Frank Nicholas Stanton (March 20, 1908 – December 24, 2006) was an American broadcasting executive who served as the president of CBS between 1946 and 1971 and then as vice chairman until 1973.

He taught for one year in the manual arts department of a high school in Dayton, then attended Ohio State University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1935.

On that day, Stanton appeared on an hour-long special, Premiere, with Robert Alda, Faye Emerson, Ed Sullivan, Arthur Godfrey, William S. Paley and others to introduce the CBS color system.

CBS suspended it when the manufacture of color television receivers was halted by the US government as part of the Korean War effort.

Stanton played a role in the infamous controversy involving Arthur Godfrey, CBS's top money-earner in the early 1950s.

[11][12] As president of CBS, Stanton's greatest battle with the government occurred in 1971, and focused on just this parallel to print press rights.

The controversy surrounded "The Selling of the Pentagon," a CBS Reports documentary, which exposed the huge expenditure of public funds, partly illegal, to promote militarism.

Daniel Henkins, Undersecretary of Defense for Public Relations, charged that statements from his interview with Roger Mudd about his work had been doctored, as did Col. John MacNeil, who accused CBS of rearranging his comments in a speech he gave about the situation in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, critics at the Washington Post and Time magazine, while not taking issue with the thesis of "Selling" that the Pentagon was engaging in propaganda, objected to the editing techniques employed in its production.

[13] Against threat of jail, Stanton refused the subpoena from the House Commerce Committee ordering him to provide copies of the outtakes and scripts from the documentary.

[14] Stanton continued his relationship with CBS, contractually receiving at least $100,000 per year for consulting until 1988, plus office space, secretarial support, and other expenses.

[citation needed] Stanton served for many years as a Red Cross volunteer, concentrating on public information and fundraising.

After retiring from CBS, he was appointed Chairman of the American National Red Cross by President Richard Nixon in 1973, serving in that capacity until 1979.

[17] The Frank Stanton Studios in Los Angeles house American Public Media's Marketplace Productions.

[22] The Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic at the Ohio State University was named in his honor when it opened in spring 2021.