Ed Bradley

Jim Vance knew him far better. They were the best of friends for the longest time; But I consider Ed Bradley a friend and mentor even though we met maybe two or three times in the thirty or so years that the two of us have been in the TV news business, much of it right here in Washington. My first image of Ed was on one of those rare assignments that took this local DC reporter inside the White House grounds. My photographer and I had just cleared security and were proceeding down the driveway to the press room when a group of white house photographers and reporters came charging out and looking for someone important. They looked like a herd of horses. In the back of the pack, seemingly, not wanting to break the crease in his slacks was Ed Bradley. Mister Cool walked slowly but with all the confidence in the world. It was as if  he expected that important person to wait until Ed Bradley got there. You couldn’t help but be impressed. I almost forgot why I began to admire Ed so much in the first place.  He was the first black TV network correspondent to cover the White House. One of the bravest reporters in Vietnam. The first and only African American to regularly report for “Sixty Minutes”. His exclusives are too many to mention but the Mohammed Ali and Timothy McVeigh stories are at the top of my list.

As one who began his first four years in the TV news business, as the only black in a Cincinnati TV station, I can only imagine the pressure Ed must have been under on that national stage.  “Don’t blow it boy” “You’ve go to be twice as good” “Make us proud”. That kind of talk always comes from one’s own people with the best of intention, but it certainly can amount to an incredible amount of weight on one’s shoulders. Ed Bradley had broad shoulders. He helped carry a lot of us younger journalists.   Thanks Ed.