Martha Rountree

Martha Rountree (October 23, 1911 – August 23, 1999) was a pioneering broadcast journalist and an energetic entrepreneur. She was the creator and first moderator of a public-affairs program, first on radio as The American Mercury from October 5, 1945, and as Meet the Press on the NBC television network from November 6, 1947. She has been the only female moderator in the over-six-decade history of the show.

Early years in New York

Born in Gainesville, Florida, she was reared in Columbia, S.C. At 16, her father died and, in order to pay her way through the University of South Carolina, she worked for the Columbia Record newspaper. Unable to finish university for financial reasons and interested in journalism, she took a job as a reporter with the The Tampa Tribune in Tampa, Florida.

In 1938, she moved to New York City from Tampa and worked as a freelance writer. In 1944, she and her sister Ann founded a production company, Radio House, which prepared singing commercials and transcribed programs. One of their ideas was produced by the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1945; it was Leave It to the Girls, which had a panel of one man asking women celebrities questions that had been sent in by viewers. ^[1] In 1946, two years after Lawrence E. Spivak purchased the magazine The American Mercury, she sent in an unsolicited article which was published. From 1947 to 1954, she worked as a roving editor for the periodical. Because of her experience in radio, Spivak asked for her critique of a radio show he used to promote the The American Mercury. ^[2]

Launching of Meet the Press

Based on her strong criticism of Spivak's self-promoting program, Rountree created a new radio show, which she called The American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press, debuting on October 5, 1945. On November 6, 1947, while still on Mutual radio, it was subsequently reincarnated on the NBC television network and renamed Meet the Press. Contrary to the claims of others concerning the program's creator, Rountree developed the idea on her own, and Spivak joined as co-producer and business partner in the enterprise after the show had already debuted. ^[3]

The program's innovative idea was to have public figures respond to probing questions without prior preparation and for those being interviewed to be held accountable on issues of the day.

After Meet the Press

While still moderating Meet the Press, Rountree also hosted Keep Posted, a discussion program for the DuMont network (renamed The Big Issue after The Saturday Evening Post withdrew its sponsorship) from 1951 through 1954.^[4] In 1953, she sold her shares of Meet the Press and The Big Issue to Spivak for $125,000, reportedly after a coin-toss, and left her job at Meet the Press. She returned to television in the summer of 1956 as the moderator of Press Conference (later retitled Martha Rountree’s Press Conference), which was similar in format to Meet the Press. In the 60s, she served as Washington correspondent for New York's WOR radio and other stations.

In 1965, Rountree founded the Leadership Foundation, a conservative, non-profit, public-affairs organization in Washington, D.C. She was a member of the National Press Club (founded 1908) and the Women's National Press Club (founded 1919).

Her first marriage was to Albert N. Williams, Jr. in 1941. The marriage lasted seven years and ended in divorce in 1948. In 1952, she married Oliver M. Presbrey, an advertising-agency executive.

She covered national conventions in the 1950s and 1960s, appeared as a guest on the Phil Donahue television talk show, led a national campaign in support of school prayer and testified before the 1988 Republican National Convention's Platform Committee. A popular Washington hostess, she included many cabinet members, members of Congress and their wives among her friends.

Rountree died in Washington, D.C. from complications of Alzheimer's disease; she was 87.

Assessments

"I think of Martha as one of the most creative women I’ve ever known,” opined Liz Carpenter, the former White House staff director and press secretary of Lady Bird Johnson. “She won a wide audience by initiating a thoughtful debate of issues on the air before it became commonplace.” ^[5]

Mrs. William Randolph Hearst described Rountree as “a diesel engine under a lace handkerchief.” ^[5]

Notes

References

• Ware, Susan & Stacey Lorraine Braukman. 2004. Notable American Women:A Biographical Dictionary Completing the 20th Century, Harvard University Press.

External links

• Meet the Press - About
• The Nation - "Meet The Press and Leave it to the Girls"
• Paley Center for Media She Made It - Martha Rountree
• Files, John. The New York Times obituary August 25, 1999
• 1951 Time magazine review of Meet the Press
• IMDb biography