David Brinkley

He was born July 10, 1920 in Wilmington, North Carolina, the son of a railroad employee. His father was a loving family man who died when he was only eight years old, scarring him emotionally and leaving him in the care of a hostile, troubled mother who met his physical needs but was incapable of giving him the emotional support he needed.

She often spurned his writing goals, once brushing aside a story he had written with a callous, “Why are you wasting your time on this foolishness?”That memory left yet another scar on young David’s heart.

Years later, he was a high school student with little direction when a kindly English teacher fanned the embers of his dreams by telling him that he should become a journalist. That remark led to seventeen year old David’s first job working for the Wilmington Star News. The quiet southerner known for his dry wit never looked back.

For almost two decades he paid his dues in print, radio and television. Then came the big break. NBC hired him and Chet Huntley to cover the 1956 political conventions. The duo’s chemistry was an instant success and they were chosen as the new co-anchors of the Nightly News.

Over the course of a sixty year career in journalism, David Brinkley won 10 Emmy’s and three George Foster Peabody Awards. In 1992, President George H. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, calling him the “the elder statesman of broadcast journalism.”

In today’s southern quote we hear evidence of the early struggle the legendary broadcaster endured to pursue his dream. The late David Brinkley once said, “A successful man is one who can build a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” – David Brinkley

~Shellie