Robert Goralski
Encyclopedia
Robert Stanley Goralski was a news correspondent for NBC News
for fifteen years in the 1960s and 1970s during a thirty-five year career in communications.
descent, he was born in Chicago
, Illinois
, on January 2, 1928. He served in the United States Navy
during World War II
in Pacific shipboard service as a Quartermaster. He was later called back to serve in the Navy during the Korean War. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Illinois
, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Journalism and Political Science.
, Champaign
, Illinois
, in his student years, becoming news director after graduation. He married the former Margaret Walton in 1948. As a Naval Reservist, he was recalled to duty during the Korean War
, serving as a combat correspondent. After leaving the naval service, he continued his journalism career.
From 1952 to 1956 Goralski worked with Radio Free Asia
at Tokyo
, Japan
, and Karachi
and Dacca, Pakistan
. He produced, wrote and narrated the series "The Voice of Asia." From 1956 to 1961, Goralski moved to the Voice of America
, in Washington, D.C.
, where he supervised broadcasts as English editor for Asia and Chief of the Burmese Service. He also oversaw production and programming, broadcast and wrote commentaries and feature programs for other services. He also had temporary assignments abroad, primarily in Asia.
for NBC.
In the mid-1960s, Goralski shifted to covering the Pentagon
, and spent two years total in Southeast Asia
, covering the war in Vietnam
. On 5 June 1967, Goralski was one of seven American newsmen from the wire services, the three major American television networks and several individual newspapers across the United States that flew on board the aircraft carrier USS America
in the Mediterranean. These seven were soon joined by others, 29 in all including media representatives from England, Greece, and West Germany. At night, Goralski of NBC News
and Bill Gill of ABC News
teamed up to present the "Gill-Goralski Report" on the shipboard television station, WAMR-TV, a half-hour on the latest developments in the Mideast and around the world.
In the mid-1970s he was back in Washington, D.C.
, and covered the Watergate hearings for NBC
. In one notable instance, the hearings broke for a fifteen minute pause that actually lasted over an hour. Goralski, live on national feed, had to essentially retell the entire history of the political break-in at the Watergate complex that led up to the hearings in order to fill up the air during the unexpectedly long recess. Goralski also covered the My Lai massacres trial of Lt. William Calley
. Due to his coverage of the original incident, he was called as a witness during the proceedings. He also reported stories breaking from the Middle East
, Laos
, the Dominican Republic
and sites of international conferences.
Corporation. There he developed and directed corporate communications at the national and local level and served as a spokesman on public affairs issues. From 1983 until his death in 1988, he was a self-employed author, lecturer and consultant. In 1981, Goralski published the "World War II Almanac, 1931-1945", (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, ISBN 399-12548-5) which went through several printings. Other publications include "Press Follies", a collection of journalistic goofs and gaffes, published by I.I.S. Books in 1983, and "Oil and War" with Russell Freeburg
(William Morrow & Company) in 1987. Goralski also wrote the introduction to "The CBS Benjamin Report", published by the Media Institute in 1984, contributed a portion of "The Best of Emphasis" (Newman Press) in 1968, and the annual section on Vietnam
for Yearbooks of the Encyclopædia Britannica
, 1966-1975 editions.
in March, 1988. He is interred in Arlington National Cemetery
. Goralski was recognized by the Columbia School of Journalism and the American Television Academy for his news reporting.
Goralski is survived by his three children, Douglas, Dorothy, and Kate, and his wife, Margaret, who serves on the Board of Directors at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm
in Langley, Virginia
.
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
for fifteen years in the 1960s and 1970s during a thirty-five year career in communications.
Biography
Of PolishPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
descent, he was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, on January 2, 1928. He served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Pacific shipboard service as a Quartermaster. He was later called back to serve in the Navy during the Korean War. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Journalism and Political Science.
Journalism career
From 1947 to 1951 he was a full-time news broadcaster at WDWSWDWS
WDWS is a News-Talk radio station in Champaign, Illinois. The station operates at 1 kW of power, and is owned by the News-Gazette, the primary newspaper in the Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area. The station provides news and information for the city, and agricultural information for...
, Champaign
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, in his student years, becoming news director after graduation. He married the former Margaret Walton in 1948. As a Naval Reservist, he was recalled to duty during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, serving as a combat correspondent. After leaving the naval service, he continued his journalism career.
