It was 1967, when the national media was covering our auto safety initiatives. A call came through the hallway phone outside my $90-a-month room. “Hello, I’m Phil Donahue. I’d like to invite you to my new syndicated television talk show in Dayton, Ohio. You’ve come a long way without my help, but can you please come here? You’re going to make me a big star. You can talk and say anything you want for an hour.” He then described some of his controversial guests. I remember thinking, “This is a General Motors factory town and he wants me there!!!” With his polite persistence, he clearly stood out among the numerous invitations I received from media shows outside Washington.
I flew to Dayton and landed just before midnight. Surprise. Who was there when I got off the plane? A friendly Phil Donahue. He drove me to the hotel.
It was this kind of earnestness, genuine courtesy and persistence in giving a voice to the disadvantaged in our society that made him America’s leading national daytime talk show host for nearly 30 years.
Of course, during his 6,000-plus shows, he was much more than that. In between his shows with flamboyant entertainers (to hold large audiences), he devoted hundreds of hours to compelling and controversial leaders of emerging social justice movements and the people harmed by evildoers.
“Hot topics,” he called them. When necessary, he would take a Donahue show to “hot spots” like Chernobyl in Ukraine, the site of a devastating meltdown at a massive nuclear power plant in 1986, whose radioactivity forced the surrounding villages into permanent abandonment. I can still see him, with his ever-present microphone, standing next to the eerily swinging doors of the empty houses.
Other talk show hosts are intimidated by their paying advertisers. Not so Phil. He took the public airwaves seriously. A segment about rogue car dealers caused Dayton car dealers to boycott the show. Phil was undeterred. His show’s audience grew so much that in 1974 he felt he could move to Chicago and in 1985 to New York City.
Donahue was bold but modest, knowing that his guests, while outspoken and challenging power structures, represented many silenced Americans. Prominent leaders of women’s equality (then called the women’s liberation movement) were regularly invited to participate in his provocative give-and-take.
He was a pioneer of live daily show in front of a live Studio audiences and television audiences in 200 cities across the country. He answered questions from his audience and from viewers who called in.
Of course, being so spontaneous was risky when responding so spontaneously. Consider that he interviewed fierce anti-poverty campaigners, war resisters, student rebels, aggrieved community leaders and heartbroken innocent victims of various attacks. Before his television audience of some 10 million viewers, he introduced the nation for the first time to the pioneers of civil rights, consumer rights, white collar crime prosecution, a safer environment, workplace safety and gay rights. He responded early to the impending AIDS epidemic, introducing advocates and specialists on this human devastation.
Although he appeared calm on the outside, he once told me that his show was “an hour-long nightmare that you have to sit through.”
I have named Phil Donahue the 20th Century’s greatest DEFENDER and ENABLER of First Amendment protections for freedom of speech, petition, and assembly.TH CENTURY. Without a doubt. Given the frequency of his shows and the size of his audiences, there was no one else then or since who came even close to him. He helped citizens mobilize forces for a more just America and a more just world that continue to this day.
His guests often became celebrities in the city because he hosted them when no one else did, and enables They reached large audiences and attracted the attention of decision-makers. His groundbreaking revelations sometimes led to congressional hearings. He promoted the sale of publications and books that helped many nonprofit advocacy groups survive.
One of his favorite guests was Dr. Sidney Wolfe, head of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group. Phil featured Dr. Wolfe announcing the release of the life-saving book Worst Pills, Best Pills, which sold over 500,000 copies. Audience members wanted the scientific truth about their prescribed drugs, which the FDA was not providing in a user-friendly form. He invited Joan Claybrook, then head of NHTSA, Jimmy Carter’s auto safety agency, to introduce THE CAR BOOK, which was full of previously taboo “make and model” information about defects and other vital data. Half a million motorists immediately ordered printed copies of this first-of-its-kind government consumer guide, which was offered free of charge.
Not surprisingly, Phil was roundly criticized by those in power. His pleasant, down-to-earth personality bore no grudges. Instead, he invited people with opposing views to present their arguments for more engaging interactions with the audience. These guests often included people whose views he found abhorrent. Such was his strong defense of the First Amendment – protecting the expression of opinions with which one strongly disagrees. One such guest, Jerry Falwell (founder of the Moral Majority), was a guest over two dozen times.
The Donahue Show was canceled in 1996. Six years later, MSNBC invited Phil to host a public affairs program. At that time, the Bush/Cheney drums were beating for an invasion of Iraq. Phil was instructed by the “suits” (as he called them) at NBC to have two supporters of that criminal war for every opponent on his show. Even that was not enough censorship interference. Six months later, just before Bush’s imperial “shock and awe” sociocide of Iraq and millions of innocent victims, NBC and its owner, the major defense contractor General Electric, again showed their cowardice (then displayed by their competitors like Fox), betrayed the public trust, and told Donahue and his staff to leave immediately. Then MSNBC’s top-rated show, GE, failed to disclose the real reasons for the cancellation — namely, airing criticism of President George W. Bush — which leaked internal memos later revealed. (See the August 19, 2024, Shared dreams Article by Jeff Cohen entitled “Phil Donahue (1935-2024) was fired from MSNBC for giving voice to opposition to the Iraq War. He was the embodiment of courage.”
Here Phil Donahue himself speaks:
“We are supposed to be the dog that constantly bites the heels of the powerful. We are supposed to be the people who behave inelegantly, like sticking our noses under the tent to see what the Grand Pubahs are planning to do with us. That is humiliating. That is hard. And it becomes very hard to do that when you have to suck up to the people you are supposed to be covering for.” (See, Ralph (Interview on Nader Radio Hour on June 18, 2016).
“Dissent is very difficult in this country. We have media that are rewarded for telling people what they want to hear. And that is not our job. We are not supposed to be popular. We are not supposed to be praised as wonderful people who make us happy. We have to show the pain. And we have an obligation to say what we think about the decisions of powerful people.” (See, Ralph (Interview on Nader Radio Hour on June 18, 2016).
“Corporate ownership is, in my opinion, the biggest challenge to a strong media landscape where all kinds of views are represented. It’s alive and I should know. I lost my job because I opposed the invasion of Iraq.” (See episode 236 of September 22, 2018 of Ralph (Nader’s radio hour).
Starting with his wife, actress, author and women’s rights activist Marlo Thomas, and the many people who worked with Phil to make the show possible and who loved his level of respect toward them, Phil’s legions of admirers would surely welcome multiple living legacies honoring his life’s work. Activities that continue his staunch promotion of free speech, public justice for all, and the promotion of a media landscape that stands for reality, truth, facts, the voices of the excluded and those who fight for justice – what Senator Daniel Webster called “the great work of humanity on earth” – would show future generations the remarkable Phil Donahue.
