Trivia

Graduate of Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1925).

Was CBS' pointman inside Nazi Germany during the period leading up to World War Two, and reported on a number of pivotal events within Europe, including a broadcast from the Compiègne Forest of the French surrender in June, 1940.

After the war, he was given unprecedented access to captured German documents, documents that he used to write the first comprehensive history of the Adolf Hitler years, "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".

Lost all sight in his right eye due to a 1931 skiing accident.

Took a year off work in 1933, living with his wife, Tess, in a Catalan fishing village on the Spanish coast.

Following the Blitzkrieg, Shirer was approached by one of his contacts in the Wehrmacht, a German general. The officer wanted to meet with his lover, a French woman, but she refused to see him as long as he was wearing the uniform of the German conquerors. The general asked Shirer to temporarily trade clothes with him, and Shirer did so.

Was one of the first reporters to greet Charles A. Lindbergh when he landed in France following his solo flight across the Atlantic.

Following college graduation, he paid for passage to Europe by working on a cattle boat.