Fulton Lewis

Fulton Lewis, Jr. was a prominent conservative American radio broadcaster from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Lewis was born into influential circles in the nation’s capital. He remained close to the circles of power all his life He was an indifferent student; he attended the University of Virginia for three years. He dropped out of UVa, but soon after enrolled in the George Washington University Law School. He also left that institution when he obtained a reporting job with the Washington Herald newspaper. He found his niche in news reporting, and within three years was the paper’s City editor. During that time he met and courted his future wife.

Lewis left the Herald to join Universal News Service, run by the Hearst family. Between 1933 and 1936 Lewis wrote a newspaper column called “The Washington Sideshow” which was syndicated by King Features. His radio career began when he volunteered to fill in for a vacationing news reporter. The head of Washington AM radio station WOL was impressed with Lewis’ “on-the-spot” reporting and offered him a full-time position. Shortly his commentaries were picked up by the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Lewis’ commentary program ran from 7:00-7:15 p.m. Eastern time, five days a week. His audience liked Lewis’ folksy broadcasting style. At his commercial peak, Lewis was heard on more than 500 radio stations and boasted a weekly audience of sixteen million listeners. His signature closing was “That’s the top of the news as it looks from here.” He also transitioned briefly to television in the early 1950s but the format of his program did not appeal in that medium, so he returned to radio for the remainder of his career.