On Tue, May 9, 2017 at 11:38 AM, Steve Timko <[email protected]> wrote:
> Paar rather famously took down Red baiter Walter Winchell, although > reading about it now I see it had more to do with Winchell writing that > Paar:s marriage was in trouble. It was payback, not political beliefs. > What I know about Winchell I know from reading Neal Gabler's biography of him. Winchell was the first newspaper gossip columnist and he worked for the Hearst chain of newspapers. Hearst's political columnists were all strongly anti-New Deal in the early thirties and the Roosevelt White House invited Winchell to the White House to persuade him of the New Deal's value. Winchell was probably more swayed by the attention, but it worked. Winchell became a Roosevelt ally and that continued through WWII. As the Cold War developed Winchell was a staunch anti-Communist. Gabler thinks that Winchell got swept away by the idea of the US leading a crusade against fascism/nazism during the war and he wanted to continue the crusade against Communism. As Winchell seemed neither subtle nor nuanced he became a defender of HUAC and McCarthy and as their reputations diminished over the fifties so did Winchell. Winchell was infamous for using his column to settle personal grudges and perceived slights. If he took on Paar and Paar got him back by inviting him on TV and blasting him there, that was personal. By this time Winchell had already lost most of his influence. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