From 1952 to 1956 Goralski worked with Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation that operates a radio station and Internet news service. RFA was founded by an act of the US Congress and is operated by the Broadcasting Board of Governors . The RFA is supported in part by grants from the federal government of the United States...
at Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
and Dacca, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. He produced, wrote and narrated the series "The Voice of Asia." From 1956 to 1961, Goralski moved to the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where he supervised broadcasts as English editor for Asia and Chief of the Burmese Service. He also oversaw production and programming, broadcast and wrote commentaries and feature programs for other services. He also had temporary assignments abroad, primarily in Asia.
NBC News
From 1961 to 1975, Goralski was a television and radio correspondent with NBC News. He served for extended periods as White House, State Department, Pentagon and Energy correspondents. As a White House correspondent, Goralski anchored coverage of John F. Kennedy's funeralState funeral of John F. Kennedy
The state funeral of John F. Kennedy took place in Washington, DC during the three days that followed his assassination on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas....
for NBC.
In the mid-1960s, Goralski shifted to covering the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
, and spent two years total in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, covering the war in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. On 5 June 1967, Goralski was one of seven American newsmen from the wire services, the three major American television networks and several individual newspapers across the United States that flew on board the aircraft carrier USS America
USS America (CV-66)
The USS America was one of four Kitty Hawk-class super carriers built for the United States Navy in the 1960s. Commissioned in 1965, she spent most of her career in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but did make three Pacific deployments serving in the Vietnam War. She also served in operations...
in the Mediterranean. These seven were soon joined by others, 29 in all including media representatives from England, Greece, and West Germany. At night, Goralski of NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
and Bill Gill of ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
teamed up to present the "Gill-Goralski Report" on the shipboard television station, WAMR-TV, a half-hour on the latest developments in the Mideast and around the world.
In the mid-1970s he was back in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and covered the Watergate hearings for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. In one notable instance, the hearings broke for a fifteen minute pause that actually lasted over an hour. Goralski, live on national feed, had to essentially retell the entire history of the political break-in at the Watergate complex that led up to the hearings in order to fill up the air during the unexpectedly long recess. Goralski also covered the My Lai massacres trial of Lt. William Calley
William Calley
William Laws Calley is a convicted American war criminal and a former U.S. Army officer found guilty of murder for his role in the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War.-Early life:...
. Due to his coverage of the original incident, he was called as a witness during the proceedings. He also reported stories breaking from the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
and sites of international conferences.
After NBC
In 1975, Goralski left broadcasting and accepted a position as Director of Information for Gulf OilGulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies...
Corporation. There he developed and directed corporate communications at the national and local level and served as a spokesman on public affairs issues. From 1983 until his death in 1988, he was a self-employed author, lecturer and consultant. In 1981, Goralski published the "World War II Almanac, 1931-1945", (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, ISBN 399-12548-5) which went through several printings. Other publications include "Press Follies", a collection of journalistic goofs and gaffes, published by I.I.S. Books in 1983, and "Oil and War" with Russell Freeburg
Russell Freeburg
Russell W Freeburg is a former managing editor and Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune. He is the co-author of a book on the role of oil in World War II.-Biography:...
(William Morrow & Company) in 1987. Goralski also wrote the introduction to "The CBS Benjamin Report", published by the Media Institute in 1984, contributed a portion of "The Best of Emphasis" (Newman Press) in 1968, and the annual section on Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
for Yearbooks of the Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, 1966-1975 editions.
Death
He died of cancer in McLean, VirginiaMcLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
in March, 1988. He is interred in Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
. Goralski was recognized by the Columbia School of Journalism and the American Television Academy for his news reporting.
Goralski is survived by his three children, Douglas, Dorothy, and Kate, and his wife, Margaret, who serves on the Board of Directors at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm
Claude Moore Colonial Farm
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run is the only privately run park in the U.S. National Park Service . The Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm, a privately funded foundation, pays for all activities on the farm, while the land is owned by the NPS...
in Langley, Virginia
Langley, Virginia
Langley is an unincorporated community in the census-designated place of McLean in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.The community was essentially absorbed into McLean many years ago, although there is still a Langley High School...
.