Fulton Lewis Jr. was an American radio commentator, newspaper columnist and correspondent.
Background
Fulton Lewis Jr. was born on April 30, 1903 in Washington, D. C. , United States, the son of Fulton Lewis, Sr. , a wealthy attorney, and Elizabeth Saville. His maternal grandfather, James Hamilton Saville, had served as United States treasurer. Lewis grew up in the Georgetown section of the capital.
Education
He studied music as a youth, and graduated from Western High School in 1920. He matriculated in the 1920-1921 and 1922-1924 academic years at the University of Virginia, writing the Cavaliers' football fighting song and playing a theater organ in Charlottesville, but he did not receive a degree. In the fall of 1924, Lewis briefly attended George Washington University School of Law.
Career
After his studies Lewis joined the Washington Herald as an industrious, self-assured reporter for $18 a week and became city editor within three years. William Randolph Hearst's Universal News Service hired Lewis as assistant chief of its Washington bureau in 1928; he served as bureau chief from 1929 to 1937.
In 1930 and 1931, Lewis gathered enormous data indicating collusion between Postmaster General Walter Brown and large airlines in the awarding of government airmail contracts. Although Hearst refused to publish the story, Lewis persuaded Congress to investigate airmail contracts. Another Lewis investigation helped convict Lieutenant John Farnsworth in 1936 of selling naval secrets to the Japanese. From 1933 to 1936, Lewis wrote a syndicated column, "The Washington Sideshow, " which included gossipy information about the Washington political scene.
In October 1937, Lewis began making regular news commentaries on radio station WOL in Washington for $25 a week. His fifteen-minute program, "The Top of the News, " was broadcast five evenings a week and gradually appeared on other Mutual Broadcasting System affiliates. His program initially enjoyed a very limited audience, subscribed to no news service, and had no sponsor. By 1939 many congressmen were listening to his news commentary regularly because he had cultivated their friendship and frequently defended their activities.
In July 1939, Lewis persuaded Congress to have radio newsmen admitted to the Senate and House press galleries on the same basis as journalists. According to a 1939 survey, 39 percent of the congressmen (mostly Republicans) considered Lewis the best national news commentator. Lewis, however, had not attracted a comparable national following, as Fortune (1939) and Radio Daily (1940) polls did not mention Lewis among the nation's most popular newscasters. By 1942 his commentaries were carried by 160 Mutual affiliates. The strident tone, righteous air, and controversial positions of Lewis' commentaries enhanced his public recognition. Lewis also founded the Radio Correspondents' Association and served as its first president.
During the next two years, he also wrote a syndicated column, "Fulton Lewis, Jr. , Says, " and a weekly editorial column, "Washington Report. " Lewis edited a weekly newsletter, Exclusive; lectured widely across the nation; and conducted television commentaries, although the serious-minded Lewis, who had a drooping mouth and slicked-down hair, did not adapt well to the medium of television. Lewis continued his radio news commentary until succumbing in Washington.
Lewis' commentaries reflected his conservative Republican views, assailed New Deal programs, and defended the free-enterprise system. Lewis criticized wage and price controls, farm cooperatives and subsidies, wartime taxes, organized labor, and the American Youth Congress. Besides lauding National Association of Manufacturing policies, he praised the contributions of big business to the defense effort and launched private investigations of official bungling and boondoggling. He exposed synthetic-rubber production problems and urged termination of the wartime Office of Price Administration.
During World War II, Lewis utilized his news commentaries consistently to advance his isolationist views and criticize President Franklin D. Roosevelt's foreign policy. Lewis and news commentator Boake Carter both protested that Roosevelt had involved the United States too much in European affairs. In September 1939 the aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was then an isolationist, appeared on Lewis' radio program; this increased Lewis' following among isolationists opposing American entry into World War II. Lewis constantly downplayed the importance of German military activity in Europe and considered a strong national defense the best way to keep the United States out of war. He also claimed that the United States Army was not properly equipped, uncovering military and government bungling. His disclosures included army contracts with a German alien, Hans Rohl, for the installation of radar around Pearl Harbor and with other private builders for construction of an oil pipeline linking Canada and Alaska.
Following World War II, Lewis intensified his praise of conservative political activities and beliefs. He made sweeping generalizations attacking government centralization and President Harry Truman's Fair Deal, using salty language, slang, and clichés to describe liberal programs, politicians, and columnists. Liberal writers and commentators criticized Lewis for his divisive views and intolerant attitudes. Lewis increasingly employed sarcasm by chuckling or lingering over a syllable. Words sometimes came out so quickly that his diction was not always clear. Lewis erroneously accused the Roosevelt aides Henry A. Wallace and Harry Hopkins of having conspired in 1944 to pass uranium and atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. In the early 1950's, Lewis used his nightly program to publicize the anti-Communist activities of Senator Joseph McCarthy and let the Wisconsin Republican appear on one program to rebut the television commentator Edward R. Murrow. After the army-McCarthy hearings and the subsequent Senate censure of McCarthy, Lewis' influence and radio audience diminished to mainly devout right-wing Republicans and retired conservative businessmen.
In 1964 he vigorously backed Republican Barry Goldwater for the presidency.
Connections
On June 28, 1930, Lewis married Alice Huston; they had two children, one adopted. His son, Fulton III, took over his radio news commentary and produced several film documentaries.