Backgrounder: Maurice Carroll

By Iliza Bershad

Maurice Carroll—"Mickey," to his friends—brings 40 years of experience as a reporter for The New York Times, The New York Post, and The New York Herald—Tribune to his present position as polling director at Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute.

In 1971, the Uniformed Firefighters Association awarded Carroll first place in their annual news contest in the "spot news" category for his December 12, 1970 New York Times article on a disastrous gas explosion on Park Row. The article conveyed the catastrophic intensity of the explosion, which injured 60 people, through the eyes of workers and nearby pedestrians. It concluded with short anecdotes about the firemen who arrived at the scene, and their challenges as they battled the blaze and hypothesized about its cause. Despite the empathetic perspectives that he portrayed in that article, Carroll is best known for his political beat and his analyses on national and state politics. In 1973 he was elected president of the Inner Circle, an organization of political writers and newsmen.

In 1963, Carroll, then a reporter for the Times, was sent to Dallas, Texas to report on the transfer of Lee Harvey Oswald, who had assassinated President John F. Kennedy two days before, from the police homicide bureau to a car that was to take him to the county jail. Carroll was one of a handful of reporters to witness Jack Ruby shoot and kill Oswald—an act that would later become potential evidence, to some, of a large conspiracy to kill the president. In 1964, Carroll collaborated with Ruby's defense attorney, Melvin Belli, on his first book, "Dallas Justice: The Real Story of Jack Ruby and his Trial." The book challenges conspiracy rumors surrounding the trial and Ruby by presenting Belli's truthful narration of the ordeal, and it provides a timeline of the events leading up to the assassination and throughout the trial.

Carroll's second book, "No Hiding Place: Inside Report on the Hostage Crisis (1981)," was another collaborative effort, this time with Robert McFadden and Joseph Treaster. It is an exposé of the covert decision making and dishonest operations behind the 1979-81 hostage situation in which 52 Americans were held captive for 444 days in Iran after the United States gave the former Iranian Shah asylum. Carroll questions the blind faith Americans placed in the Carter administration throughout the 444-day detainment—ridiculing the lack of criticism of U.S. officials responsible for the crisis, either before or after the hostages were returned.

Today, Carroll is the chief spokesperson for the New York and national polls at Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, Connecticut. The institute assembles a vast amount of statistics: In 2003 alone, it conducted aver 40 polls and 50 are planned for 2004. In recent years, it has earned a national reputation for accuracy and for the insightfulness of its questions that aim to reveal information about American's perceptions and preferences. For example, in a recent poll, Carroll's team asked "Who would you rather attend a backyard barbeque with, John Kerry or President Bush?" Carroll explained to Tony Sams the importance of the inquiry as an attempt to reach beyond the usual questions pertaining to social and political issues: "What we try to do is get beyond the straight up-and-down and get a real, personal reaction to these guys."

Although it covers national issues, the polling institute conducts most of its polls in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Carroll's extensive knowledge of politics, especially in these regions, together with his national reputation as a notable journalist have helped elevate the Quinnipiac polls to national prominence, and he is frequently called upon to interpret the Quinnipiac findings by major publications such as USA Today, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Of his job, the "tell-it-straight" Carroll simply says, "do an honest job and, if it causes trouble—which it often will—that's too bad. One way or another, truth will win out."

SOURCES

• Belli, Melvin, with Maurice Carroll. "Dallas Justice." New York: David McKay, 1964.
• "Beth Fallon of News Wed to Maurice Carroll of Times." New York Times. Dec 2, 1976. Proquest Historical Newspaper The New York Times.
• "Carroll Heads Inner Circle." New York Times. Oct. 20, 1973. Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times.
• Carroll, Maurice. "60 Injured in Blast that Shatters Bar Off City Hall Park." New York Times. Dec. 12, 1970. Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times.
• Carroll, Maurice. "Q: Does the reliance of the news media on polls distort reporting?" Webpage for Insight Magazine Symposium.
• "Fire Union Honors 3 Times Newsmen." New York Times. Mar 4, 1971. Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times.
• Jennings, Robert. "Ruby's shooting of Oswald witnessed by Morris native." The Daily Record News. Nov. 22, 2003.
• McFadden, Robert D., Treaster, Joseph B and Carroll, Maurice. "No Hiding Place: Inside Report on the Hostage Crisis." New York: Times Books, 1981.
• Mitchell, Richard. "Corporate Case Study—Quinnipiac University Applies the Power of the Poll." PR Week. July 26, 2004. pg. 10.
• Patrick, Michael. "National surveys generate more limelight for the poll the media has come to trust." Quinnipiac Magazine. Spring 2004.
• Sams, Tony. "Likability won't matter as much as you think." Indiana Daily Student. June 10, 2004.
• Webpage of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11358.xml

RELATED LINKS

• The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum site offers a look at the Iranian Hostage Crisis that began in 1979. It includes a list of the victims, diary entries and a rescue mission report.
• The official website of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute provides information about the polls, an archive of polls they have conducted and a brief look at the staff.