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{{short description|American attorney (1926–2023)}}
'''Newton Norman Minow''' (born ], ]) is an ] ] and former ] official best known for his ], given to the ] convention on ], ]. The speech was extremely critical of television broadcasters for not doing more, in Minow's view, to serve the public interest. At the time Minow was chairman of the ], after his appointment by ]. Minow has also been active in ] politics and is an influential attorney in private practice concerning ] law.
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Newton N. Minow
| office = ]
| image = Newton Minow 2006.jpg
| caption = Minow in 2006
| predecessor = ]
| president = ]
| successor = ]
| termend = June 1, 1963
| termstart = March 2, 1961
| party = ]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|1|17}}
| birth_place = ], Wisconsin, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|5|6|1926|1|17}}
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| spouse = {{marriage|Josephine Baskin|1949|2022|end=her death}}
| children = 3, including ] and ]
| alma_mater = ] (], ])
}}


'''Newton Norman Minow''' (January 17, 1926 – May 6, 2023) was an American attorney who served as chairman of the ].<ref name = McFadden/> He is famous for his 1961 speech referring to television as a "]". While still maintaining a law practice, Minow served as the Honorary Consul General of Singapore in Chicago, beginning in 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://notesapp.internet.gov.sg/mfa/dipCon/dipcon.nsf/SMDetailsAgent?OpenAgent&id=28|title=Singapore Missions Worldwide|date=March 1, 2006|publisher=Republic of Singapore|access-date=May 26, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003321/http://notesapp.internet.gov.sg/mfa/dipCon/dipcon.nsf/SMDetailsAgent?OpenAgent&id=28|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref>
==Life and career==
Minow served in ] as a ] sergeant in the ]-] theater. After graduating from ] Law School, Minow became a law clerk to Chief Justice ] of the ] and then assistant counsel to ] ] before his 1961 appointment to the FCC.


Minow was active in ] politics. He was an attorney in private practice concerning telecommunications law and was active in many nonprofit, civic, and educational institutions. He was awarded the ] in 2016 by ], whom he had known since the start of Obama's legal career.
He has also been chairman of the ] and its predecessor, ]. He is a recent past-president of the ], an influential PBS sponsor, along with the ]. He has been chairman of the ] corporation and a trustee of the ]. He is a life trustee of Northwestern University and the ]. He co-chaired the 1976 and 1980 ] and is a director of the ]. He has served on numerous ] commissions and is chairman of a special advisory committee to the ] on protecting civil liberties in the fight against ].


==Background and early law career==
He is the ] professor emeritus at ], as well as the author of four books and numerous professional journal and magazine articles, and the recipient of 12 ]s. His wife, ], serves on the boards of many community organizations, including the ]. He has three daughters, all lawyers: ], ] ] and ; ], ] law professor; and Mary, a ] law expert.
Born to a ] family in ], Wisconsin, in 1926, Minow served in ] from 1944 to 1946 and attained the rank of a sergeant in the ].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cablecenter.org/media-room/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=367 | title=The Cable Center – Newton Minow }}</ref> He served in the ] with the 835th Signal Service Battalion headquartered in New Delhi, India.<ref name=embassy>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.sg/washington/Feb06_Mar06.pdf|title=Newton Minow: Honorary Consul General in Chicago|publisher=Singapore Embassy|date=February–March 2006|access-date=May 27, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006165339/http://www.mfa.gov.sg/washington/Feb06_Mar06.pdf|archive-date=October 6, 2007}}</ref> After the war, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1949 from ] and a ] degree in 1950 from ].<ref name = McFadden>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/06/business/media/newton-n-minow-dead.html|title = Newton N. Minow, F.C.C. Chief Who Deemed TV a 'Vast Wasteland,' Dies at 97|newspaper = ]|date = May 6, 2023|accessdate = May 6, 2023|last = McFadden|first = Robert D.|url-access = limited |quote=Newton N. Minow, who as President John F. Kennedy’s new F.C.C. chairman in 1961 sent shock waves through an industry and touched a nerve in a nation addicted to banality and mayhem by calling American television “a vast wasteland,” died on Saturday at his home in Chicago. He was 97.}}</ref>


