Harvey, Paul

Paul Harvey, in full Paul Harvey Aurandt, (born Sept. 4, 1918, Tulsa, Okla., U.S.—died Feb. 28, 2009, Phoenix, Ariz.), American radio commentator and news columnist noted for his firm staccato delivery and his conservative but individualistic opinions on current events. He enjoyed an almost unparalleled longevity as a national broadcaster.

Harvey was descended from five generations of Baptist preachers. He and his sister were brought up by their mother after their father was shot to death under uncertain circumstances. At age 14 he landed a menial job at KVOO radio in Tulsa, and he was soon doing voice work there. He studied briefly at the University of Tulsa but quit to work full-time in radio; by age 25 he had gained experience at stations across the Plains and the Midwest and had covered the activities of the U.S. military for the Office of War Information. In 1940 he married Lynne (“Angel”) Cooper, who afterward took control of his business affairs. Following a medical discharge from the Army Air Corps in 1944, he shortened his name to Paul Harvey and began broadcasting for Chicago radio station WENR. Paul Harvey News and Comment proved immediately popular in Chicago and was nationally syndicated by the American Broadcasting Company in 1951. In 1976 the program spun off The Rest of the Story, whose brief biographical narratives were written by the Harveys’ only child, Paul Harvey Aurandt, Jr.

Harvey’s mix of current-events news, human-interest anecdotes, and common sense editorials reached some 24 million listeners via 1,600 radio stations daily. His staccato pacing, bouncing intonation, and signature hooks (e.g., “Stand by…for news!” and “Paul Harvey…good day!”) helped make his voice one of the most recognizable in the history of radio. Harvey often opined on rising taxes, bloated government, and the decay of American values. He called his particular conservative cast “political fundamentalism.” Though he was associated with prominent figures of the American right—he once hosted Sen. Joseph McCarthy at his home and was short-listed among George C. Wallace’s potential vice presidential running mates in 1968—Harvey resisted identification with any ideology but his own. A supporter of the Vietnam War for several years, in 1970 he changed his mind and publicly urged Pres. Richard Nixon to abandon the war. In the 1980s he decried several of Pres. Ronald Reagan’s conservative positions.

Apart from his radio work, Harvey regularly appeared as a television and newspaper commentator and published several books, including Remember These Things (1952), Autumn of Liberty (1954), You Said It, Paul Harvey (1970), and For What It’s Worth (1991). In 2001 his son and actor David Hartman split Harvey’s broadcasting duties while he recovered from surgery to repair his vocal cords; Harvey returned to the airwaves in late August. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.