BRINKLEY, David (McClure) 1920-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 20, 1920, in Wilmington, NC; died of complications from a fall June 11, 2003, in Houston, TX. Journalist, news anchor, and author. Brinkley was a well-known and highly respected television news broadcaster who appeared on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and American Broadcasting Company (ABC) programs for over forty years and gained fame for his commentaries. Coming from a troubled home that included a disapproving mother and a father who died when he was only eight, Brinkley received little encouragement for his talents until high school, when a librarian named Emma Woodward worked with him on his reading and writing after school. His first job in journalism came while he was still in high school; he was hired to work for the Star-News in Wilmington, North Carolina, for which he broadcast daily five-minute radio reports. Despite help from librarian Woodward, Brinkley did not complete high school; instead he worked at an A & P grocery store for a time, which experience prompted his decision to enroll at the University of North Carolina in 1940. Instead of attending the university, however, he enlisted in the National Guard and became a clerk. A physical a year later got Brinkley discharged from his unit, however, because a doctor misdiagnosed him as having kidney disease. This turned out to be fortunate for Brinkley because nearly his entire unit would be killed by friendly fire on D-Day. Brinkley began his journalism career at United Press Associates as a reporter and later as a bureau manager. In 1943 he was hired by NBC as a news writer and broadcaster, becoming Washington correspondent in 1951. Five years later, at the Democratic National Convention, Brinkley was teamed up with Chet Huntley, and the pair found they had a great deal of on-air chemistry. Huntley and Brinkley became popular hosts of NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Report during the 1950s and 1960s. When Huntley retired in 1970, ratings declined for Brinkley as a solo act, and he decided to move to ABC in 1981. There he got a new show, This Week with David Brinkley, which became well known for its lively interviews. He was also the anchor for ABC This Week until his 1997 retirement. The recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992, three Peabody awards, and ten Emmy Awards, Brinkley authored three books: Washington Goes to War (1988), the autobiography David Brinkley: Eleven Presidents, Four Wars, Twenty-two Political Conventions, One Moon Landing, Three Assassinations, 2,000 Weeks of News and Other Stuff on Television, and Eighteen Years of Growing up in North Carolina (1995), and Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion (1996).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Nimmo, Dan, and Chevelle Newsome, Political Commentators in the United States in the Twentieth Century, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1997.

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2003, pp. A1, A34-35.

Times (London, England), June 16, 2003.