Ed Bradley

Bradley began his career as a math teacher in Philadelphia in 1964. While working as a teacher, he also worked at WDAS as disc jockey.[8][6] While working for WDAS, Bradley covered the 1964 Philadelphia race riot and interviewed Martin Luther King Jr. Those experiences led him to pursue a career as a journalist, with Bradley later saying, "I knew that God put me on this earth to be on the radio."[6][9][10] Bradley moved to New York City in 1967 to further his career as a reporter, working for WCBS. While at WCBS, Bradley found he was primarily assigned stories most relevant to African American listeners. After confronting his editor about those assignments, Bradley received assignments on a broader array of topics. Bradley left WCBS in 1971.[11]

Bradley moved to Paris, France in 1971. He was fluent in French, and while there was hired by CBS News as a stringer.[2] He transferred to Saigon in 1972 to report on the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War, as well as reporting on the Paris Peace Accords.[12][13] While reporting in Cambodia, Bradley was wounded by a mortar round. After recovering, he returned to Asia to continue reporting on both wars. Bradley was one of the last American journalists to be evacuated in 1975 during the Fall of Saigon.[14][3] He was awarded Alfred I. duPont and George Polk awards for his coverage in Vietnam and Cambodia.[6]

U.S. President Jimmy Carter is pictured with Bradley in 1978.

In 1976, Bradley was assigned to cover Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, as well the Republican and Democratic national conventions, covering the latter events until 1996.[15] Following Carter's victory, Bradley became the network's first African American White House correspondent, a position he held from 1976–1978.[16] Bradley disliked the position at the White House and being tied to the movements of the president.[3] Also in 1976, Bradley began anchoring the Sunday night broadcasts of the CBS Evening News, holding that position until 1981.[17] In 1978, he became one of the principal correspondents for the documentary program CBS Reports, reporting for the program until 1981.[18]

Bradley won the first of 20 News and Documentary Emmy Awards in his career for his 1979 documentary "The Boat People", reporting on Vietnamese refugees escaping the country via boat or ship, at one point wading into the water to assist in the rescue of the refugees.[1] "The Boat People" also earned Bradley an Edward Murrow Award, a duPont citation, and a commendation from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The same year, another Bradley documentary, "Blacks in America: With All Deliberate Speed?", aired. The documentary detailed segregation in the United States and how the treatment of African Americans in the U.S. had changed since Brown v. Board of Education. The 2-hour program also won duPont and Emmy awards.[6]

Bradley with Boston mayor Raymond Flynn in 1985

Following Dan Rather's move to the CBS Evening News, Bradley joined the news magazine program 60 Minutes. According to producer Don Hewitt, Bradley's "calm, cool, and collected" reporting style was the right fit for the program.[1] In his first decade on 60 Minutes, Bradley reported numerous high-profile stories in the 1980s on a variety of topics, including with Lena Horne, convicted criminal Jack Henry Abbott, and on schizophrenia. He won Emmys for all three stories.[15]

In 1986, Bradley interviewed singer Liza Minnelli and expressed interest in wearing an earring. Minnelli gave him a diamond stud after the interview, which Bradley began wearing on air. He was the first male reporter to consistently wear an earring on air, "challenging the notions of journalistic propriety," according to Robb Report writer Kristopher Fraser.[19][20] Bradley repeatedly turned down offers to anchor the CBS Evening News in the late 1980s, preferring instead to continue working on 60 Minutes.[21]

Bradley's reporting in the 1990s included such topics as Chinese forced labor camps, Russian military installations, and the effects of nuclear weapons testing near Semey, Kazakhstan. He also profiled numerous people, including Thomas Quasthoff, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson.[22][9] He won a series of awards for his reporting that decade, including Emmys, duPont citations, and a Peabody Award.[15] Bradley also anchored CBS's Street Stories from 1992–1993.[21] In 1995, he was awarded the grand prize Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the CBS Reports documentary "In the Killing Fields of America".[18]

Throughout the 2000s until his death in 2006, Bradley continued to cover a variety of topics, including the AIDS epidemic in Africa, sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, and the 1955 murder of Emmett Till.[1][7] He also interviewed such people as Bob Dylan and Neil Armstrong, and conducted the only television interview with Timothy McVeigh.[12][23]

Bradley reported approximately 500 stories for 60 Minutes over his 25-year tenure with the program, more than any other correspondent over the same time period.[16][21] In 2005, Bradley was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of Black Journalists.[24]

More than 2,000 people attended Bradley's funeral service at Riverside Church in New York. Among the attendees were the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, musicians Jimmy Buffett and Wynton Marsalis, journalists Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton.[27] In April 2007, Bradley was honored with a jazz funeral procession at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.[13]

Morley Safer described the themes of Bradley's reporting as "justice, justice served and justice denied."[22] Bradley's reporting on the AIDS epidemic in Africa has been credited with convincing drug companies to donate and discount drugs to treat the disease. His reporting on psychiatric hospitals in the U.S. prompted federal investigations into the largest chains, and his reporting on the Duke lacrosse team has been credited with ensuring the accused had a fair trial.[28][29] Bradley was seen as an inspiration for Black Americans, with columnist Clarence Page writing: "Mr. Bradley challenged the system. He worked hard and prepared himself. He opened himself to the world and dared the world to turn him away. He wanted to be a lot, and he succeeded. Thanks to him, the rest of us know that we can too."[30]

House Resolution 1084 To Honor the Contributions and Life of Edward R. Bradley (2006)[31]

Bradley became well-known for his style on air, both for his demeanor and his fashion sense. Often described as "cool" by his colleagues, Bradley's unflappability led to his position on 60 Minutes.[1] His interview style has drawn comparisons to Columbo and been described as "disarming", "confident", and "streetwise." He was noted for his ability to get interview subjects to divulge information on camera with his body language.[28][22]

Bradley was also known for bucking fashion trends for newscasters. His iconic style included an array of patterns, a short beard, and an earring worn in his left ear. Bradley began wearing the earring during the 1980s during a time when it was uncommon for men in America to do so.[20][10] Mike Wallace said after Bradley's death that he thought Bradley's decision to wear an earring inspired others to do the same.[32]

In 1994, Bradley and the Radio Television News Directors Association Foundation started a scholarship program in his name for journalists of color. It awards $10,000 annually.[8][2] In 2007, he was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame by the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.[33]

Bradley was named one of the "100 Outstanding American Journalists in the last 100 years" in 2012 by faculty at New York University.[34] In 2015, the Pennsylvania State Legislature renamed City Avenue in Philadelphia "Ed Bradley Way."[35] A mural of Bradley was completed in the city in 2018, and a historical marker was installed in 2021.[36][37][38]