The Richard Salant Legacy

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Richard Salant, a resident of New Canaan for 37 years, was born in Manhattan, and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School, where he served on the Law Review. Before joining the legal staff of CBS in 1952, Mr. Salant worked for the National Labor Relations Board, for the Solicitor General, and for the Manhattan firm of Rosenman, Goldmark, Colin & Kaye, longtime legal counsel to CBS. During World War II he served with the Navy as a Lt. Commander. He was appointed president of CBS News in 1961, a position he held until 1964 and again from 1966 to 1979. Mr. Salant is credited with expanding the role of television news and setting the industry standard for integrity. His tenure there coincided with the tumultuous years of the 1960s, the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. CBS coverage during those years was marked by responsible and fearless reporting and by respect for language - not just pictures. When he reached CBS's mandatory retirement age of 65, Mr. Salant went to NBC for two years as vice chairman and then went on to head the National News Council, an organization he had earlier helped found. Its purpose was the monitoring of media performance - both print and electronic.

Known both as a defender of the news media's First Amendment rights and a critic of what he considered the media's excesses and failings, he died in 1993 at the age of 78 while giving a talk on news coverage.

At the memorial service, his stepson Peter C. Goldmark said of Richard Salant: "He believed that the news should be free - free of restraint, not of responsibility. He fought for a news that was fair- not popular, but fair. He stood for a news that was fearless - not to be intimidated, not to be compromised, but to be respected and trusted beyond doubt. That was his passion.