View source for Don Hewitt

{{Short description|American television news producer (1922–2009)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Don Hewitt
| image              = Don Hewitt.jpg
| caption            = Hewitt in 1987
| birth_name         = Donald Shepherd Hewitt
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1922|12|14}}
| birth_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2009|08|19|1922|12|14}}
| death_place        = [[Bridgehampton, New York]], United States
| known_for          = Creator of ''[[60 Minutes]]''
| alma mater         = [[New York University]] (withdrew for military service)
| employer           = [[CBS News]] (1948–2009)
| occupation         = [[Television producer]]
| years_active       = 1942–2009
| spouse             = Mary Weaver (1945–1963; divorced; 2 children)<br>[[Frankie Hewitt|Frankie Teague Childers]] (1963–1974; divorced; 2 children)<br>[[Marilyn Berger]] (1979–2009; his death)
| children = 4
| awards             = [[Edward R. Murrow Award (WSU)|Edward R. Murrow Award]], [[Emmy Award|Emmy]], [[List of Peabody Award winners (1980-1989)#1988|Peabody Award]], [[Producers Guild of America Awards 1992|Producers Guild of America Award]], [[Television Hall of Fame]]
}}

'''Donald Shepard Hewitt'''<ref name="bloomberg1"/> (December 14, 1922 – August 19, 2009) was an American [[television producer|television news producer]] and executive, best known for creating the [[CBS]] television news magazine ''[[60 Minutes]]'' in 1968, which at the time of his death was the longest-running [[prime-time]] broadcast on American television.<ref name="death">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tv-news-giant-don-hewitt-dies-at-86/|title=TV News Giant Don Hewitt Dies At 86.|author=Staff writer|date=August 19, 2009|website=[[CBS News]]|access-date=August 19, 2009}}</ref> Under Hewitt's leadership, ''60 Minutes'' was the only news program ever rated as the [[Nielsen ratings#Annual Top-Rated Shows|nation's top-ranked]] television program, an achievement it accomplished five times.<ref name="nyt2002">{{cite news| title=CBS Wants '60 Minutes' Chief To Hand Over the Stopwatch| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/business/cbs-wants-60-minutes-chief-to-hand-over-the-stopwatch.html?pagewanted=all | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=November 25, 2002| access-date=August 20, 2009 | first=Jim | last=Rutenberg}}</ref> Hewitt produced the first televised presidential debate in 1960.<ref name="NYT-1" />

==Early life==
Hewitt was born in [[New York City, New York]], the son of Frieda (née Pike) and Ely S. Hewitt (changed from Hurwitz or Horowitz).<ref name=Tablet/> His father was a [[Russian Jew|Jew]]ish immigrant from [[Russia]], and his mother's family was of [[German Jewish]] descent.<ref name="bloomberg1"/><ref name= Tablet>[http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/13956/don-hewitt-on-his-judaism ''The Tablet Magazine'': "Don Hewitt on His Judaism - The '60 Minutes' creator died today at 86. For the book 'Stars of David,' he talked about his religion." By Abigail Pogrebin] August 19, 2009</ref> Hewitt's family moved to [[Boston, Massachusetts]], shortly after his birth, where his father worked as a [[classified advertising]] manager for the ''[[Boston Herald American]]''. His family later lived in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]. He graduated from [[New Rochelle High School]], in [[New Rochelle, New York]].

==College and early career==
Hewitt attended [[New York University]] and started his [[journalism]] career in 1942 as head [[copyboy]] for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]''.<ref name="bloomberg1">{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Kathryn|title=Don Hewitt, Creator, First Producer of '60 Minutes,' Dies at 86|publisher=[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]]|date=August 19, 2009|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=apwpUP27d8fM|access-date=August 19, 2009}}</ref> He joined the [[United States Merchant Marine Academy]] in 1943 and served as a journalist for ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]]'' in [[London]].<ref>[http://evesmag.com/hewitt.htm The Don Hewitt Saga.] evesmag.com. Retrieved April 16, 2021.</ref> Hewitt later returned to sea as an [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] in the [[United States Navy Reserve|Naval Reserve]].<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-don-hewitt20-2009aug20-story.html Don Hewitt dies at 86; creator of '60 Minutes'.] ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. Published August 20, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2021.</ref> After [[World War II]] ended in 1945, Hewitt returned to his job as [[copyboy]] for the ''Tribune'', then worked for [[Associated Press|The Associated Press]] at a bureau in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. However, his wife Mary Weaver—whom he married while working in Memphis—wanted to go to New York City, so he moved back.<ref name="bloomberg1" /><ref name="NYT-1">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/business/media/20hewitt.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp|title=Don Hewitt, Creator of 60 Minutes,' Dies at 86 |date=August 19, 2009|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 19, 2009 | first=Jacques | last=Steinberg}} (Website registration required.)</ref>

Back in New York City, Hewitt started working at the [[E.W. Scripps Company]]-owned photo agency [[ACME Newspictures]], which was later merged into co-owned news service [[United Press]]<ref>[http://www.cycleback.com/photoguide/stampstags.html Photograph Identification Guide] from the website of art historian David Rudd Cycleback</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thedownholdproject.centraldesktop.com/publicdownholdproject/doc/1083944/w-NewsPicturesService|title = IMeet Central - Organize, Share, Collaborate}}</ref>

==Career at CBS News==
Hewitt soon received a lucrative offer at the CBS [[television network]], which was seeking someone who had "picture experience" to help with production of television broadcast.<ref name="NYT-1" /> He began working at its news division, [[CBS News]], in 1948 and was [[television producer|producer]]-[[television director|director]] of the network's evening-news broadcast with [[Douglas Edwards]] for fourteen years.

