Martha Rountree

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Martha Rountree (1911 - 1999) was a pioneer broadcast journalist. She was the first moderator and co-creator of Meet the Press on NBC. She was the only female moderator in the 60-year history of the show.

She was born in 1911 in Gainesville, Florida. At sixteen, her father passed away and in order to pay her way through the University of South Carolina, she worked for the Columbia Record. 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.

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[edit] Early years in New York

She left Tampa in 1938, moving to New York City and working as a freelance writer. In 1944 she and her sister founded a production company, Radio House. One of their ideas was produced by Mutual Broadcasting System in 1945, 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 Spivak purchased the American Mercury she sent in an unsolicited article which was published. From 1947 to 1954 she worked as a roving editor for the paper. Because of her experience in radio, Spivak asked for her critique of a radio show he used to promote the Mercury. [2]

[edit] Launching of Meet the Press

Based on her strong criticism, Rountree and Spivak created a new radio show, Meet the Press in 1945.[3] She served as moderator on the televised incarnation of the show on National Broadcasting Company from 1947 to 1953. [4]

[edit] After Meet the Press

In 1953 she sold her share of Meet the Press and The Big Issue to co-creator Lawrence Spivak for $125,000 reportedly after a coin-toss. She left Meet the Press, and in 1965 founded Leadership Foundation, a conservative,non-profit, public affairs organization in Washington, D.C. She was a member of the National Press Club and the Women's National Press Club.

Her first marriage was to Albert M. Williams, Jr in 1941. The marriage lasted 7 years and ended in divorce in 1948. In 1952, she married Oliver M. Presbrey, an advertising agency executive.

She covered national conventions in the fifties and sixties, appeared as a guest on the Phil Donahue 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.

She died in Washington, D.C. August 23, 1999 of complications of Alzheimer's disease.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0780790.html
  2. ^ "60 Years Ago in News History: America Meets the Press" http://www.newseum.org/news/index.aspx?item=news_index&style=f
  3. ^ Nimmo, Dan D. & Susan Newsome. 1997. Political Commentators in the United States in the 20th Century, Greenwood Press
  4. ^ Martha Rountree, 87, a Creator of 'Meet the Press' - New York Times

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links


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