Harvest of Shame was a 1960 television documentary presented by broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow on CBS that showed the plight of American migrant agricultural workers.

It was Murrow's final documentary for the network; he left CBS at the end of January 1961, at John F. Kennedy's request, to become head of the United States Information Agency.

Murrow's close associate, Fred W. Friendly, who coproduced See It Now, was the executive producer of CBS Reports.

Their colleague, Edward P. Morgan, had taken up the issue of migrant labor in his CBS Radio Network commentaries.

Morgan's assistant had visited Senator Harry F. Byrd's Northern Virginia farm during the apple harvest and was outraged by the conditions of the migrant laborers working there.

[2] While Murrow and Friendly are often seen as the forces behind the show, broadcast historians such as the late Edward Bliss, Jr. have also given credit to "Harvest of Shame" producer/reporter David Lowe.

We hoped that the pictures of how these people live and work would shock the consciousness of the nation.The opening is voiced over footage of migrant workers, including a number of African-Americans, being recruited: This scene is not taking place in the Congo.

Throughout the documentary are numerous interviews, conducted by David Lowe in his nine months of field reporting, of people working in the industry.

Murrow describes the complaints most workers have, such as bad housing, flies, mosquitoes, dirty beds and mattresses, unsanitary toilets, and the lack of hot water for bathing.

Every year, there are accidents on the road that often result in injury or death since workers are very compactly packed into the backs of trucks.

In Cutchogue, New York, 300 migrants live in a camp owned and operated by the Potato Growers Association of Long Island.

Good night, and good luck.After Murrow joined the National Security Council as a propagandist, his position led to an embarrassing incident shortly after taking the job when he asked the BBC not to show Harvest of Shame to avoid damaging the European view of the US.

[3] British newspapers delighted in the irony of the situation, with a Daily Sketch writer saying: "if Murrow builds up America as skillfully as he tore it to pieces last night, the propaganda war is as good as won.