After graduating from law school, Minow worked for the law firm of ] (1950–1951 and 1953–1955) before becoming a law clerk to Chief Justice ] of the ] (1951–1952).<ref name = McFadden/> He later became assistant counsel to ] ] (1952–1953), worked for Stevenson's two presidential campaigns (1952 and 1956), and then was a partner in the law firm, Stevenson, Rifkind & Wirtz (1955–1961).<ref name = McFadden/> Minow campaigned for President ] prior to the ].<ref name=medill>{{cite web|url=http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/medill/inside/news/debate_expert_and_medill_board_member_newton_minow_shares_election_observations.html|title=Debate Expert and Medill Board Member Newton Minow Shares Election Observations|publisher=Northwestern University|author=Eric Martin|date=October 29, 2004|access-date=May 27, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901160429/http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/medill/inside/news/debate_expert_and_medill_board_member_newton_minow_shares_election_observations.html|archive-date=September 1, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1961 he was appointed by President Kennedy to be one of seven commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as well as its chairman.<ref name=MBC>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/minownewton/minownewton.htm|title=Minow, Newton|author=Michael Curtin|publisher=]|access-date=May 26, 2007|archive-date=April 17, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070417143329/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/minownewton/minownewton.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fcc.gov/aboutus.html|title=About the FCC|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|date=April 12, 2007|access-date=May 26, 2007}}</ref>
==Criticism and evaluation==
Minow became one of the most controversial political figures of the early 1960s because of his scathing ] of commercial television. His appointment to the FCC was itself something of a surprise, because he had little experience at the time in telecommunications. He did enjoy a close personal relationship with ], which was seen as crucial to his appointment.


==Federal Communications Commission chairman==
While some applauded his "vast wasteland" assault on commercial television as a welcome criticism of excessive ] and frivolity on the small screen, others condemned or ridiculed it as an ], ] attack on ] that many viewers enjoyed. In a telling bit of ], the ] of the 1964&ndash;1967 television show '']'' was named for him to express displeasure with his assessment of the quality of television.
] ] in 1963]]
Reportedly, ] and Minow frequently talked at length about the increasing importance of television in the lives of their children when they worked together on the presidential campaign of ].<ref name="JARVIK">Jarvik, Laurence Ariel, ''PBS, behind the screen'', Rocklin, CA : Forum, 1997. {{ISBN|0761506683}}</ref> Thereafter, it came as little surprise that after the election of ] Minow eagerly pursued the position of FCC chairman. Some observers nevertheless considered it unusual given his lack of experience with the media industry and with communication law.<ref name=MBC /> He served as chairman from March 2, 1961, through June 1, 1963.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fcc.gov/general/commissioners-1934-present|title=Commissioners from 1934 to Present|date=June 5, 2013|work=Federal Communications Commission|access-date=May 24, 2017|language=en}}</ref>


===Criticism and evaluation===
Minow did foster two significant initiatives that altered the landscape of American television. The first was the ] (1961) which mandated ] reception capability for all ]s sold in the U.S. This legislation sparked an increase in the number of ] and helped the ] network achieve completely national coverage. He also promoted what ultimately became the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (]). This organization controlled ] for many years.
{{Main|Wasteland Speech}}
Minow became one of the best-known and respected—if sometimes controversial—political figures of the early 1960s because of his criticism of commercial television. In a speech given to the ] convention on May 9, 1961, he was extremely critical of television broadcasters for not doing more, in Minow's view, to serve the public interest. His phrase "vast wasteland" is remembered years after the speech in which he said:

{{blockquote|When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there for a day without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.<ref>Newton N. Minow, "", address to the National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, D.C., May 9, 1961.</ref>}}

While some applauded his "vast wasteland" assault on commercial television as a welcome criticism of excessive violence and frivolity, others criticized it as an ], ] attack on programming that many viewers enjoyed as well as a government intrusion into private enterprise.<ref>In her essay , ] denounced him personally for having a perverted understanding of freedom of speech and censorship.</ref> The ] of the 1964–67 television show '']'' was reputedly ] named after him to express displeasure with his assessment of the quality of television.<ref name=SantaClaraLawReview>{{cite book|author=Schwartz, Sherwood|title=Inside Gilligan's Island |year=1994|pages=xv}} cited in {{cite journal|url=http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol39/iss1/4/|title=Legal Tales from Gilligan's Island|author=Jarvis, Robert M. |journal=Santa Clara Law Review|publisher=Santa Clara University Law School |year=1998|volume=39|pages=185|access-date=April 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>, recorded on September 17, 1997 in Beverly Hills, CA with Dan Pasternack (published to YouTube on November 4, 2010).</ref><ref name = "WaPo" />

In a 2011 speech at ], Minow said that he could never have anticipated the impact of television. He still felt that news is the most important public service, but that television continued to fall short in that area. "Too much deals with covering controversy, crimes, fires, and not enough with the country's great issues" he said. He also said that presidential campaigns are obsessed with the trivial. The speech came 50&nbsp;years after he referred to television as a "vast wasteland" on May&nbsp;9, 1961. The day after the 1961 speech, the '']'' headline read "F.C.C. Head Bids TV Men Reform 'Vast Wasteland'—Minow Charges Failure in Public Duty—Threatens to Use License Power".<ref>James Warren, , ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2013.</ref>

