View source for Newton N. Minow

{{short description|American attorney (1926–2023)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Newton N. Minow
| office = [[Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission]]
| image = Newton Minow 2006.jpg
| caption = Minow in 2006
| predecessor = [[Frederick W. Ford|Frederick Ford]]
| president = [[John F. Kennedy]]
| successor = [[E. William Henry]]
| termend = June 1, 1963
| termstart = March 2, 1961
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| birth_name = Newton Norman Minow
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|1|17}}
| birth_place = [[Milwaukee|Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|5|6|1926|1|17}}
| death_place = [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
| spouse = {{marriage|Josephine Baskin|1949|2022|end=her death}}
| children = 3, including [[Martha Minow|Martha]] and [[Nell Minow|Nell]]
| education = [[Northwestern University]] ({{nowrap|[[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Juris Doctor|JD]]}})
| branch = {{tree list}}
*[[United States Army]]
**[[Army Service Forces]]
{{tree list/end}}
| serviceyears = 1944{{nbnd}}1946
| rank = [[Sergeant]]
| unit = 835th Signal Service Battalion
| battles = {{tree list}}
*[[World War II]]
**[[China Burma India theater]]
{{tree list/end}}
}}

'''Newton Norman Minow''' (January 17, 1926 – May 6, 2023) was an American attorney who served as chairman of the [[Federal Communications Commission]].<ref name = McFadden/> He is famous for his 1961 speech referring to television as a "[[Television and the Public Interest|vast wasteland]]". While still maintaining a law practice, Minow served as the honorary consul general of Singapore in Chicago, beginning in 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://notesapp.internet.gov.sg/mfa/dipCon/dipcon.nsf/SMDetailsAgent?OpenAgent&id=28|title=Singapore Missions Worldwide|date=March 1, 2006|publisher=Republic of Singapore|access-date=May 26, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003321/http://notesapp.internet.gov.sg/mfa/dipCon/dipcon.nsf/SMDetailsAgent?OpenAgent&id=28|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref>

Minow was active in [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] politics. He was an attorney in private practice concerning telecommunications law and was active in many nonprofit, civic, and educational institutions. He was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 2016 by [[Barack Obama]], whom he had known since the start of Obama's legal career.

==Early life and education==
Born to a [[Jewish]] family in [[Milwaukee]], Wisconsin, in 1926, Minow served in [[World War II]] from 1944 to 1946 and attained the rank of a sergeant in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cablecenter.org/media-room/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=367 | title=The Cable Center – Newton Minow }}</ref> He served in the [[China Burma India Theater of World War II|China Burma India Theater]] with the 835th Signal Service Battalion headquartered in New Delhi, India.<ref name=embassy>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.sg/washington/Feb06_Mar06.pdf|title=Newton Minow: Honorary Consul General in Chicago|publisher=Singapore Embassy|date=February–March 2006|access-date=May 27, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006165339/http://www.mfa.gov.sg/washington/Feb06_Mar06.pdf|archive-date=October 6, 2007}}</ref> After the war, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1949 from [[Northwestern University]] and a [[Juris Doctor]] degree in 1950 from [[Northwestern University School of Law]].<ref name = McFadden>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/06/business/media/newton-n-minow-dead.html|title = Newton N. Minow, F.C.C. Chief Who Deemed TV a 'Vast Wasteland,' Dies at 97|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date = May 6, 2023|accessdate = May 6, 2023|last = McFadden|first = Robert D.|url-access = limited |quote=Newton N. Minow, who as President John F. Kennedy’s new F.C.C. chairman in 1961 sent shock waves through an industry and touched a nerve in a nation addicted to banality and mayhem by calling American television “a vast wasteland,” died on Saturday at his home in Chicago.  He was 97.}}</ref>