He was also the first director of ''[[See It Now]],'' co-produced by host [[Edward R. Murrow]] and [[Fred W. Friendly]] which started in 1951; his use of "two film projectors cutting back and forth breaks up the monotony of a [[Pundit (expert)|talking head]], improves editing, and shapes future news broadcasts."<ref name="nyt2002" /> In 1956, Hewitt was the only one to capture on film the final moments of the [[SS Andrea Doria]] as it sank and disappeared under the water.<ref name="nyt2002" /> He directed the televised production of the first [[1960 United States presidential election#Debates|1960 U.S. presidential candidate debate]] between Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] and Vice-president [[Richard M. Nixon]] on September 26, 1960, at the CBS studios in [[Chicago]]. It was the first [[United States presidential election debates|presidential candidate debate]] ever televised. He later became [[executive producer]] of the ''[[CBS Evening News]] with [[Walter Cronkite]]'', helming the broadcast of [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy's assassination]] as the story developed.<ref>''Sixty Minutes'', rebroadcast of Memorial to Don Hewitt, 24 January 2010.</ref>{{external media| float = left | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?55898-1/life-career-don-hewitt "Life and Career of Don Hewitt", April 5, 1994], [[C-SPAN]]}} He then launched the eight-time [[Emmy Award]]-winning show ''60 Minutes''. [[1977–78 United States network television schedule|Within ten years]], the show reached the top 10 in viewership, a position it maintained for 21 of the following 22 seasons, until the [[1999–2000 United States network television schedule|1999–2000 season]].<ref name="nyt2002"/>

Hewitt was a primary figure in the televising of a 1996 ''60 Minutes'' documentary on the [[tobacco industry]] scandal involving the tobacco company [[Brown & Williamson]], in which the program eventually reported the allegations of whistleblower [[Jeffrey Wigand]]. Initially wary of a lawsuit, Hewitt sided with CBS News management and killed the Wigand story by censoring the interview.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Brenner|first=Marie|title=Jeffrey Wigand: The Man Who Knew Too Much|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1996/05/wigand199605|access-date=2021-11-17|magazine=Vanity Fair|language=en}}</ref> After blowback, a more complete presentation of the story was allowed to air, but the handling of the issue remained "a dark, sorry period in the otherwise virtuous life of ''60 Minutes''."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Shales|first=Tom|date=October 15, 1999|title=The Explosive Film That Ticked Off '60 Minutes'|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-10/15/046r-101599-idx.html|url-status=live|access-date=November 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816004817/http://www.washingtonpost.com:80/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-10/15/046r-101599-idx.html |archive-date=2000-08-16 }}</ref> The overall scandal was the inspiration for the 1999 film ''[[The Insider (film)|The Insider]]''.<ref>{{cite video|title=The Insider|date=1999|medium=Motion picture|publisher=Touchstone Pictures|time=2:33:32|quote=Although based on a true story, certain elements in this motion picture have been fictionalized for dramatic effect.}}</ref> Hewitt was portrayed in the film by [[Philip Baker Hall]].

Declining ratings at ''60 Minutes''&mdash;after decades of being in the top 10, the show had dropped in rankings to number 20&mdash;contributed to what became a public debate in 2002 about whether it was time for CBS to replace Hewitt at ''60 Minutes''. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Jeff Fager]], producer of ''[[60 Minutes II]]'', was being floated as a possible replacement,<ref name="nyt2002"/> speculation that proved to be accurate. The show was still generating an estimated profit of more than $20 million a year, but the decline in viewership and profit meant the show could no longer "operate as an island unto itself, often thumbing its nose at management while demanding huge salaries and perquisites."<ref name="nyt2002"/> Within a couple of years, Hewitt stepped aside as executive producer at the age of 81, signing a ten-year contract with CBS to be an executive producer-at-large for [[CBS News]].<ref name="bloomberg1"/>

In January 2010, ''60 Minutes'' dedicated an entire show to the story and memory of Hewitt.<ref name="60 Minutes Presents: a Tribute to Don Hewitt">{{cite web |url=http://key-jed.com/60-minutes-presents-a-tribute-to-don-hewitt/ |title=Don Hewitt » morley safer, mike wallace, don hewitt biography, ed bradley, don hewitt memorial &#124; Watch TV Show Online |access-date=2010-02-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129222627/http://key-jed.com/60-minutes-presents-a-tribute-to-don-hewitt/ |archive-date=2010-01-29 }}</ref>