===Achievements at the Federal Communications Commission===
Minow did foster two significant initiatives that altered the landscape of American television. The first was the ] (ACRA) of 1961, which mandated ] reception capability for all ] sold in the United States. This legislation sparked an increase in the number of television stations and helped launch nonprofit educational television stations (now ]) throughout the country.<ref name = McFadden/>

Minow said that his greatest contribution was persuading ] to pass legislation clearing the way for communications satellites. Minow recounted, "When I toured the space program with Kennedy, he was surprised to see me". Minow told Kennedy that "communications satellites will be much more important than sending man into space, because they will send ideas into space. Ideas last longer than men."<ref name=medill />

During his two years in office, it was estimated that, other than the president, Minow generated more ]es of news coverage than any other federal official. He also promoted what ultimately became the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (]). This organization controlled ] for many years.<ref name = McFadden/>

Minow's papers from his tenure at the FCC are archived at the ], an organization co-sponsored by the ] and the ].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wcftr/|title=Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|access-date=June 4, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://commarts.wisc.edu/Grad/Film/General/facilities.htm|title=Department of Communication Arts|publisher=University of Wisconsin, Madison|access-date=June 4, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070117022302/http://www.commarts.wisc.edu/Grad/Film/General/facilities.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = January 17, 2007}}</ref>

'''Quote from a speech to the Association of American Law Schools:'''

<blockquote>After 35 years, I have finished a comprehensive study of European comparative law. In Germany, under the law, everything is prohibited, except that which is permitted. In France, under the law, everything is permitted, except that which is prohibited. In the Soviet Union, under the law, everything is prohibited, including that which is permitted. And in Italy, under the law, everything is permitted, especially that which is prohibited.<ref>Donald Ball and Wendell H. McCulloch Jr., International Business: Introduction and Essentials, 5th ed. (Homewood, IL: Richard Irwin, 1993), p. 368.</ref></blockquote>

==Subsequent communications work==
Minow sat on the Board of Governors of the ] and its predecessor, ] serving from 1973 to 1980 and serving as its chairman from 1978 to 1980. He served out a tenure as the president of the ], a PBS sponsor, and the original funder of '']''.<ref name = McFadden/>

Minow was the ] professor emeritus at ]. He also authored four books and numerous professional journal and magazine articles. Minow supported and wrote about the Digital Promise Project, a project to fulfill the educational potential of the internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.twf.org.au/whatsnew/Currents1.html|title=Digital Promise Project (US)|publisher=The Century Foundation|date=May 4, 2001|access-date=May 26, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://energycommerce.house.gov/reparchives/108/Hearings/03252003hearing843/Grossman1388.htm|title=H.R. 1320, the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act|publisher=House Committee on Energy and Commerce|date=March 25, 2003|access-date=May 26, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070426085037/http://energycommerce.house.gov/reparchives/108/Hearings/03252003hearing843/Grossman1388.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = April 26, 2007}}</ref>

==Sidley Austin LLP==
Minow was the senior counsel in the Chicago-headquartered law firm of ] LLP, a large international law firm with multiple areas of expertise, including telecommunications-related law. Between 1965 and 1991, he was a managing partner in the firm before becoming senior counsel in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sidley.com/lawyers/bio.asp?ID=M419079006|title=Our Professionals: Newton N. Minow|publisher=Sidley Austin LLP|access-date=May 26, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630123409/http://www.sidley.com/lawyers/bio.asp?ID=M419079006|archive-date=June 30, 2007}}</ref>

== Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Singapore ==
Minow's early contact with Singapore and Singaporean officials was through his law work at Sidley Austin, which opened a Singapore office in 1982. Even when he was FCC Chairman, he worried about the increasing export of Hollywood programming overseas and the impact it would have on perceptions of the United States among citizens in other countries.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Minow was appointed Honorary Consul General in 2001.<ref name=embassy /> The office he was associated with processes consular and visa applications.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://app.mfa.gov.sg/generator/asppages/washington/wstcon_consulates.asp|title=Consulates in the United States|publisher=Singapore Embassy|access-date=May 27, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612224608/http://app.mfa.gov.sg/generator/asppages/washington/wstcon_consulates.asp|archive-date=June 12, 2007}}</ref>