== Career ==

=== Legal career ===
After graduating from law school, Minow worked for the law firm of [[Mayer, Brown & Platt]] (1950–1951 and 1953–1955) before becoming a law clerk to Chief Justice [[Fred M. Vinson]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] (1951–1952).<ref name="McFadden" /> He later became assistant counsel to [[Governor of Illinois|Illinois Governor]] [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] (1952–1953), worked for Stevenson's two presidential campaigns (1952 and 1956), and then was a partner in the law firm, Stevenson, Rifkind & Wirtz (1955–1961).<ref name="McFadden" /> Minow campaigned for President [[John F. Kennedy]] prior to the [[1960 U.S. presidential election]].<ref name="medill">{{cite web|url=http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/medill/inside/news/debate_expert_and_medill_board_member_newton_minow_shares_election_observations.html|title=Debate Expert and Medill Board Member Newton Minow Shares Election Observations|publisher=Northwestern University|author=Eric Martin|date=October 29, 2004|access-date=May 27, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901160429/http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/medill/inside/news/debate_expert_and_medill_board_member_newton_minow_shares_election_observations.html|archive-date=September 1, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

Minow was the senior counsel in the Chicago-headquartered law firm of [[Sidley Austin]] LLP, a large international law firm with multiple areas of expertise, including telecommunications-related law. Between 1965 and 1991, he was a managing partner in the firm before becoming senior counsel in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Professionals: Newton N. Minow |url=http://www.sidley.com/lawyers/bio.asp?ID=M419079006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630123409/http://www.sidley.com/lawyers/bio.asp?ID=M419079006 |archive-date=June 30, 2007 |access-date=May 26, 2007 |publisher=Sidley Austin LLP}}</ref>

=== Communication career ===

==== As Federal Communications Commission chairman ====
[[File:President John F. Kennedy with Outgoing Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton Minow and his Family.jpg|thumb|right|Minow and his family with [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1963]]
Reportedly, [[Robert F. Kennedy]] and Minow frequently talked at length about the increasing importance of television in the lives of their children when they worked together on the presidential campaign of [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai E. Stevenson]].<ref name="JARVIK">Jarvik, Laurence Ariel, ''PBS, behind the screen'', Rocklin, CA : Forum, 1997. {{ISBN|0761506683}}</ref>  Thereafter, it came as little surprise that after the election of [[John F. Kennedy]] Minow eagerly pursued the position of FCC chairman. Some observers nevertheless considered it unusual given his lack of experience with the media industry and with communication law.<ref name="MBC">{{cite web |author=Michael Curtin |title=Minow, Newton |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/minownewton/minownewton.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070417143329/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/minownewton/minownewton.htm |archive-date=April 17, 2007 |access-date=May 26, 2007 |publisher=[[Museum of Broadcast Communications]]}}</ref> In 1961 he was appointed by President Kennedy to be one of seven commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as well as its chairman.<ref name="MBC" /><ref>{{cite web |date=April 12, 2007 |title=About the FCC |url=http://www.fcc.gov/aboutus.html |access-date=May 26, 2007 |publisher=Federal Communications Commission}}</ref> He served as chairman from March 2, 1961, through June 1, 1963.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fcc.gov/general/commissioners-1934-present|title=Commissioners from 1934 to Present|date=June 5, 2013|work=Federal Communications Commission|access-date=May 24, 2017|language=en|archive-date=September 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906073743/https://www.fcc.gov/general/commissioners-1934-present|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===== Criticism and evaluation =====
{{Main|Wasteland Speech}}
Minow became one of the best-known and respected—if sometimes controversial—political figures of the early 1960s because of his criticism of commercial television. In a speech given to the [[National Association of Broadcasters]] convention on May 9, 1961, he was extremely critical of television broadcasters for not doing more, in Minow's view, to serve the public interest. His phrase "vast wasteland" is remembered years after the speech in which he said:

{{blockquote|When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there for a day without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.<ref>Newton N. Minow, "[https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/newtonminow.htm Television and the Public Interest]", address to the National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, D.C., May 9, 1961.</ref>}}

