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(lively orchestral music) - [Robert Hilliard] My mantra, developed during all those years, is being ashamed to die until you've made the world a little better place than you found it.

(upbeat acoustic music) - [Narrator] Most would agree the world's a pretty good place here on Sanibel island, but just as the waves change the sands as they approach the shore, Sanibel is also home to one who turned the tides with his every endeavor.

- [Robert Hilliard] I think Arthur Miller probably said it best, "Develop a usable past."

(patriotic music) - [Narrator] Few can claim as usable and notable a past as Sanibel's Dr. Robert Hilliard.

Like Miller a playwright, but also a poet, author, media professional and World War II veteran.

But more important than his professional achievements, here on the shores of Florida's Gulf coast, lives a man whose life has been dedicated to the fight for freedom.

Freedom from tyranny, freedom of the press, and using freewill to benefit others.

(upbeat jazz music) - I grew up in Brooklyn, New York during the great economic depression of the 1930s.

I saw what happens to people when they have no money.

When they live in a society where income inequality means that you have huge numbers of people lacking in food lacking in shelter, lacking in medicines.

And when you see that happen in front of your eyes, you feel, am I a human being?

If I am a human being how can I not identify with these people?

How can I not do something to try to help them?

And I think that experience certainly marked my approach to life.

(somber piano music) - [Robert Hilliard] Shall you, shall I, shall we stay mute while evil tongues destroy the truth and turn to dust hope and promise grand?

Or shall we rise at last to raise our hand and take back guard dear and cherished land.

(war-like music) As an 18 year old kid who went into the army at the beginning of 1944 I was wounded actually a couple of times, they said, well we don't think you're fit to go back into battle but you haven't been wounded bad enough to be sent back home.

We are transferring you from the Army infantry to the Army Air Corps.

- [Narrator] Having written and edited for his college newspaper, Hilliard suggested he could work as an army journalist during his recuperation.

Given the go-ahead, he started a newspaper and was soon sniffing for stories about the allied victory throughout Europe.

(triumphant music) - Someone said to me, "Hey Bob, we hear that there is some kind of, bunch of survivors of the concentration camps up at some monastery called St. Ottilien, but it's probably half an hour.

It's kind of Western Munich near Landsberg.

And they're having what they call a 'liberation concert' tomorrow May 27th, 1945."

It was my biggest story.

Yeah hey, that would make a good story.

(orchestral music) - [Narrator] A story that would forever change his life and the lives of countless others.

Hilliard had stumbled upon a collection of recently freed concentration camp refugees who were sheltering at St. Ottilien monastery once occupied by the Germans and used as a hospital.

Though feeble and suffering, they were celebrating life through music.

- So I got a Jeep and I went alone.

And what I saw was out of a horror movie, and I said, "How can I help?"

So to me right there, it was more than a story.

It was a commitment here were people dying in front of my eyes and nobody doing anything about it.

- [Narrator] The Brooklyn boy who'd witnessed others suffering as a youngster was stirred to action.

With the help of fellow soldier, Edward Herman, he set out to turn the tides.

- Ed says, "I got to see this."

So we went the next day and he saw it and he was just as struck as I was.

And we went back and we decided first obvious thing was to try to get food because these people were starving.

(obscure violin music) - [Narrator] And so began the efforts of a 19 year old and a 24 year old that would save hundreds of lives and bring the plight of displaced persons to the American public.

- One of the things we did was steal food from our own mess hall.

We felt no compunction about it because as in many of the areas where Americans were occupying towns.

The mess halls were a prime area for food.

We went and we took it to St. Ottilien.

That was one of the way we fed people.

We did that several times.

- [Narrator] Putting humanity above protocol, the young GI's repeatedly returned to St. Ottilien, collaborating with a burgeoning ad hoc staff of former refugees.

The camp would eventually be overseen by UN relief agencies.

When Hilliard came upon the site, the refugees were in crisis.

Hilliard and Herman drafted a letter to inform the American public of the plight of these displaced persons.

- [Hilliard] We accused the American people of continued genocide by neglect.

And we told of what was needed: clothing, medicines, food, better housing everything it was needed.

And we urged the American people, who got this letter, to send boxes.

And I remember we went, "How do we get this printed?"

We would need to get at least 600, 800, 900 letters out right away.

- [Narrator] The letters were distributed to family, friends, churches, synagogues, YMCAs, and other philanthropic organizations.

After weeks passed with no response, the guys were surprised to learn the packages had been sent from the states, but never arrived.

- We couldn't imagine what had happened.

In the meantime, our letter was circulated throughout the states and we didn't know it, but it reached president Truman.

He gave a copy to Earl Harrison and said, in effect we don't know the exact words, but we can imagine, "Who are these two crazy kids making these accusations?

