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MASTER'S THESIS M-I613 GROSSMAN, Gerald Bruce FRIEDA HENNOCK: HER VIEWS ON EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION. The American University, M.A., 1968 Mass Communication University Microfilms. Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan COPYRIGHT BY GERALD BRUCE GROSSMAN 1969 FRJEDk HEMOCKt HER VIEWS OH EDPCATI^^kL TELEVISION by Gerald Bruce Grossman Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The American Iftiiversity in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Broadcasting Signature of C Chairman Date AMERICAN UNIVERSITY : ^ />: library JUL18 1968 1968 Washington. 0 . c The American University Washington, D.C. PREFACE I should like to thank the following people who took time from their busy schedules to speak with me about Frieda Hennock: Stanley Neustadt, Louis Stephens, Sol Shleldhouse, Dr. Harold Wigren, Sol Taishoff, Frank Russell, Commissioner Robert E. Lee, William Harley, Mrs. Ruth Butcher and Harry Lando. My special thanks to William Simons, Miss Hennock's husband, for his valuable assistance and to Ted Lewis of the New York Daily News who allowed me time off from my job to complete the thesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER p a g e I. INTRODUCTION ............................ 1 II. BACKGROUND .............................. 3 The Early Years ........................ 3 Nomination to the Federal Communications C o m m i s s i o n .......................... 5 The Nomination is Confirmed............. 7 Reaction to the Appointment............. 9 III. FRIEDA HENNOCK ON THE FC C ................. 13 Her Tenure Begins ...................... 13 The Formation of I d e a s ................. 17 Plea to the Educators............... 21 Early Reactions........................ 27 Efforts Begin to Get Results ........... 33 The Freeze is L i f t e d ................... 40 Reaction to the Lift of the Freeze .... 42 The Eisenhower Years .................. 47 The Fight Gets Tougher ................ 6l UHF Television by the End of 1954 ........ 69 Her Last Few Months on theCommission . 71 Frieda Hennock— A Personal Look ......... 77 Frieda Hennock Bows O u t ................. 84 IV. THE TELEVISION INDUSTRY TODAY ............. 87 iv CHAPTER PAGE Growth of the Industry Since Miss Hennock Left the FCC . ...................... 87 The State of Educational Television Today . 89 V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ..................... 93 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... 102 LIST OP FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Frieda Hennock circa 1926 .................. vi 2. Example of Program Advertising.............. 58 3. Commissioner Hennock 1954. ................... 66 4. The Growth of Educational Television.......... 90 FIGURE 1 FRIEDA HENNOCK CIRCA 1926 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Frieda Hennock spent seven controversial years on the Federal Communications Commission, from 1948-1955. As a minority of one, she fought continuing battles with the commercial television networks. The differences were usually in relation to Miss Hennock's supreme cause on the Commission: educational television. She also argued for fair and equal competition between Ultra High Frequency (UHF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) stations in areas dominated by the VHF channels. But the networks were not her only source of discontent. Miss Hennock was frustrated by the apathy of those people whom she was trying to help: the educators. The conservative, compromising nature of her fellow commissioners drove Frieda Hennock to a number of emotional outbursts in her attempts to bring progress and attention to educational television. The purpose of this study is to present the views of Frieda Hennock on the subject of educational television. The study is also concerned with the events surrounding those views during her tenure on the Federal Communications Commission. Miss Hennock was involved in many Important Commission decisions during those seven years, covering such subjects as satellites and their boosters, subscription television, community antenna television, color television, and the sales of stations. Although it may be necessary to touch upon many of the matters listed above, my study primarily concentrates on her efforts and contributions on behalf of educational television. No one has yet made a study of Frieda Hennock’s work. This paper fills that gap. My approach is historical and descriptive. My sources include Miss Hennock*s decisions, speeches, published works, as well as interviews with those who knew and worked with her. CHAPTER II BACKGROUND Frieda Hennock had great ambition and drive as a youth. The daughter of a Polish immigrant. Miss Hennock worked hard to help support her large family, A precocious child, many of her accomplishments came at an early age. Her successes were remarkable. She took great pleasure in outdoing her male counterparts when she began practicing law. I. THE EARLY YEARS Frieda Barkin Hennock was b o m in Kovel, Poland, September 27, 1904 to Boris and Sarah Hennock. The youngest of eight children, she came to the United States with