While some applauded his "vast wasteland" assault on commercial television as a welcome criticism of excessive violence and frivolity, others criticized it as an [[elitism|elitist]], [[snobbery|snobbish]] attack on programming that many viewers enjoyed as well as a government intrusion into private enterprise.<ref>In her essay [https://aynrand.org/mans-rights/ "Man's Rights" (1963)], [[Ayn Rand]] denounced him personally for having a perverted understanding of freedom of speech and censorship.</ref>  The [[S.S. Minnow|S.S. ''Minnow'']] of the 1964–67 television show ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' was reputedly [[sarcasm|sarcastically]] named after him to express displeasure with his assessment of the quality of television.<ref name=SantaClaraLawReview>{{cite book|author=Schwartz, Sherwood|title=Inside Gilligan's Island |year=1994|pages=xv}} cited in {{cite journal|url=http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol39/iss1/4/|title=Legal Tales from Gilligan's Island|author=Jarvis, Robert M. |journal=Santa Clara Law Review|publisher=Santa Clara University Law School |year=1998|volume=39|pages=185|access-date=April 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlk86NVeWPI&t=5m58s "Gilligan's Island" creator Sherwood Schwartz discusses the show's pilot – EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG], recorded on September 17, 1997 in Beverly Hills, CA with Dan Pasternack (published to YouTube on November 4, 2010).</ref><ref name = "WaPo" />

In a 2011 speech at [[Harvard University|Harvard]], Minow said that he could never have anticipated the impact of television. He still felt that news is the most important public service, but that television continued to fall short in that area. "Too much deals with covering controversy, crimes, fires, and not enough with the country's great issues" he said. He also said that presidential campaigns are obsessed with the trivial. The speech came 50&nbsp;years after he referred to television as a "vast wasteland" on May&nbsp;9, 1961. The day after the 1961 speech, the ''[[New York Times]]'' headline read "F.C.C. Head Bids TV Men Reform 'Vast Wasteland'—Minow Charges Failure in Public Duty—Threatens to Use License Power".<ref>James Warren, [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/us/08cncwarren.html?_r=0 "Never Mind the 'Vast Wasteland.' Minow Has More to Say"], ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2013.</ref>

===== Achievements at the Federal Communications Commission =====
Minow did foster two significant initiatives that altered the landscape of American television. The first was the [[All-Channel Receiver Act]] (ACRA) of 1961, which mandated [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] reception capability for all [[television set|television receivers]] sold in the United States. This legislation sparked an increase in the number of television stations and helped launch nonprofit educational television stations (now [[PBS]]) throughout the country.<ref name = McFadden/>

Minow said that his greatest contribution was persuading [[U. S. Congress]] to pass legislation clearing the way for communications satellites. Minow recounted, "When I toured the space program with [John F.] Kennedy, he was surprised to see me". Minow told Kennedy that "communications satellites will be much more important than sending man into space, because they will send ideas into space. Ideas last longer than men."<ref name=medill />

During his two years in office, it was estimated that, other than the president, Minow generated more [[column inch]]es of news coverage than any other federal official. He also promoted what ultimately became the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium ([[Intelsat]]). This organization controlled [[satellite communications]] for many years.<ref name = McFadden/>

Minow's papers from his tenure at the FCC are archived at the [[Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research]], an organization co-sponsored by the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] and the [[Wisconsin Historical Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wcftr/|title=Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society|access-date=June 4, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://commarts.wisc.edu/Grad/Film/General/facilities.htm|title=Department of Communication Arts|publisher=University of Wisconsin, Madison|access-date=June 4, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070117022302/http://www.commarts.wisc.edu/Grad/Film/General/facilities.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = January 17, 2007}}</ref>

Quote from a speech to the Association of American Law Schools:

<blockquote>After 35 years, I have finished a comprehensive study of European comparative law. In Germany, under the law, everything is prohibited, except that which is permitted. In France, under the law, everything is permitted, except that which is prohibited. In the Soviet Union, under the law, everything is prohibited, including that which is permitted. And in Italy, under the law, everything is permitted, especially that which is prohibited.<ref>Donald Ball and Wendell H. McCulloch Jr., International Business: Introduction and Essentials, 5th ed. (Homewood, IL: Richard Irwin, 1993), p. 368.</ref></blockquote>

==== As part of Board of Governors of the Public Broadcasting Service ====
Minow sat on the Board of Governors of the [[Public Broadcasting Service]] and its predecessor, [[National Educational Television]] serving from 1973 to 1980 and serving as its chairman from 1978 to 1980. He served out a tenure as the president of the [[Carnegie Corporation]], a PBS sponsor, and the original funder of ''[[Sesame Street]]''.<ref name = McFadden/>