Find out about it."

Eventually Earl Harrison reported back to president Truman.

The headline of the New York Times front page headline, "President orders Eisenhower to end new abuse of Jews."

Sub-headline, "Likens our treatment to that of the Nazis."

Packages began to arrive.

What had happened was that Truman had ordered them, held up at the port of embarkation until we could verify what we had claimed in these letters.

- [Narrator] The packages finally arrived by the truckload.

(hopeful instrumental music) - Everything you can imagine, packages of clothes and medicines, especially medicines and food and, um, and the people standing around.

Like, we can't believe this that's for you.

And suddenly they rushed at it.

Opened packages like kids under a Christmas tree.

It was just a fantastic site.

Well, the upshot of all of this was that Truman did order Eisenhower to change policy.

And within six months this neglected hospital became models.

- [Narrator] Relatives of St. Ottilien survivors acknowledge Hilliard's humanitarianism and note his role in their family history.

One of those former refugees, Dr. Zalman Grinberg was lead physician at St. Ottilien and worked closely with Hilliard.

The legacy of this story lives on in the lives of his son, Yair and his family.

- My father, Zalman Grinberg, was a physician in Lithuania before the war.

And then within four days of his liberation he managed to take over a thousand bed German military hospital and change it into a hospital for the survivors.

I think that at first St. Ottilien was a well-equipped German hospital but when you're taking care of people who've been starved and who've been sick for all those years, there were other challenges.

It wasn't okay.

The liberation occurred.

There was nothing people had to take care of themselves on their own.

And that's where Bob's story comes in.

And what he did was really unbelievable.

Bob Hilliard, his introduction was he was writing for a newspaper.

When Bob first met my father and that's when he said he'll come back, he'll come back with whatever food and medicine he could scrape together.

And to talk to Bob, he really, he really looked up to my father, who my father was only 33.

Bob was only 19 at the time.

- [Narrator] Yair Grinberg, his sons and family, value the tenacity of those who came before and know they owe their lives to the ingenuity and bravery of those at St. Ottilien.

While his father, Dr. Zelman Grinberg was sent to Dachau, he was separated from his wife and young son.

Yair's brother, who were sent to Stutthoff.

They were finally reunited at St. Ottilien's, and at his side was his friend, Bob Hilliard.

- Bob actually was there in the office with my father when my mother and brother came in and it was like, my father got up, started crying.

Well, my father was obviously completely in an emotional state but then all of a sudden he realized that Bob was in the room and through the tears, he said, "Oh, I'm sorry, this is Bob Hilliard.

This is my wife and my son."

And I have, and I have this story because because Bob told me, you know and it's so it's so precious to me.

- [Narrator] Those same hands that provided nourishment to the starving went on to pen 35 books.

Nourishing the minds of media students, seeing journalism as a necessary link between people and policy.

He began an academic career teaching the power of the press and the dangers of propaganda.

Hilliard's St. Ottilien experience ended up coloring his life and priorities from that point on.

His worldview and activism on behalf of the wronged guided Hilliard in his profession and his beliefs, always one to seek higher truths, recent events, signal a darkness.

Hilliard fears these clouds of change.

- We're telling the story because right now you see things in your society that you find wrong.

That people need help.

And we're telling the story of two young privates, no power, no connections, but we saw something wrong.

And we tried to do something about it and we succeeded.

If you see a bully in your school yard you can't just let it go.

You've got to do something about it.

If you see immigrants and children being torn out of mother's arms and kids being put in cages and people being put in detention camps, just like they were at the beginning of the Holocaust.

And you let that happen, you're as bad as the Nazis.

What can we do about it?

Maybe nothing, but you've got to try.

And that is what Ed and I would say, this is why we are here and this is why we're telling you the story because you have got to make things good in the world you live in and you've got to help people who need help in the world you live in.

- [Narrator] Wordsworth, thou should be with us this day.

The world it seems has given its soul away.

The cries of those who suffer as life turns colder and rougher falls on ears that do not hear tuned to self-frivolity To vendors cries, to wealth amassed to notions of superiority.

- Robert Hilliard.

A true patriot, America's recent patterns have troubled Hilliard.

His efforts in world war II led him to a distinguished career as a journalist and the public's recent mistrust of the media deeply offends this activist's heart.

- Get people who believe in democracy together and walk with them, march with them to your city hall, to your radio station, your television station, your newspaper, and shout out loud.

Have them shout out loud, "No to fascism in this country!"

If you repeat a lie enough times, people believe it.

(radio static) And I think that's what's happening.

So right now, what can save us?

Only the media.

In the last few years, there have been strong specific attempts to curtail freedom of speech, and press, and assembly.