her family in 1910. Her father entered real estate and banking in New York City. Frieda attended public schools in Brooklyn, finishing her public education at Morris High School. Frieda had studied music from the age of five and then gave piano lessons to earn extra money for her large family. The Hennocks had hoped Frieda would become a pro­ fessional musician, but she wanted to study law. Despite her father's disapproval, she entered Brooklyn Law School in 1916. The tuition was paid through a part-time Job with the law firm of Thomas and Friedman. Frieda Hennock became the youngest person in the history of New York to receive a law degree; she was nineteen and the year was 1924. Miss Hennock had to wait until she was twenty-one before she could take the New York City Bar Examination. New York City's youngest woman lawyer started her own practice in 1926. She began with fifty—six dollars capital. She had earned $3000 by the end of her first week. Miss Hennock quickly established a reputation as an accomplished criminal lawyer. "I'm very glad I was a criminal lawyer when I was very young," she was later to say. "Knowing these people gave me an adult sense of values. The law never made me callous. From 1927 to 1934, she was a member of the law firm of Silver and Hennock. The emotional drain of criminal law then threatened her health and she changed her practice. ^"Frieda Hennock." Current Biography. XI (November, 1948), 1 . Working independently for the next seven years. Miss Hennock also taught at Brooklyn Law School in 1937 on the subject of developments in law and economics. During the period from 1935 to 1939, she worked on a study of low-cost housing for the New York State Mortgage Commission. As one of her many precedents, she broke all tradition in 1941 by becoming the first woman lawyer, and Democrat, to Join the law firm of Choate, Mitchell and Ely, a staunch Republican legal firm established in 1807. II. NOMINATION TO THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION As Just one of the many criticisms the Republicans » leveled at President Truman during the late 1940*s, the GOP attacked the administration for the scarcity of women in high political office. Only four women at this time were holding Federal policy status. Early in his first adminis­ tration, Truman had considered appointing a woman to the 2 Federal Communications Commission. She was Marion E. ^The Federal Communications Commission was created by Congress in 1934 to regulate interstate commerce and foreign communications. The Commission grants licenses, allocates frequencies and has technical supervision over radio and television stations as part of its many duties. When new developments appear in communications, the FCC Martin, ex-asslstant Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Although women’s clubs besieged Truman to appoint Miss Martin, the position was given instead to E, M. Webster. Women were thought to make up the majority of the daytime radio audience; their civic groups contended that women should therefore have a voice on the FCC. Frieda Hennock was active in New York State and City politics. A leader in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, she campaigned vigorously for Franklin D, Roosevelt and New York Mayor William 0*Dwyer. As one of the most politically active and intelligent women in the country. Miss Hennock became a prime candidate to succeed Clifford J. Durr, an Alabama Democrat, on the Federal Communications Commission. Durr, a Roosevelt appointee, had notified President Truman that he did not wish reappointment to the Commission. An outspoken critic of the Truman Administration, Durr vehemently objected to the loyalty check made against federal employees. Mrs. Durr took an active part in Henry Wallace’s campaign for President in 1948.^ promotes their application according to possible effects on life, property and the general welfare, generally referred to as the public interest, convenience and necessity. Broadcasting-Telecasting. I (May 31, 1948), p. 40. President Truman knew Frieda Hennock, She had been a member of an executive committee requested by the President in the 1940's to plan a ten-year public health program. As Durr's term on the FCC neared its end. Miss Hennock began to receive strong backing for the appointment by influential New Yorkers: Paul Fitzpatrick, New York State Democratic Chairman, Edward J. Flynn, Bronx Democratic leader, and Mrs. India Edwards, Director of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee.^ Finally, President Truman ended speculation by nominating Frieda Hennock to the FCC, May 24, 1948, to succeed Durr, whose term expired on June 30 of that year. III. THE NOMINATION IS CONFIRMED Republicans, espousing the usual discontent of the opposing political party, were unhappy about seeing a seven- year term on a regulatory agency spread out for a Democrat, especially in an election year when their own candidate, Thomas Dewey, Governor of New York, was a heavy favorite to be elected President. Southern Democrats felt slighted In ^Ibld. 8 having a northerner appointed to an important Federal post in place of a southerner.

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