Minow was the [[Walter Annenberg]] professor emeritus at [[Northwestern University]]. He also authored four books and numerous professional journal and magazine articles. Minow supported and wrote about the Digital Promise Project, a project to fulfill the educational potential of the internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.twf.org.au/whatsnew/Currents1.html|title=Digital Promise Project (US)|publisher=The Century Foundation|date=May 4, 2001|access-date=May 26, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://energycommerce.house.gov/reparchives/108/Hearings/03252003hearing843/Grossman1388.htm|title=H.R. 1320, the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act|publisher=House Committee on Energy and Commerce|date=March 25, 2003|access-date=May 26, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070426085037/http://energycommerce.house.gov/reparchives/108/Hearings/03252003hearing843/Grossman1388.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = April 26, 2007}}</ref>

=== Diplomatic career ===
Minow's early contact with Singapore and Singaporean officials was through his law work at Sidley Austin, which opened a Singapore office in 1982. Even when he was FCC chairman, he worried about the increasing export of Hollywood programming overseas and the impact it would have on perceptions of the United States among citizens in other countries.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Minow was appointed honorary consul general in 2001.<ref name=embassy /> The office he was associated with processes consular and visa applications.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://app.mfa.gov.sg/generator/asppages/washington/wstcon_consulates.asp|title=Consulates in the United States|publisher=Singapore Embassy|access-date=May 27, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612224608/http://app.mfa.gov.sg/generator/asppages/washington/wstcon_consulates.asp|archive-date=June 12, 2007}}</ref>

=== Corporate work ===
Minow sat on the board of directors at Foote, Cone & Belding Communications Inc.; Tribune Co.; Manpower, Inc.;<ref>{{cite web |title=Manpower Inc proxy |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/871763/0000950124-00-001342.txt |access-date=May 27, 2007 |publisher=Securities and Exchange Commission}}</ref> AON Corp.; [[CBS]], and the [[Sara Lee Corporation]]. He was chairman of the Board at the [[RAND Corporation]]. He was a trustee of the Chicago Orchestral Association as well as with the Mayo Foundation, which operates the [[Mayo Clinic]].<ref name="MBC" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Mayo Foundation Board of Trustees |url=http://www.mayoclinic.org/about/trustees.html |access-date=May 27, 2007 |publisher=Mayo Clinic}}</ref> He was a life trustee of Northwestern University and the [[University of Notre Dame]], where he was the first Jewish member of the board, and at the time of his death he was the chairman of the Board of the [[World Health Imaging, Telemedicine, and Informatics Alliance|World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance]].<ref>{{cite web |title=World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance Board of Directors |url=http://www.worldhealthimaging.org/board.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007225543/http://www.worldhealthimaging.org/board.html |archive-date=October 7, 2011 |access-date=July 3, 2009 |publisher=WHITIA}}</ref> 

Between 2015 and 2018, Minow served as a member of the Executive Advisory Council of the [[American Archive of Public Broadcasting]] (AAPB), after which, his daughter Mary Minow joined the council.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Executive Advisory Council |url=https://americanarchive.org/about-the-american-archive/executive-advisory-council |access-date=July 6, 2020 |website=americanarchive.org}}</ref> In 2020, the AAPB launched the 'Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection' to honor Minow's role in developing noncommercial television. The collection includes interviews, panels, testimonies, events, and profiles featuring him between 1961 and 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection |url=https://americanarchive.org/special_collections/newtonminow |access-date=July 6, 2020 |website=americanarchive.org}}</ref>

== Contemporary politics ==
Minow co-chaired the 1976 and 1980 [[United States presidential election debates|presidential debates]] and was a vice-chairman of the [[Commission on Presidential Debates]]. He served on numerous presidential commissions and was chairman of a special advisory committee to the [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] on protecting [[civil liberties]] in the fight against [[terrorism]]. His book on the history of the presidential debates was released in 2008.