In 2018, an internal [[CBS]] investigation found that in the 1990s Hewitt had been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a former CBS employee over a period of years. CBS determined that the employee's allegations were credible and by 2018 had paid her over $5 million in settlements in exchange for her silence.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Abrams|first1=Rachel|last2=Koblin|first2=John|title=At '60 Minutes,' Independence Led to Trouble, Investigators Say|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/business/media/60-minutes-jeff-fager-don-hewitt.html|date=December 6, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 13, 2018}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Hewitt was married three times:
*Mary Weaver with whom he had two sons: Jeffrey and Steven.<ref name="NYT-1" />
*[[Frankie Hewitt|Frankie Teague Hewitt]] - American theater producer and founder of the [[Ford's Theatre Society]] who was responsible for restoring and reopening the historic site as a working theater. They had a daughter: Lisa Gabrielle Hewitt Cassara, former coordinating producer of the syndicated television show "[[A Current Affair (U.S. TV series)|A Current Affair]]";<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/style/weddings-lisa-g-hewitt-william-cassara.html ''New York Times'': "WEDDINGS; Lisa G. Hewitt, William Cassara"] April 18, 1993</ref> and he adopted her daughter Jilian Childers from a previous marriage.<ref name="NYT-1" />
*[[Marilyn Berger]] - American broadcast and newspaper journalist.<ref name="NYT-1" /> Through Berger, Hewitt is the great-uncle of [[Rob Fishman]].

In March 2009, Hewitt was diagnosed with [[pancreatic cancer]] from which he died on August 19, 2009, at his home in [[Bridgehampton, New York|Bridgehampton]], New York.<ref name="death"/><ref name="BauderD">{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-us-obit-hewitt,0,2176867.story|title=CBS News pioneer Don Hewitt, who invented '60s Minutes' dies at 86.|last=Bauder|first=David|date=August 19, 2009|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=August 19, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822122227/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-us-obit-hewitt,0,2176867.story|archive-date=August 22, 2009}}</ref>

==Honors==
*1987: Hewitt received the [[Paul White (journalist)|Paul White]] Award, [[Radio Television Digital News Association]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |title=Paul White Award |publisher=[[Radio Television Digital News Association]] |access-date=2014-05-27 |archive-date=2013-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225052416/http://rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*1988: In addition to several [[Peabody Award]]s given to ''60 Minutes'', Hewitt was given a personal [[Peabody Award]], for his accomplishments that have "touch[ed] the lives of just about every American."<ref>[http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/details.php?id=525 Don Hewitt Personal Award] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611122621/http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/details.php?id=525 |date=June 11, 2010 }} from the [[Peabody Award]] website</ref>
*1989: Inducted into The Television Academy Hall Of Fame
*1992: Hewitt won the [[Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Arizona State University|title=Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication|url=https://cronkite.asu.edu/about/walter-cronkite-and-asu/walter-cronkite-award|access-date=November 23, 2016}}</ref>
*1993: Hewitt and ''60 Minutes'' were elected to the [[National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame]].<ref name="nyt2002"/>
*2008: Hewitt was honored with Washington State University's [[Edward R. Murrow Award (WSU)|Edward R. Murrow Award]] for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcast Journalism.

==Bibliography==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?163061-1/tell-story ''Booknotes'' interview with Hewitt on ''Tell Me a Story'', April 1, 2001], [[C-SPAN]]}}
In 1985, [[Random House]] published ''Minute by Minute'' ({{ISBN|0394546415}}), a look at the history of ''60 Minutes''. In 2001, [[PublicAffairs]] published ''Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television'' ({{ISBN|1586480170}}), in which Hewitt chronicles his life as a newsman.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0382026}}
*{{C-SPAN|6424}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6698CLsn43E&list=PLRqOW3sjwjhOPCcMcnSE6V4fit1ZLmleA Don Hewitt] in ''Television in America: An Autobiography'', a series by [[CUNY TV]]
*{{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep334|description="The Open Mind - Tell Me A Story . . . In 60 Minutes, Part I (2001)"}}
*{{Internet Archive film clip|id=openmind_ep335|description="The Open Mind - Tell Me A Story . . . In 60 Minutes, Part II (2001)"}}

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Don Hewitt
|list =
{{International Emmy Founders Award}}
{{Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television}}
{{TCA Career Achievement Award}}
{{1989 Television Hall of Fame}}
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{{60 Minutes}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewitt, Don}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American television news producers]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from New Rochelle, New York]]
[[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:News & Documentary Emmy Award winners]]
[[Category:International Emmy Founders Award winners]]
[[Category:Peabody Award winners]]
[[Category:People from Bridgehampton, New York]]
[[Category:Television producers from New York (state)]]
[[Category:United States Merchant Mariners]]
[[Category:United States Merchant Mariners of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Navy reservists]]
[[Category:New Rochelle High School alumni]]