Ed Bradley, American journalist (b. 1941)
Edward Rudolph "Ed" Bradley, Jr. (June 22, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American journalist, well known for his quarter-century career reporting for 60 Minutes with CBS News. Bradley was recognized for his work in the field of investigative journalism with 20 Emmy Awards, the Radio Television Digital News Association Paul White Award, the National Association of Black Journalists Lifetime Achievement Award, and multiple Peabody Awards. Prior to his time with 60 Minutes, he reported on the fall of Saigon, Vietnam, and subsequently became the first African American TV reporter assigned as a member of the White House press corps. He served as news anchor of the broadcast that carried his name, CBS Sunday Night News with Ed Bradley.
Bradley's parents divorced when he was young, and his mother took on two jobs to support him. He attended Holy Providence School in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania, followed by Mount Saint Charles Academy in Rhode Island, before graduating from Saint Thomas More Catholic Boys High School in West Philadelphia in 1959. Bradley obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in education from Cheyney University in 1964. While there, he was inspired by a talk from Philadelphia broadcaster Georgie Woods to work in radio. He worked as a mathematics teacher in Philadelphia, and simultaneously took a job with WDAS-AM-FM. Bradley covered the Philadelphia race riots and was motivated to pursue investigative journalism as a career.
He moved to New York City and was hired by WCBS radio as a full-time reporter in 1967. He moved to France in 1971, and reported for CBS on the Paris Peace Talks before covering the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War. He was injured by mortar fire in Cambodia and earned the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award and a George Polk Award. CBS promoted Bradley to cover the Jimmy Carter 1976 presidential campaign in 1974, and he subsequently became the first African American White House correspondent. His 1979 reporting on Vietnamese refugees, "The Boat People", earned him numerous awards and led to his role at 60 Minutes in 1981.
Bradley was most proud of his 60 Minutes interview with singer Lena Horne. His career as a 60 Minutes correspondent led to a breadth and depth of over 500 stories, from interviews with performers including Laurence Olivier, Bob Dylan, and Michael Jackson, to investigative journalism pieces into the Catholic Church sexual abuse cases and the murder of Emmett Till. Bradley suffered from lymphocytic leukemia, and friends and colleagues tried to convince him to slow down his journalism work to no avail. He was working on an interview of the defendants in the Duke lacrosse case in the weeks before his death, and was wheeled from the hospital to the recording booth for his voice-over work on the piece. After his death, Bradley was recognized by the city of Philadelphia with "Ed Bradley Way", a mural in his honor in West Philadelphia, and a historical marker at Fairmount Park.