Minow was a prominent supporter of [[Barack Obama]]'s candidacy for President of the United States. Minow recruited Obama in 1988 to work for his law firm Sidley Austin LLP as a summer associate, where Obama met his future wife [[Michelle Obama|Michelle Robinson]].<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/03/obama200803?currentPage=3 | title=Raising Obama: Politics and Power: vanityfair.com | magazine=Vanity Fair | date=March 2008 | access-date=June 13, 2008 | last=Purdum | first=Todd}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nbc5.com/politics/16364399/detail.html | title=Those Close To Obama Say He's Ready | work=NBC5.com WMAQ-TV Chicago | date=May 21, 2008 | access-date=June 13, 2008 | last=Martin | first=Carol}}</ref> Minow pursued Obama on the recommendation of his daughter Martha, who was one of Barack Obama's law professors.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/culture/434186/a-survivors-story-where-no-one-is-exactly-who-they-seem/|title=A Survivor's Story Where No One Is Exactly Who They Seem|last=Klein|first=Julia M.|date=November 5, 2019|website=The Forward|language=en-US|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref>

According to [[Michelle Obama]]'s book ''[[Becoming (book)|Becoming]]'', Minow and his wife "busted" then Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama—both still associates at Sidley Austin—on their first date, greeting them "warmly" in the popcorn line at the [[Water Tower Place]] cinema, before the new couple saw [[Spike Lee]]'s movie, ''[[Do The Right Thing]]''. Robinson and Obama had wanted to keep their relationship a secret from colleagues at the firm; Minow only "smiled" and "made no comment" at the fact they were together.<ref>{{Citation|last=Obama, Michelle, 1964–|title=Becoming|date=2019|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1088930870|publisher=CNIB|isbn=978-0-221-02673-7|oclc=1088930870|access-date=July 29, 2020}}</ref>

Minow supported Republican [[Bruce Rauner]] in the [[2014 Illinois gubernatorial election]], despite his history in Democratic politics. He said his vote was a response to the poor track record of [[Illinois Democratic Party|Democratic]] governance in Illinois.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.wttw.com/2014/11/10/democrat-s-advice-bruce-rauner | title=A Democrat's Advice for Bruce Rauner }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 21, 2014 |title=Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate gets some Democratic support |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2N0MH16O/ |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref>

== Awards ==
Minow was the recipient of 12 honorary degrees. He was a recipient of the [[Peabody Awards|Peabody Award]] in 1961<ref name="MBC" /> and the [[Woodrow Wilson Awards|Woodrow Wilson Award]] for public service.<ref name="embassy" /> He was also a member of the [[Peabody Award]]s [[The George Foster Peabody Awards Board of Jurors|Board of Jurors]] from 1963 to 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peabodyawards.com/stories/story/george-foster-peabody-awards-board-members|title=George Foster Peabody Awards Board Members|access-date=June 10, 2016|archive-date=November 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101221151/http://www.peabodyawards.com/stories/story/george-foster-peabody-awards-board-members|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Minow was inducted as a laureate of [[The Lincoln Academy of Illinois]] and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the [[Governor of Illinois]], [[Pat Quinn (politician)|Pat Quinn]] in 2014 in the area of Government & Law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/4632-2/#toggle-id-2|title=Laureates by Year – The Lincoln Academy of Illinois|website=The Lincoln Academy of Illinois|language=en-US|access-date=March 4, 2016|archive-date=September 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923204516/http://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/4632-2/#toggle-id-2|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Minow received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] from President Barack Obama on November 22, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/11/16/newton-minow-named-presidential-medal-freedom-recipient |title=Newton Minow Named Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Minow married Josephine Baskin in 1949.<ref>{{cite web |title=Minow, Newton Norman |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/minow-newton-norman |website=[[Encyclopedia.com]] |publisher=[[Cengage]] |access-date=May 6, 2023}}</ref> They had three daughters, all trained as lawyers; [[Nell Minow]], [[shareholder]] activist and [[movie critic]]; [[Martha L. Minow]], law professor and former [[dean of Harvard Law School]]; and Mary, a library law expert appointed to the [[Obama administration]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts-42210|title=President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 4/22/10|date=April 22, 2010|access-date=June 10, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216172518/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts-42210|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|archive-date=February 16, 2017}}</ref> Josephine Baskin Minow died on February 17, 2022, at age 95.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Goldsborough |first1=Bob |title=Josephine Minow, civic leader who focused on social justice and history, dies at 95 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-josephine-minow-obituary-20220227-225be2h7kjatlgzxlc2qu4ybbi-story.html |website=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=February 27, 2022 |access-date=May 6, 2023}}</ref>

