Winston Burdett

Winston Burdett (December 12, 1913 – May 19, 1993) was an American broadcast journalist and correspondent for the CBS Radio Network during World War II and later for CBS television news. During the war he became a member of Edward R. Murrow's team of war correspondents known as the Murrow Boys. From 1937 to 1942 Burdett was involved with the Communist Party. He testified before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in 1955, detailing his espionage work for the Soviet Union in Europe and naming dozens of other party members.

Early life Winston Burdett was born December 12, 1913, in Buffalo, New York, where his father was a civil engineer. Burdett attended Harvard University graduating summa cum laude in three years,

Career and spy work

Early career and spying Burdett stayed at his first job, at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, for five years. He was approached about spying by Nathan Einhorn. Einhorn, a reporter and executive secretary of the New York ANG local, wanted Burdett to meet with Joseph North, the editor of New Masses, the Communist Party USAs journal. At the meeting North suggested a spy mission and introduced him to an unnamed man. Burdett first traveled to Stockholm and met another contact, "Mr. Miller". He was hired by CBS in 1940 while still a member of the Communist Party, As a Murrow cohort he helped pioneer the field of broadcast journalism through radio reports that he and the other "Boys" filed.

For CBS Burdett covered the invasion of Norway, the Axis retreat in North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, the fight for Italy, and the Allied capture of Rome. During the war, the Nazis kicked Burdett out of two countries, Norway and Yugoslavia. They vanished for four weeks, no one in the New York City office knew their whereabouts other than they went into Yemen.

Burdett retired from CBS in 1978 after 22 years in the Rome bureau. After his retirement, during the May 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, veteran CBS News correspondent Richard C. Hottelet in New York anchored a news bulletin on CBS Radio, and spoke by telephone with Winston Burdett in Rome.

Senate testimony

Testimony In the early 1950s he told the story of his wife's death, which he speculated was due to his refusal to spy for the Soviet Union any longer, to New York Municipal Judge Robert Morris. He also recalled his spy work for the Soviet Union in detail. Of those subpoenas 26 went to present or past New York Times employees. He became an expert in Vatican affairs and lectured students visiting Rome from the rooftop of the CBS building. Burdett also worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as an informant. The FBI still has 900 pages of classified documents regarding Winston Burdett.

July 1955 witnesses This is a list of people named in Burdett's June 1955 testimony who subsequently testified in July before the subcommittee.

Awards 1959 Overseas Press Club Award: For his 1958 coverage of the death of Pope Pius XII and the subsequent election of Pope John XXIII. 1966 Sigma Delta Chi Award: For distinguished service in journalism.