== Contemporary politics ==
Minow was a prominent supporter of ]'s candidacy for President of the United States. Minow recruited Obama in 1988 to work for his law firm Sidley Austin LLP as a summer associate, where Obama met his future wife ].<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/03/obama200803?currentPage=3 | title=Raising Obama: Politics and Power: vanityfair.com | magazine=Vanity Fair | date=March 2008 | access-date=June 13, 2008 | last=Purdum | first=Todd}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nbc5.com/politics/16364399/detail.html | title=Those Close To Obama Say He's Ready | work=NBC5.com WMAQ-TV Chicago | date=May 21, 2008 | access-date=June 13, 2008 | last=Martin | first=Carol}}</ref> Minow pursued Obama on the recommendation of his daughter Martha, who was one of Barack Obama's law professors.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/culture/434186/a-survivors-story-where-no-one-is-exactly-who-they-seem/|title=A Survivor's Story Where No One Is Exactly Who They Seem|last=Klein|first=Julia M.|date=November 5, 2019|website=The Forward|language=en-US|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref>

According to ]'s book '']'', Minow and his wife "busted" then Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama—both still associates at Sidley Austin—on their first date, greeting them "warmly" in the popcorn line at the ] cinema, before the new couple saw ]'s movie, '']''. Robinson and Obama had wanted to keep their relationship a secret from colleagues at the firm; Minow only "smiled" and "made no comment" at the fact they were together.<ref>{{Citation|last=Obama, Michelle, 1964–|title=Becoming|date=2019|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1088930870|publisher=CNIB|isbn=978-0-221-02673-7|oclc=1088930870|access-date=July 29, 2020}}</ref>

Minow supported Republican ] in the ], despite his history in Democratic politics. He said his vote was a response to the poor track record of ] governance in Illinois.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.wttw.com/2014/11/10/democrat-s-advice-bruce-rauner | title=A Democrat's Advice for Bruce Rauner }}</ref><ref>https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2N0MH16O/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>

== Awards and corporate work ==
Minow sat on the board of directors at Foote, Cone & Belding Communications Inc.; Tribune Co.; Manpower, Inc.;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/871763/0000950124-00-001342.txt|title=Manpower Inc proxy|publisher=Securities and Exchange Commission|access-date=May 27, 2007}}</ref> AON Corp.; ], and the ]. He was chairman of the Board at the ]. He was a trustee of the Chicago Orchestral Association as well as with the Mayo Foundation, which operates the ].<ref name=MBC /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mayoclinic.org/about/trustees.html|title=Mayo Foundation Board of Trustees|publisher=Mayo Clinic|access-date=May 27, 2007}}</ref> He was a life trustee of Northwestern University and the ], where he was the first Jewish member of the board, and at the time of his death he was the chairman of the Board of the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldhealthimaging.org/board.html|title=World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance Board of Directors|publisher=WHITIA|access-date=July 3, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007225543/http://www.worldhealthimaging.org/board.html|archive-date=October 7, 2011}}</ref> He co-chaired the 1976 and 1980 ] and was a vice-chairman of the ]. He served on numerous presidential commissions and was chairman of a special advisory committee to the ] on protecting ] in the fight against ]. His book on the history of the presidential debates was released in 2008.

Minow was the recipient of 12 honorary degrees. He was a recipient of the Peabody Award in 1961<ref name=MBC /> and the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service.<ref name=embassy /> He was also a member of the ]s ] from 1963 to 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peabodyawards.com/stories/story/george-foster-peabody-awards-board-members|title=George Foster Peabody Awards Board Members|access-date=June 10, 2016|archive-date=November 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101221151/http://www.peabodyawards.com/stories/story/george-foster-peabody-awards-board-members|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Minow was inducted as a laureate of ] and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the ], ] in 2014 in the area of Government & Law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/4632-2/#toggle-id-2|title=Laureates by Year – The Lincoln Academy of Illinois|website=The Lincoln Academy of Illinois|language=en-US|access-date=March 4, 2016|archive-date=September 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204516/http://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/4632-2/#toggle-id-2|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Between 2015 and 2018, Minow served as a member of the Executive Advisory Council of the ] (AAPB), after which, his daughter Mary Minow joined the council.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Executive Advisory Council|url=https://americanarchive.org/about-the-american-archive/executive-advisory-council|access-date=July 6, 2020|website=americanarchive.org}}</ref> In 2020, the AAPB launched the 'Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection' to honor Minow's role in developing noncommercial television. The collection includes interviews, panels, testimonies, events, and profiles featuring him between 1961 and 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection|url=https://americanarchive.org/special_collections/newtonminow|access-date=July 6, 2020|website=americanarchive.org}}</ref>