Minow was a great-uncle to Adam Frankel, a speechwriter of his former protege, Barack Obama.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4578551/newton-minow-new-frontiersman/|title=Obama Speechwriter: We Should Look to This New Frontiersman for Hope|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref> Josephine Minow's older sister, Irene, is Frankel's paternal grandmother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/holocaust-trauma-and-its-effects-generations-later|title=Holocaust Trauma and its Effects, Generations Later|date=October 18, 2019|website=Princeton Alumni Weekly|language=en|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Illinois/Josephine-Baskin_55ql4l|title=Josephine Baskin in the 1940 Census {{!}} Ancestry®|website=Ancestry.com|language=en|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/25/us/stanley-frankel-80-writer-and-corporate-officer.html|title=Stanley Frankel, 80, Writer and Corporate Officer|last=Honan|first=William H.|date=November 25, 1999|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 7, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-11-20-9911200136-story.html|title=STANLEY FRANKEL, 80, JOURNALIST|last=Writer|first=David Heinzmann, Tribune Staff|website=chicagotribune.com|date=November 20, 1999 |language=en-US|access-date=November 7, 2019}}</ref>

Minow died from a heart attack at home in Chicago, on May 6, 2023, at age 97.<ref name = WaPo>{{cite news |last1=Bernstein |first1=Adam |title=Newton Minow, FCC chairman who assailed 'vast wasteland' of TV, dies at 97|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/05/06/newton-minow-fcc-chairman-vast-wasteland-dies/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date = May 6, 2023|access-date=May 6, 2023|url-access = limited}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
According to [[Nell Minow]], the ill-fated fictional vessel ''S.S. Minnow'' from the TV series ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' was named after her father by a producer unhappy with the "vast wasteland" speech.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/how-say-no-president/682463|title=How to Say No to the President|magazine=The Atlantic|language=en|access-date=April 16, 2025}}</ref>

==Books==
*''Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment'' {{ISBN|0-8090-1589-7}}
*''Presidential Television'' {{ISBN|0-465-06274-1}}
*''For Great Debates: A New Plan for Future Presidential TV Debates'' {{ISBN|0-87078-212-6}}
*''A Digital Gift for the Nation'' (with [[Lawrence K. Grossman|Larry Grossman]]) {{ISBN|0-87078-466-8}}
*''Equal Time: The Private Broadcaster and the Public Interest'' ASIN B0007DZB86
*''Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future'' (co-authored by Craig L. LaMay) {{ISBN|0-226-53041-8}}

== See also ==
* [[List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Chief Justice)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://americanarchive.org/special_collections/newtonminow Broadcasting in the Public Interest: The Newton Minow Collection] in the [[American Archive of Public Broadcasting]]
* [https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/newtonminow.htm Complete text and audio of the "Vast Wasteland" speech] from AmericanRhetoric.com
* {{cite web |url=http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/showfindingaid.cfm?findaidid=MinnowNN |title=Spoken word recordings of Newton Minow |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=vvl.lib.msu.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050427033937/http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/showfindingaid.cfm?findaidid=MinnowNN |archive-date=April 27, 2005 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927043333/http://www.sidley.com/db30/cgi-bin/pubs/SABW%202004%20Year%20in%20Review.pdf American Lawyer "Lifetime Achievement" Award]
* [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/530413_intro.html An excerpt] from ''Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future''
* [https://archive.today/20131216151005/http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=807/ Newton N. Minow Papers] at the [[Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research]]
* {{EmmyTVLegends name|newton-n-minow|Newton N. Minow}}
* {{C-SPAN|1434}}
* [http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz0002rzmv Image of Thurgood Marshall, Hyman Rickover and Newton Minow at convocation "Prospects for Democracy" at Beverly Hilton, California, 1963.] [[Los Angeles Times]] Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, [[Charles E. Young Research Library]], [[University of California, Los Angeles]].

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{{s-gov}}
{{succession box |
 title= [[List of Chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission|Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission]] |
 years= March 1961 – May 15, 1963 |
 before= [[Frederick W. Ford]] |
 after= [[E. William Henry]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Federal Communications Commission}}
{{Gilligan's Island}}
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