Charles Shutt, was veteran Washington newsman; at 86
WASHINGTON - Charles E. Shutt, who as bureau chief for Hearst Corp. ran one of the first daily television news services in Washington, died of pneumonia Sept. 16 at Potomac Valley Nursing and Wellness Center in Rockville, Md. He was 86 and a resident of Chevy Chase, Md.
Mr. Shutt was hired in 1950 to run Hearst Metrotone News Division in Washington. His division provided on-site coverage to CBS and later to ABC until the mid-1960s, when the networks began producing their own coverage.
He also was White House correspondent for Hearst. Over the years, Mr. Shutt interviewed world figures, including Winston Churchill, Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, and President Kennedy.
During press conferences with President Eisenhower, Mr. Shutt questioned the president on the role of the recently convened Geneva Convention, the prospect for peace in the Middle East, and other urgent matters.
Author Stephen Ambrose captured an exchange between Mr. Shutt and Eisenhower in his 1990 biography of the president.
"When Charles Shutt asked him to comment on Democratic charges that he 'was complacent in advising the people of the danger we face in world affairs' and that Eisenhower was allowing his commitment to fiscal soundness to 'stand in the way of developing some weapons we may need,' Eisenhower stiffened, reddened, glared at Shutt, then replied: " 'If anybody - anybody - believes that I have deliberately misled the American people, I'd like to tell him, to his face, what I think about him. The charge is despicable: I have never made it against anyone in the world.' "
A native of Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Shutt entered the University of Missouri-Columbia at 16 and studied journalism. He later took a job managing a chain of movie theaters for Telenews Productions in San Francisco and Seattle.
After moving to Washington with Hearst, he traveled extensively and accompanied presidents from Harry S. Truman to Ronald Reagan on diplomatic trips abroad. During a 1972 trip to China with the presidential press corps, he produced a documentary on the groundbreaking talks between President Nixon and Chairman Mao Zedong.
In 1979, he transferred to Hearst's New York City office when he became director of production and operations for King Features. He suggested and then managed the transfer of Hearst Metrotone News's extensive library to the UCLA archives in 1981. It is said to be one of the largest newsreel collections in the world.
He retired from Hearst in 1988 and returned to Washington. then served as an adviser to AARP.
Mr. Shutt was active in the Washington Press Club and served for many years as the entertainment chairman. He produced the annual White House Correspondents and News Photographers dinner.
