Personal Award: William (Bill) H. Lawrence

A Peabody Award goes to Bill Lawrence of ABC for television news reporting. In the words of an industry authority, Bill Lawrence is a real quintuple threat man—he can write, report, speak, edit, and put it all on the air. Bill Lawrence typifies the solid corps of radio and television reporters who bring to the American public the hard news with skill and accuracy and thus have made radio and television the principal source upon which the public relies for the news. This award, therefore, is not only to Bill Lawrence for his individual excellence, but also in a representative capacity on behalf of his many colleagues who stride the White House lawn or the banks of the Pedernales, who brave the bombs in Vietnam and are found at the frontlines wherever the news is breaking. In addition, Bill Lawrence as a reporter of the old school is constantly on the prowl for a scoop. He uses his legs as well as his mind. As a political commentator and analyst, a notable example of his skill was a spot documentary after the Governors’ conference in Cleveland on June 10, 1964, called “A Moment Of Truth” in which he predicted unequivocally the outcome of the Republican convention, cutting through the conflicting claims of competing factions and laying in on the line well in advance. Bill Lawrence has brought to television the highest traditions of a careful, objective, and hard-hitting report—those same qualities which characterized his distinguished career in the printed media.