30 Facts About Morton Dean

Morton Dean reported on the Invasion of Grenada, the Falklands War and Cuba from the early days of the Castro regime up to the present.

Morton Dean reported on Iran during the hostage crisis, from Somalia during the US intervention, the turmoil in Israel and the Palestinian Territory and the military action in Kosovo involving US Marines.

Morton Dean covered Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the NATO air attacks in Belgrade, the terror bomb blast on the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, the bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi and the US retaliation in Sudan, as well as the first terrorist attacks on World Trade Center in 1993.

Morton Dean is the author of two books and writer and director of American Medevac, a documentary which reconnects medevac crew members with some of the service members they had rescued during the Vietnam War.

Morton Dean received numerous awards for his reporting, including a National Emmy Award, an Overseas Press Club Award and a UPI Golden Mike.

Morton Dean was born on August 22,1935 in Fall River, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph Dubitsky and Celia Dubitsky.

Morton Dean changed his name from Dubitsky to Dean while in college.

Morton Dean began his career in 1957 as a reporter and later news director at Westchester County, New York radio station WVIP which became the flagship station for the Herald Tribune Radio Network, a group of suburban AM and FM stations in New York State.

In 1960, Morton Dean was program director of WVOX New Rochelle.

In 1964, Morton Dean joined WCBS-TV, the flagship station of the CBS Television Network, located in New York City as a reporter and anchor.

In 1971, during a six-month assignment in Vietnam for CBS Evening News, Morton Dean covered a combat medevac mission under fire.

In late 1975, Morton Dean was named anchor of the CBS Sunday Night News, and later in 1976, moved to the CBS Sunday Evening News until 1984.

Morton Dean anchored weekday afternoon and evening editions of the 90-second Newsbreak updates.

At CBS, Morton Dean reported on the Iran hostage crisis in 1980, the Space Shuttle Columbia missions, the Salvadoran Civil War in 1982, the US Invasion of Grenada in 1983 and the Falklands War in 1982.

In 1986, Morton Dean was one of forty semi-finalists in the "Journalist in Space Program" as a candidate from Connecticut.

In 1987, Morton Dean filled in for Larry King on the nationally syndicated program the Larry King Show, a radio talk show which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

In September 1988, Morton Dean joined ABC News as a correspondent and covered the return to space following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Morton Dean reported for ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and other ABC News broadcasts and was a substitute anchor for Ted Koppel on Nightline.

In 1990, Morton Dean spent more than three months covering news events in the Mideast and was the first television journalist to report from inside Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion.

In 1993, Morton Dean was lead reporter on the first World Trade Center bombing by terrorists.

Morton Dean was the first and only newsperson to see and report from inside the garage where the truck bomb detonated and later covered the investigation into the attack.

Morton Dean traveled to Nairobi to cover the 1998 United States embassy bombings and went to Sudan to cover, Operation Infinite Reach in August 1998 which sent cruise missile strikes on al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan in retaliation for the American embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

In 1999, Morton Dean reported from Kosovo for 30 days during the NATO air attacks during the Kosovo War which helped ABC News win an Emmy for its coverage of the conflict.

Morton Dean is a freelance writer, occasionally writing on subjects of personal interest, including stories about the Boston Red Sox and his latest journey to Cuba, 50 years after his 1959 interview with Fidel Castro.

Morton Dean is a member of the Vietnam War Commemoration Commission created by Presidential proclamation whose goal is to embrace those who served during the Vietnam era and does pro bono work for Autism Speaks, the world largest autism awareness organization.

Morton Dean has received many awards for his reporting, including a National Emmy, an Overseas Press Club Award and a UPI Golden Mike Award.

In 1976, Morton Dean was part of the CBS News team that the Overseas Press Club, New York awarded the Radio Interpretation Award for Journalistic Achievement for "America in Vietnam".

Morton Dean was nominated for a national Emmy Award for his reporting the gun battle in Kosovo involving US Marines who were pinned down by snipers.

Morton Dean is the only recipient of an honorary degree from the Ringling Bros.

Morton Dean's clowning career began on a lark after he finished a story on the women of the circus for CBS Sunday Morning.