Minow received the ] from President Barack Obama on November 22, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/11/16/newton-minow-named-presidential-medal-freedom-recipient|title = Newton Minow Named Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Minow married Josephine Baskin in 1949.<ref>{{cite web |title=Minow, Newton Norman |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/minow-newton-norman |website=] |publisher=] |access-date=May 6, 2023}}</ref> They had three daughters, all trained as lawyers; ], ] activist and ]; ], law professor and former ]; and Mary, a library law expert appointed to the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts-42210|title=President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 4/22/10|date=April 22, 2010|access-date=June 10, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216172518/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts-42210|via=]|work=]|archive-date=February 16, 2017}}</ref> Josephine Baskin Minow died on February 17, 2022, at age 95.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Goldsborough |first1=Bob |title=Josephine Minow, civic leader who focused on social justice and history, dies at 95 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-josephine-minow-obituary-20220227-225be2h7kjatlgzxlc2qu4ybbi-story.html |website=] |date=February 27, 2022 |access-date=May 6, 2023}}</ref>

Minow was a great-uncle to Adam Frankel, a speechwriter of his former protege, Barack Obama.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4578551/newton-minow-new-frontiersman/|title=Obama Speechwriter: We Should Look to This New Frontiersman for Hope|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref> Josephine Minow's older sister, Irene, is Frankel's paternal grandmother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/holocaust-trauma-and-its-effects-generations-later|title=Holocaust Trauma and its Effects, Generations Later|date=October 18, 2019|website=Princeton Alumni Weekly|language=en|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Illinois/Josephine-Baskin_55ql4l|title=Josephine Baskin in the 1940 Census {{!}} Ancestry®|website=Ancestry.com|language=en|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/25/us/stanley-frankel-80-writer-and-corporate-officer.html|title=Stanley Frankel, 80, Writer and Corporate Officer|last=Honan|first=William H.|date=November 25, 1999|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 7, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-11-20-9911200136-story.html|title=STANLEY FRANKEL, 80, JOURNALIST|last=Writer|first=David Heinzmann, Tribune Staff|website=chicagotribune.com|date=November 20, 1999 |language=en-US|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref>

Minow died from a heart attack at home in Chicago, on May 6, 2023, at age 97.<ref name = WaPo>{{cite news |last1=Bernstein |first1=Adam |title=Newton Minow, FCC chairman who assailed 'vast wasteland' of TV, dies at 97|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/05/06/newton-minow-fcc-chairman-vast-wasteland-dies/ |newspaper=] |date = May 6, 2023|access-date=May 6, 2023|url-access = limited}}</ref>


==Books== ==Books==
*''Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment'' ISBN 0-8090-1589-7 *''Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment'' {{ISBN|0-8090-1589-7}}
*''Presidential Television'' ISBN 0-465-06274-1 *''Presidential Television'' {{ISBN|0-465-06274-1}}
*''For Great Debates: A New Plan for Future Presidential TV Debates'' ISBN 0-87078-212-6 *''For Great Debates: A New Plan for Future Presidential TV Debates'' {{ISBN|0-87078-212-6}}
*''A Digital Gift for the Nation'' (with Larry Grossman) ISBN 0-87078-466-8 *''A Digital Gift for the Nation'' (with ]) {{ISBN|0-87078-466-8}}
*''Equal Time: The Private Broadcaster and the Public Interest'' AISN B0007DZB86 *''Equal Time: The Private Broadcaster and the Public Interest'' ASIN B0007DZB86
*''Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future'' (co-authored by Craig L. LaMay) {{ISBN|0-226-53041-8}}

== See also ==
* ]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*
* in the ]
*
* from AmericanRhetoric.com
* - biography at ]
* {{cite web |url=http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/showfindingaid.cfm?findaidid=MinnowNN |title=Spoken word recordings of Newton Minow |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=vvl.lib.msu.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050427033937/http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/showfindingaid.cfm?findaidid=MinnowNN |archive-date=April 27, 2005 }}
*
* from ''Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future''
* at the ]
* {{EmmyTVLegends name|newton-n-minow|Newton N. Minow}}
* {{C-SPAN|1434}}
* ] Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, ], ].


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Latest revision as of 07:31, 30 December 2024

American attorney (1926–2023)

Newton N. Minow
Minow in 2006
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
In office
March 2, 1961 – June 1, 1963
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy
Preceded byFrederick Ford
Succeeded byE. William Henry
Personal details
Born(1926-01-17)January 17, 1926
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedMay 6, 2023(2023-05-06) (aged 97)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse Josephine Baskin ​ ​(m. 1949; died 2022)​
Children3, including Martha and Nell
Alma materNorthwestern University (BS, JD)

Newton Norman Minow (January 17, 1926 – May 6, 2023) was an American attorney who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He is famous for his 1961 speech referring to television as a "vast wasteland". While still maintaining a law practice, Minow served as the Honorary Consul General of Singapore in Chicago, beginning in 2001.

