Sen. John F. Kennedy (far right) participates in a panel discussion
on NBC’s Meet the Press, which aired on Feb. 14, 1954.

Meet the Press is a weekly television news/interview program broadcast on
NBC. It is the longest-running program in television history, though the
current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November
6, 1947.  It originates from NBC’s Washington, D.C. bureau.  Meet the Press
began on radio on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1945.     

The first host was its creator, Martha Rountree (below) the program’s only
full time female moderator to date. She stepped down on November 1, 1953
and until Ned Brooks could take over.