And unless we can do something about protecting freedom of speech, press, and assembly (television static) we are going to lose our Democracy.

- [Narrator] The media formed the spine of Hilliard's life following his time in world war II, just as impactful as his soldier years would be his participation in bringing television into the 20th century.

- [Hilliard] The media are the most powerful forces in the world today for affecting people's minds and emotion.

Look what happens in revolution in any country.

What's the first thing that's taken over?

The radio and television stations.

That's where the power is.

I am saying is that unless the media are diverse and have freedom of diversity, you are not getting a balanced fair picture of what's going on in society.

- [Narrator] Hear the sounds of freedom footsteps on the freedom road.

Every step, a roar louder than before dispel the gloom raise our voices now for our right to speak in assemble and protest those who would dissemble and try to halt the lilacs bloom.- Robert Hilliard.

- We cannot pick and choose unless we have a huge diversity of media that is covering all beliefs, all attitudes, all vested interests, not just the major ones who have the money and control the media.

We are controlling people's minds.

So we need freedom of the media.

We've began to do that with the Public Broadcasting Act providing federal funds for media not reflecting the beliefs of a particular owner.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Hilliard's belief that every country deserves a media outlet free of corporate bias, free of advertising parameters, compelled him to participate in the fact finding team, assembling a prototype for the public broadcasting system in the U.S. After receiving his PhD at Columbia, he taught media at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

He eventually moved to DC to work for the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission.

- Kennedy felt this was an important thing to use television for education and for broader cultural and information purposes.

I loved the educational potential of television.

I went to the Federal Communications Commission as was chief of the educational broadcasting branch.

It was what became public broadcasting.

- [Narrator] Media at the time focused heavily on print news and entertainment.

As the head of public broadcasting, Hilliard helped foster in a much needed educational component.

- [Hilliard] 1967 Congress passed the Public Broadcasting Act and I was very privileged to have been there and was there at the signing of the Public Broadcasting Act.

And in fact, I have one of the pens used by president Lyndon Johnson to sign the act.

And I have a prized photo of myself shaking hands with president Johnson.

- [Narrator] Seasoned media executive, Rick Johnson has worked with Hilliard through the years and notes, how prescient his understanding of media saturation was.

- So I would say in the current media environment where people have an opportunity to pick whatever it is, agrees with their worldview to begin with, I think it's so much it's so important that there is an option to receive information that is straight forward, that is unbiased, and that is un- uh, uninfluenced, let's say by commercial interests.

Probably the best illustration that I can think of, of of how much Bob understood the importance of the Public Broadcasting Act was the fact that originally it was going to be the Public Television Act of 1967, but he and his colleagues knew that that would leave out radio from the equation.

So they took what was the 1967 equivalent of a post-it note and covered television with broadcasting before the act was signed.

- So commercial television is subject to great pressure in terms of content by advertisers, public broadcasting is not and it's much freer to present what we would like to call objective information and news.

- [Narrator] Nay truth cowers in the hidden corners of the tyrants reign, it's mourners hiding, too letting perfidy have its way infamy holding sway, alternative facts the doctrine of the day.- Robert Hilliard.

There has never been room for alternative facts or fake news in Hilliard's life.

Truth has guided him professionally and personally.

He and his first wife, Mary Ellen were civil rights activists while raising two children who remember going on marches as kids.

Son, Mark is a historian and daughter Mara is a civil rights attorney in DC.

After their divorce, he found another partner eager to spread justice in Carla Johnston, with whom he traveled the world.

Carla spent some of their 27 year partnership as mayor of Sanibel Island.

Hilliard then met his current wife, Joanne, and they walk hand-in-hand together, lending their voices to righting societal wrongs.

This force of nature displays his gentlest side in his relationship with grandson Marlow.

- I can't read cursive.

- That says, "Grandpa and Marlow."

- [Narrator] Now a teenager, social justice motivates Marlow as well.

He actively participates in Black Lives Matter events.

After life dedicated to freedom for all and freedom of the press, Hilliard's belief that kindness will prevail continues today in the mission of PBS as it serves to provide a truthful media source.

- I think Bob understood from the beginning that the function of public television and public radio would be to shed light and not shed heat.

- [Narrator] Hilliard's life shows how working towards change is our responsibility.

Information impacts freedom and his life proves it's not a dream to think you can affect change and create a usable present in service to others.

- So many of the lessons of that time apply to this time.

What Bob did was amazing in its own right.

And I think it's, you know, as I was thinking about this, I, I remembered the quote from Dr. Martin Luther king, where he said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice."

Well, Bob Hilliard was a bender of the arc.

- [Narrator] Dreams.

If our reach remains beyond our means, we need only enhance our dreams.

After all.

Isn't that what dreams are for?

- Robert Hilliard.

(classical music)