Minow was active in Democratic Party politics. He was an attorney in private practice concerning telecommunications law and was active in many nonprofit, civic, and educational institutions. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 by Barack Obama, whom he had known since the start of Obama's legal career.

Background and early law career

Born to a Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1926, Minow served in World War II from 1944 to 1946 and attained the rank of a sergeant in the U.S. Army. He served in the China Burma India Theater with the 835th Signal Service Battalion headquartered in New Delhi, India. After the war, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1949 from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctor degree in 1950 from Northwestern University School of Law.

After graduating from law school, Minow worked for the law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt (1950–1951 and 1953–1955) before becoming a law clerk to Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson of the U.S. Supreme Court (1951–1952). He later became assistant counsel to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson (1952–1953), worked for Stevenson's two presidential campaigns (1952 and 1956), and then was a partner in the law firm, Stevenson, Rifkind & Wirtz (1955–1961). Minow campaigned for President John F. Kennedy prior to the 1960 U.S. presidential election. In 1961 he was appointed by President Kennedy to be one of seven commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as well as its chairman.

Federal Communications Commission chairman

Minow and his family with President John F. Kennedy in 1963

Reportedly, Robert F. Kennedy and Minow frequently talked at length about the increasing importance of television in the lives of their children when they worked together on the presidential campaign of Adlai E. Stevenson. Thereafter, it came as little surprise that after the election of John F. Kennedy Minow eagerly pursued the position of FCC chairman. Some observers nevertheless considered it unusual given his lack of experience with the media industry and with communication law. He served as chairman from March 2, 1961, through June 1, 1963.

Criticism and evaluation

Main article: Wasteland Speech

Minow became one of the best-known and respected—if sometimes controversial—political figures of the early 1960s because of his criticism of commercial television. In a speech given to the National Association of Broadcasters convention on May 9, 1961, he was extremely critical of television broadcasters for not doing more, in Minow's view, to serve the public interest. His phrase "vast wasteland" is remembered years after the speech in which he said:

When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there for a day without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

While some applauded his "vast wasteland" assault on commercial television as a welcome criticism of excessive violence and frivolity, others criticized it as an elitist, snobbish attack on programming that many viewers enjoyed as well as a government intrusion into private enterprise. The S.S. Minnow of the 1964–67 television show Gilligan's Island was reputedly sarcastically named after him to express displeasure with his assessment of the quality of television.

In a 2011 speech at Harvard, Minow said that he could never have anticipated the impact of television. He still felt that news is the most important public service, but that television continued to fall short in that area. "Too much deals with covering controversy, crimes, fires, and not enough with the country's great issues" he said. He also said that presidential campaigns are obsessed with the trivial. The speech came 50 years after he referred to television as a "vast wasteland" on May 9, 1961. The day after the 1961 speech, the New York Times headline read "F.C.C. Head Bids TV Men Reform 'Vast Wasteland'—Minow Charges Failure in Public Duty—Threatens to Use License Power".

Achievements at the Federal Communications Commission

Minow did foster two significant initiatives that altered the landscape of American television. The first was the All-Channel Receiver Act (ACRA) of 1961, which mandated UHF reception capability for all television receivers sold in the United States. This legislation sparked an increase in the number of television stations and helped launch nonprofit educational television stations (now PBS) throughout the country.

Minow said that his greatest contribution was persuading U. S. Congress to pass legislation clearing the way for communications satellites. Minow recounted, "When I toured the space program with Kennedy, he was surprised to see me". Minow told Kennedy that "communications satellites will be much more important than sending man into space, because they will send ideas into space. Ideas last longer than men."

During his two years in office, it was estimated that, other than the president, Minow generated more column inches of news coverage than any other federal official. He also promoted what ultimately became the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (Intelsat). This organization controlled satellite communications for many years.

Minow's papers from his tenure at the FCC are archived at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, an organization co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Quote from a speech to the Association of American Law Schools:

After 35 years, I have finished a comprehensive study of European comparative law. In Germany, under the law, everything is prohibited, except that which is permitted. In France, under the law, everything is permitted, except that which is prohibited. In the Soviet Union, under the law, everything is prohibited, including that which is permitted. And in Italy, under the law, everything is permitted, especially that which is prohibited.

Subsequent communications work

Minow sat on the Board of Governors of the Public Broadcasting Service and its predecessor, National Educational Television serving from 1973 to 1980 and serving as its chairman from 1978 to 1980. He served out a tenure as the president of the Carnegie Corporation, a PBS sponsor, and the original funder of Sesame Street.

