Henry Loomis | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1919-04-19)April 19, 1919 Tuxedo Park, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 2, 2008(2008-11-02) (aged 89) |
| Father | Alfred Lee Loomis |
| Relatives | Alfred Loomis (brother) |
Henry Loomis (April 19, 1919 – November 2, 2008) was an American broadcasting executive and physicist. He was director ofVoice of America from 1958 to 1965, and president of theCorporation for Public Broadcasting from 1972 to 1978.
Loomis was born on April 19, 1919, inTuxedo Park, New York.[1] His father,Alfred Lee Loomis built a fortune financing public utilities and sold out just before theWall Street crash of 1929. Alfred Loomis set up a physics laboratory in an old mansion where Henry worked with his father as a teenager on brain-wave research, including participating as a volunteer in his father's experiments.[1][2] The two later took part in pioneering research on radar.[2]
Loomis attendedHarvard University and left in 1940 during his senior year to enlist in theUnited States Navy. Harvard granted him an undergraduate degree in 1946 based on his radar instruction while in the navy.[1]
In the navy, he was on the staff of theCommander in Chief Pacific Fleet Headquarters inPearl Harbor. Loomis was responsible for the creation of training materials for radar, and worked with pilots and officers on ships to help overcome their wariness of the technology and develop their skills in its use. Loomis was awarded theBronze Star Medal and left the navy with the rank oflieutenant commander.[2]
Late in the war, Loomis had a chance meeting withUnited States Secretary of WarHenry L. Stimson, a cousin of Loomis', and Lt. Gen.Leslie Groves, head of theManhattan Project. In a discussion about potential target cities in Japan for the atomic bomb being developed, Loomis dissuaded them from targetingKyoto, citing the city's art treasures he had learned about while studying Japanese history at Harvard.[1]
He attended theUniversity of California, Berkeley after the war, where he took graduate courses in physics, including work as an assistant withErnest Lawrence at the school's radiation laboratory.[1] He spent four years as assistant toJames Rhyne Killian, president of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and led the research and intelligence functions at theUnited States Information Agency. Loomis later directed the staff of Killian, who had been appointed as the President's science advisor.[3]
He served for 13 years on the board of thenot-for-profitMitre Corporation, which was affiliated with theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and worked with theCentral Intelligence Agency andUnited States Department of Defense after graduating from Berkeley.[1]
Loomis was appointed by President Eisenhower in May 1958 to head the Voice of America, succeeding Robert E. Button.[4]
As Director, Loomis had transmitters erected inLiberia and thePhilippines, and in four other countries that had not been previously reached by their signals. These new broadcasting stations were announced in 1959 as additions to the eight stations that existed at the time, as part of a 5-year, $40 million expansion of services.[5] The broadcasting power of the Voice of America was also increased.[2]
Under Loomis' guidance, the first Charter of the Voice of America was established, as part of an effort to ensure that the Voice of America would win the attention and respect of listeners. The initial version of the Charter was approved by President Eisenhower shortly before he left office. The current version of the Charter, signed into law in 1976 by PresidentGerald Ford, protects the independence and integrity of Voice of America programming, specifying that it will be "a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news", that it will represent the entire United States and will "present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions" and that it "will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies." Loomis expressed his belief that the Charter was "so fundamental and so represents the realities of the world and the moral principles that undergird this nation, that the Charter will endure for the life of the Voice."[6] PresidentJohn F. Kennedy in a 1962 visit to the headquarters of the Voice of America, emphasized the importance of journalistic integrity, stating that "You are obliged to tell our story in a truthful way, to tell it, as Oliver Cromwell said about his portrait, to paint us 'with all our blemishes and warts,' all those things about us that may not be immediately attractive."[7]
As part of an effort to help make English aWorld language, Loomis oversaw the introduction on October 19, 1959, of the use ofSpecial English, in which news is read slowly using a limited vocabulary of about 1,500 words with a simplified grammar and short pauses between adjacent words to make word boundaries more easily discernible. The target audience for Special English is people who have learned English in school, but are less than fluent and do not speak it in daily usage.[2][8]
In February 1962, Loomis announced the addition of three new short-wave radio transmitters that would allow it to better compete withRadio Moscow andPeiping Radio, and to help reach through the jamming of its signal.[9]
Under Loomis, the Voice of America reported on the pressing stories of the day, including round-the-clock coverage in Spanish and expanded English language reporting during theCuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The VOA broadcast Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.'sI Have a Dream speech live around the world in August 1963 during theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.[6]
Loomis resigned from his post in 1965, citing increasing pressure from theJohnson Administration to refrain from reporting news that would reflect negatively on the White House, particularly on the nation's increasing military involvement in Southeast Asia.[2] The Johnson White House wanted the Voice of America to refrain from reporting onUnited States Air Force missions overLaos.[1] Loomis noted in his farewell speech that "The Voice of America is not the voice of the administration."[2]
PresidentRichard M. Nixon appointed Loomis in September 1972 as president of theCorporation for Public Broadcasting, overseeing money to be allocated topublic television stations, in an appointment thatTime magazine described as evidence that "the localists appear to have won the battle".[10] Loomis, then deputy director of theUnited States Information Agency, was named to replace John W. Macy. Jr., who had been the first head of the Corporation when it was established in 1969, and had been a longtime advocate of centralization of public broadcasting.[11] Loomis removed control over programming from thePublic Broadcasting Service, decentralizing control and redistributing the funds to local stations.
In December 1977, Loomis announced that he would step down as president when his term ended in September 1978, or would leave earlier if a successor was selected.[12]Loomis resigned in 1978 in a wave of centralization back to PBS under theCarter Administration.[2]
Loomis' brother,Alfred was a sailor who competed at the1948 Summer Olympics inLondon, where he won a gold medal in the6 Metre class with the boatUanoria.[13]
Loomis died on November 2, 2008, aged 89, in Jacksonville, Florida, due to complications ofAlzheimer's disease,Parkinson's disease andPick's disease.[2]
