Donahue may not have come from an influential family but his second wife, Marlo Thomas did. Her father was Danny Thomas, one of the trailblazers of early television and founder of St. Jude’s Hospital for children. I suspect there were plenty of connections for Phil to take advantage of as a result. Just sayin’. My two cents.
Danny Thomas did a lot of good for many, many families needing medical care for their children. As far as I recall, he was never controversial in any way, akin to Red Skelton.
Ironically, this lack of (unnecessary) drama in his TV career is probably one reason why few ever think of him today.
I’m so old that I vaquely recall seeing The Danny Thomas Show on TV. It came on the same night we watched Hazel, starring Shirley Booth.