Minow was the Walter Annenberg professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He also authored four books and numerous professional journal and magazine articles. Minow supported and wrote about the Digital Promise Project, a project to fulfill the educational potential of the internet.

Sidley Austin LLP

Minow was the senior counsel in the Chicago-headquartered law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, a large international law firm with multiple areas of expertise, including telecommunications-related law. Between 1965 and 1991, he was a managing partner in the firm before becoming senior counsel in 1991.

Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Singapore

Minow's early contact with Singapore and Singaporean officials was through his law work at Sidley Austin, which opened a Singapore office in 1982. Even when he was FCC Chairman, he worried about the increasing export of Hollywood programming overseas and the impact it would have on perceptions of the United States among citizens in other countries.

Minow was appointed Honorary Consul General in 2001. The office he was associated with processes consular and visa applications.

Contemporary politics

Minow was a prominent supporter of Barack Obama's candidacy for President of the United States. Minow recruited Obama in 1988 to work for his law firm Sidley Austin LLP as a summer associate, where Obama met his future wife Michelle Robinson. Minow pursued Obama on the recommendation of his daughter Martha, who was one of Barack Obama's law professors.

According to Michelle Obama's book Becoming, Minow and his wife "busted" then Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama—both still associates at Sidley Austin—on their first date, greeting them "warmly" in the popcorn line at the Water Tower Place cinema, before the new couple saw Spike Lee's movie, Do The Right Thing. Robinson and Obama had wanted to keep their relationship a secret from colleagues at the firm; Minow only "smiled" and "made no comment" at the fact they were together.

Minow supported Republican Bruce Rauner in the 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election, despite his history in Democratic politics. He said his vote was a response to the poor track record of Democratic governance in Illinois.

Awards and corporate work

Minow sat on the board of directors at Foote, Cone & Belding Communications Inc.; Tribune Co.; Manpower, Inc.; AON Corp.; CBS, and the Sara Lee Corporation. He was chairman of the Board at the RAND Corporation. He was a trustee of the Chicago Orchestral Association as well as with the Mayo Foundation, which operates the Mayo Clinic. He was a life trustee of Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame, where he was the first Jewish member of the board, and at the time of his death he was the chairman of the Board of the World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance. He co-chaired the 1976 and 1980 presidential debates and was a vice-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates. He served on numerous presidential commissions and was chairman of a special advisory committee to the Secretary of Defense on protecting civil liberties in the fight against terrorism. His book on the history of the presidential debates was released in 2008.

Minow was the recipient of 12 honorary degrees. He was a recipient of the Peabody Award in 1961 and the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service. He was also a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1963 to 1976.

Minow was inducted as a laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn in 2014 in the area of Government & Law.

Between 2015 and 2018, Minow served as a member of the Executive Advisory Council of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), after which, his daughter Mary Minow joined the council. In 2020, the AAPB launched the 'Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection' to honor Minow's role in developing noncommercial television. The collection includes interviews, panels, testimonies, events, and profiles featuring him between 1961 and 2016.

Minow received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on November 22, 2016.

Personal life

Minow married Josephine Baskin in 1949. They had three daughters, all trained as lawyers; Nell Minow, shareholder activist and movie critic; Martha L. Minow, law professor and former dean of Harvard Law School; and Mary, a library law expert appointed to the Obama administration. Josephine Baskin Minow died on February 17, 2022, at age 95.

Minow was a great-uncle to Adam Frankel, a speechwriter of his former protege, Barack Obama. Josephine Minow's older sister, Irene, is Frankel's paternal grandmother.

Minow died from a heart attack at home in Chicago, on May 6, 2023, at age 97.

Books

  • Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment ISBN 0-8090-1589-7
  • Presidential Television ISBN 0-465-06274-1
  • For Great Debates: A New Plan for Future Presidential TV Debates ISBN 0-87078-212-6
  • A Digital Gift for the Nation (with Larry Grossman) ISBN 0-87078-466-8
  • Equal Time: The Private Broadcaster and the Public Interest ASIN B0007DZB86
  • Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future (co-authored by Craig L. LaMay) ISBN 0-226-53041-8

