read the label, and immediately aired the recording, on August 22. At that time there were still thousands of German troops in Paris and the resistance fighters who were fighting and dying did not appreciate that the world was told that the liberation of Paris was a fait accompli. Paris was actually liberated three days later on August 25.
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