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Herbert Kaplow

Herbert Kaplow (MSJ51) is a member of the Medill Hall of Achievement.

Kaplow began his professional journalism career in television and radio news when he joined NBC News in Washington, D.C., in 1951.

One of his earliest assignments was the Brown vs. Board of Education school desegregation decision issued in May 1954. For much of the following decade, he traveled through the South reporting on implementation of the Brown decision, including Little Rock, Birmingham, Montgomery, New Orleans, Clemson, Atlanta and communities in other states such as Mississippi, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware.

In 1958, Kaplow traveled with then-Vice President Richard Nixon on his Latin American tour. In the 1960s, he covered Nixon on the campaign trail for the California governor’s seat, then for president. In the early 1970s, he became a senior political correspondent for ABC Radio News.

Kaplow received numerous awards during his career, including a 1983 Unity Award for his involvement in the ABC Radio reports, “The Kennedy Years,” and “The Dream Revisited,” for the 20th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. Kaplow also won an Emmy for the ABC series “Directions,” and for his role in the PBS’ “Religious Newsmakers” series in 1997.

Kaplow covered politics extensively. He reported on the 10 presidential campaigns between 1956 and 1992 and, during that period, covered 19 presidential nominating conventions. He also was frequently assigned to cover congressional politics and several gubernatorial and mayoralty elections. Altogether, Kaplow covered news events in all 50 states and in about 50 other countries.

Kaplow worked at NBC News until 1972, when he joined ABC News in Washington. He retired in 1994.

Herbert Kaplow died in 2013.