Martin Agronsky (12 January 1915 – 1999) was an American journalist and host of the television program Agronsky & Company.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Years as a correspondent 3 Bureau Chief and Face the Nation 4 Agronsky & Company 5 Awards 6 Personal life 7 Death 8 Biographical chronology 9 Notes 10 External links

[edit] Early years

Agronsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 12, 1915. He graduated from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1936.

[edit] Years as a correspondent

Agronsky became a reporter for the Palestine Post, precursor to today's Jerusalem Post, in 1936. In 1937 he left the newspaper to become a freelance journalist. During this period he covered the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. In 1940 Agronsky became a foreign correspondent for NBC, providing coverage of World War II from Europe. In 1943 he became a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for ABC. Returning to the United States from Europe after the war, he helped to pioneer television coverage of American political conventions in 1948. He also covered the hearings on purported communist infiltration of the United States chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy. In 1957, he returned to NBC, again as a correspondent. He covered the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Israel in 1961. An interview with Texas Governor John Connally Agronsky conducted on November 27, 1963, five days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in the car Connally had been riding in, was widely considered a great success by his fellow journalists.

[edit] Bureau Chief and Face the Nation

He moved to CBS in 1964, becoming both bureau chief in Paris, France, and moderator of the CBS public affairs television program Face the Nation. He held both these positions until 1968.

[edit] Agronsky & Company

Agronsky became a news anchor for WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C., in 1969, but in the same year became host of the political discussion television program Agronsky & Company, produced by the Washington, D.C, PBS station WETA-TV. He hosted the show until he retired in January 1988, and it proved to be the biggest success of his career.^[1]

The show generally is credited as having invented the now-common roundtable discussion format for public affairs and political television shows which feature prominent journalists discussing current events and offering their opinions about them, although Agronsky & Company always maintained a low key and never involved the loud arguments and shouting that came to characterize many of its imitators that came along later. Its regular panelists included Hugh Sidey of Time magazine, Peter Lisagor of the Chicago Daily News, and columnists Carl Rowan, James J. Kilpatrick, Elizabeth Drew, and George Will, and although some of the liberal-vs.-conservative argumentation now common on American public affairs shows began with pointed arguments between Agronsky & Company panelists, Agronsky always exerted a calming influence. The show was held in generally high regard; Senator Edward Kennedy once said, "Everybody who is in public life watches Agronsky."^[2]. After Agronsky's retirement, journalist Gordon Peterson took over the show and, renamed Inside Washington, it continues to air today with the same low-key format.

From 1971 to 1975 Agronsky hosted two other public affairs shows on PBS, Martin Agronsky's Evening Edition and Agronsky at Large.

[edit] Awards

Agronsky received the George Foster Peabody Award in 1952 for his coverage of the McCarthy hearings for NBC. In 1961 he received the Alfred I. DuPont Award for his reporting on the trial Eichmann, also while at NBC. He received the Emmy Award in 1968 for his work as moderator on Face the Nation on CBS.

[edit] Personal life

Agronsky married Helen Smathers, a United States Army nurse, in 1943, and had four children with her; in 1969 the marriage ended, with sources varying as to whether this was due to a divorce or Helen's death.^[3] A marriage to Sharon Agronsky also ended in divorce.

[edit] Death

Martin Agronsky died July 25, 1999, in Washington, D.C., of congestive heart failure at age 84.

[edit] Biographical chronology

Date	Event
1915, Jan. 12	Born, Philadelphia, Pa.
1936	B.A., Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
1936-1937	Reporter, Palestine Post
1937-1940	Freelance newspaper reporter
1940-1943	Foreign correspondent, National Broadcasting Co.
1943	Married Helen Smathers (died 1969)
1943-1957	Correspondent, American Broadcasting Co., Washington, D.C.
1952	Awarded George Foster Peabody Award
1957-1964	Correspondent, National Broadcasting Co.
1961	Awarded Alfred I. DuPont Award
1964-1968	Bureau chief, Paris, France, and moderator of Face the Nation, Columbia Broadcasting System
1968	Received Emmy Award
1969	News anchor, WTOP-TV, Washington, D.C.
1969-1988	Host, Agronsky and Company, WETA-TV, Washington, D.C.
1971-1975	Host, Martin Agronsky's Evening Edition and Agronsky at Large, Public Broadcasting System
1999, July 25	Died, Washington, D.C.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

Preceded by Paul Niven

Face the Nation Moderator July 11, 1965 – May 26, 1968

Succeeded by George Herman

• Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
• One of the Originals
• Internet Movie Database Agronsky & Co.
• NNDB Martin Agronsky