See also

References

  1. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (May 6, 2023). "Newton N. Minow, F.C.C. Chief Who Deemed TV a 'Vast Wasteland,' Dies at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2023. Newton N. Minow, who as President John F. Kennedy's new F.C.C. chairman in 1961 sent shock waves through an industry and touched a nerve in a nation addicted to banality and mayhem by calling American television "a vast wasteland," died on Saturday at his home in Chicago. He was 97.
  2. "Singapore Missions Worldwide". Republic of Singapore. March 1, 2006. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
  3. "The Cable Center – Newton Minow".
  4. ^ "Newton Minow: Honorary Consul General in Chicago" (PDF). Singapore Embassy. February–March 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
  5. ^ Eric Martin (October 29, 2004). "Debate Expert and Medill Board Member Newton Minow Shares Election Observations". Northwestern University. Archived from the original on September 1, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
  6. ^ Michael Curtin. "Minow, Newton". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on April 17, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
  7. "About the FCC". Federal Communications Commission. April 12, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
  8. Jarvik, Laurence Ariel, PBS, behind the screen, Rocklin, CA : Forum, 1997. ISBN 0761506683
  9. "Commissioners from 1934 to Present". Federal Communications Commission. June 5, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  10. Newton N. Minow, "Television and the Public Interest", address to the National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, D.C., May 9, 1961.
  11. In her essay "Man's Rights" (1963), Ayn Rand denounced him personally for having a perverted understanding of freedom of speech and censorship.
  12. Schwartz, Sherwood (1994). Inside Gilligan's Island. pp. xv. cited in Jarvis, Robert M. (1998). "Legal Tales from Gilligan's Island". Santa Clara Law Review. 39. Santa Clara University Law School: 185. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  13. "Gilligan's Island" creator Sherwood Schwartz discusses the show's pilot – EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG, recorded on September 17, 1997 in Beverly Hills, CA with Dan Pasternack (published to YouTube on November 4, 2010).
  14. ^ Bernstein, Adam (May 6, 2023). "Newton Minow, FCC chairman who assailed 'vast wasteland' of TV, dies at 97". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  15. James Warren, "Never Mind the 'Vast Wasteland.' Minow Has More to Say", The New York Times, May 7, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  16. "Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
  17. "Department of Communication Arts". University of Wisconsin, Madison. Archived from the original on January 17, 2007. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
  18. Donald Ball and Wendell H. McCulloch Jr., International Business: Introduction and Essentials, 5th ed. (Homewood, IL: Richard Irwin, 1993), p. 368.
  19. "Digital Promise Project (US)". The Century Foundation. May 4, 2001. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
  20. "H.R. 1320, the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act". House Committee on Energy and Commerce. March 25, 2003. Archived from the original on April 26, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
  21. "Our Professionals: Newton N. Minow". Sidley Austin LLP. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2007.
  22. "Consulates in the United States". Singapore Embassy. Archived from the original on June 12, 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
  23. Purdum, Todd (March 2008). "Raising Obama: Politics and Power: vanityfair.com". Vanity Fair. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  24. Martin, Carol (May 21, 2008). "Those Close To Obama Say He's Ready". NBC5.com WMAQ-TV Chicago. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  25. ^ Klein, Julia M. (November 5, 2019). "A Survivor's Story Where No One Is Exactly Who They Seem". The Forward. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  26. Obama, Michelle, 1964– (2019), Becoming, CNIB, ISBN 978-0-221-02673-7, OCLC 1088930870, retrieved July 29, 2020{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. "A Democrat's Advice for Bruce Rauner".
  28. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2N0MH16O/
  29. "Manpower Inc proxy". Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
  30. "Mayo Foundation Board of Trustees". Mayo Clinic. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
  31. "World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance Board of Directors". WHITIA. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  32. "George Foster Peabody Awards Board Members". Archived from the original on November 1, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  33. "Laureates by Year – The Lincoln Academy of Illinois". The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  34. "Executive Advisory Council". americanarchive.org. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  35. "Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection". americanarchive.org. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  36. "Newton Minow Named Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient".
  37. "Minow, Newton Norman". Encyclopedia.com. Cengage. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  38. "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 4/22/10". whitehouse.gov. April 22, 2010. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2016 – via National Archives.
  39. Goldsborough, Bob (February 27, 2022). "Josephine Minow, civic leader who focused on social justice and history, dies at 95". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  40. "Obama Speechwriter: We Should Look to This New Frontiersman for Hope". Time. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  41. "Holocaust Trauma and its Effects, Generations Later". Princeton Alumni Weekly. October 18, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  42. "Josephine Baskin in the 1940 Census | Ancestry®". Ancestry.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  43. Honan, William H. (November 25, 1999). "Stanley Frankel, 80, Writer and Corporate Officer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  44. Writer, David Heinzmann, Tribune Staff (November 20, 1999). "STANLEY FRANKEL, 80, JOURNALIST". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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Preceded byFrederick W. Ford Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
March 1961 – May 15, 1963 		Succeeded byE. William Henry
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