07 May 2009

Fabulous Eyewear of Watergate | Journalists and Typewriters, 1973

CBS News correspondent Daniel Schorr working at press table (pipe in mouth) during Watergate hearings. Veteran reporter Daniel Schorr, the last of Edward R. Murrow's legendary CBS team still fully active in journalism, currently interprets national and international events as senior news analyst for NPR.

WASHINGTON STAR reporter Mary McGrory (L) working with CBS News Correspondent Lesley Stahl (R) & unidentified others during Watergate hearings. She was hired in 1947 by The Washington Star and began her career as a journalist, a path she was inspired to take by reading Jane Arden comic strips. She rose to prominence as their reporter covering the McCarthy hearings in 1954.

McGrory won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1975, for her articles about the Watergate scandal. She was a fierce opponent of the Vietnam War and was on Richard Nixon's enemies list for writing "daily hate Nixon articles." Note the man seated at her press table may be wearing first generation Transition lenses.

WASHINGTON STAR reporter Mary McGrory (R) consulting notes as unidentified man works nearby during Watergare hearings. She died in Washington, D.C. at the age of 85.

Nearly deserted press room with table lined with typewriters at the end of the day. For much of the 20th century, typewriters were indispensable tools for many professional writers and in business offices. Mechanical desktop typewriters were long time standards of government agencies, newsrooms, and sales offices.