alternatehistory.com

The legendary journalist was an extremely heavy smoker and died of lung cancer at the age of 57. In the years before his death, however, he'd moved from journalism into government service - JFK put him in charge of the US Information Agency, and he was appointed to the National Security Council. After Kennedy's death, Lyndon Johnson asked Murrow to stay on, but by then Murrow had already been diagnosed with cancer and had a lung removed. He retired, and died less than a year later.

Murrow left the USIA just as Johnson was escalating in Vietnam. What if he had quit smoking, stayed healthy, and remained in his post? What would be the implications of the America's most respected journalist serving as the government's chief propagandist during the Vietnam War? Would he show the grisly truth and get fired? Would he toe the administration line, ruin his reputation, and contribute to public mistrust of the press?

I'm sure we'd like to believe the former, but the fact that Murrow was willing to lead the USIA in the first place - and apparently had no qualms requesting the BBC not to show his own documentaries for fear of painting America in a bad light - makes me suspect he might not give the Johnson administration's war policy as tough a treatment as he did Joe McCarthy.
Top