Meet the Press: 50-Years of History in the Making
Originally a radio broadcast in 1945, the Maxwell House-sponsored forum Meet the Press?a kind of TV studio press conference for newsmakers?debuted on NBC 50 years ago this November. The program was coproduced by Martha Rountree and Lawrence Spivak, each of whom served as its host during the early years, featuring relatively unvarnished sessions between influential subjects and a panel of top reporters. While Robert Dole returned more than 50 times to the show, other visitors had such a lousy experience that they later took a swing at the questioner. The paranoid and grandstanding Senator Joe McCarthy even brought a gun to his interview. After Dole, the list of frequent visitors is surprising, seeming to reward Washington's moderate survivors, from Sam Nunn (29 guest spots) on down to the oddly infrequent Ted Kennedy (13). Despite his slightly annoying use of the present tense, Ball's chronological history of the show's half century makes a well-researched official salute.?Nathan Ward, "Library Journal"Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.