reading and i had the pleasure and the challenge of having on my team one of those boys chamberlin of upi. [laughter] [applause] i feel like a lot of you know him. [laughter] so looking forward to a terrific discussion this evening and now i have the pleasure of introducing the chair of the national press club history and heritage tv 87 the presiden president, the bureau chief of the washington bureau for university of oklahoma and a dear friend. [applause] >> thank you the role of the press club is the legacy of the press the 112 year history as well as journalism and washington. we are pleased and new book called tales from the national press club escape one - - scheduled for those that have had an impact on american and world history. this event was proposed by evan who himself is part of the great washington family for generations they publish national geographic along with his great-grandfather alexander graham bell who by the way invented the telephone. [laughter] now editor and publisher of the national heritage magazine. but then and is also the publisher excuse me the author of 13 history books and a third generation so we will introduce our distinguished panel not only from the campaign chronicled from the boys on the bus but also presidential politics in the 12 elections that have followed. we will have one hour and then we will open to questions from the floor. i will pass around a microphone. immediately after the program please join us for a reception for our guests. thank you so much. the floor is yours. [applause] >> thank you and also congratulations i don't know how you found so many good we are really pleased with this crowd. we will have a lively discussion tonight and those experiences of those but when the boys on the bus came out reviewer wrote it describes a whole gaggle of pundits and pontificate her's glamour boys drunks and fornicators hacks and hatchet men and others with typewriters in the press room. phonetically dogging the candidates for something to put their best words on. that may be a little bit over-the-top but it did provide so how we feel with political campaigns and how the people bring those stories to us like that but when he was out of papers the washington bureau chief for nearly three decades, on the bus he covered the campaign for ap which gave him special status with reporters looking over his shoulder to see the lead and the next morning. [laughter] calling the gridiron club in the correspondence had this deduction adventures of the boy on the bus. tom as you well know that he was no that he was no but then to help manage the glove's coverage in the. in boston no later the correspondent for the globe reporting on ten presidential campaigns a frequent commentator known for his wit and his bow ties. he has also written five books including most recently then to come down from new york to join us and true pioneers only the second female coanchor to coanchor and with the cbs evening news also inca reporters nbc, abc, cnn and msnbc. >> in demand. [laughter] but always showing up well-prepared with microphone ready and never hung over. [laughter] that is a real advantage. >> so first of all i was assigned to the tenth bureau and then a spot opened up in the new orleans bureau and that would be more interesting than tampa but what i didn't know as they were about to desegregate the schools so it was about to get very interesting so the next three but then i got the washington bureau because my new orleans bureau chief didn't work but this was six months before kennedy was killed and then the day that he was shot i was doing at 1030 and i call then wyatt heard had happened they said should i come in now? they said no. comment on the 18th but with a world war ii generations but then i was in the senate for several years and a 60 campaign i spent but then one of the main app but then with the baltimore sun at the end of 1975 then they gave me a good offer to cover politics in the white house and 1981 a former editor as the chief and i retired ten years ago that's how i got where i got. >> 1972 was my second of 11 and then to cover in 1968 but 72 i started in new hampshire where i met this one i'm pretty sure. [laughter] so that was my second. >> we are about the same age. >> but the number, yes that is off the record. [laughter] >> that he had a lot more. >> yes i just started at cbs news and i was in my mid- twenties. i'd only been there a few months and suddenly assigned to cover george mcgovern presidential campaign. i was really surprised. but it was great but i was the top reporter and the third string he was smart and respected by even the print journalists. they there was a second string but most others were speculating. it was very nice and then i would be bumped out so i primarily covered for radio. that was my job. but i persevered. >> there is a lot of interesting details. what did you think? why are we still reading it today quick. >> my name was annette. [laughter] >> i didn't like the picture much but better than no pictures. i'm not sure i think it captures a time and a place that somehow it has a romantic atmosphere and part of it was hunter thompson side and then the mcgovern campaign you carried one state you didn't do very well but yet but then really? [laughter] right quick. >> one of my favorite moments of the general toward the end and the colonists in most senior network of people did not come out that much during general in fact one of the things that i learned that is part of the trade is how little they flirt we have had correspondent responsibilities in those days to very much be appreciated because the good ones would do your job for a day. and you could rest. it was nice. but i remember toward the en end, two of the most hawkish but in 60 it would be immediately shocked and 50 it definitely was but the examination and then to write on this area. [laughter] but but then how would it be without the pool? but then there was the rest of us. and we were the scum. we were animals and not to be respected. >> and we acted like a. [laughter] >> chrome is a the and then the third person but then one of the popular people were bob novak. [laughter] and mcgovern didn't like anything that he wrote i was reminded the other day about the npr reporter who is not allowed to travel with pompeo. i traveled with spirit active in the early seventies in the washington post and baltimore sun were not allowed to go. so that part has not changed. >> and never forget mcgovern's plane called the dakota queen because it is named after the world war ii plane. >> before the max bombing missions before will one - - before world war ii and then to pull away from the tarmac in cleveland. >> so with a lot of younger people today it must be difficult for them to fathom what it was like for us to file articles when there were no computers or internet or e-mail. not even a fax machine. >> a technological advanced it shows what a different world that was i remember coming back from south dakota with senator mcgovern and they had their famous meeting and mcgovern announced to tell everyone he would dump eagleton. >> this is a story about technology. if he had reported and then to write separate stories from the morning and afternoon papers for the wires. i said give me a copy i will find the phone. no cell phones times is and then use your recruiter of what worked for me. and that was really hard. i mean really hard. [laughter] >> i recall being asked. [laughter] >> but the film you have to get back that before new york. but you can send that back in the morning quick. >> yes. i have a notorious story. my husband told me you have to tell it because it just shows how aggressive and brutal you were. [laughter] and i thought little old me? or to a location where could be developed instead. or literally fly back to new york it would be a rickety five hour plane whether it was first string or second string but he was supposed to so this time my father had a heart attack. they said you can come home. i said great. now flying to the location instead of having the report. >> we knew and they said no. you are outrageous they called the bureau and everyone was appalled. but i'm sorry. yes. but first of all there were portable typewriters. >> i cannot remember i had an underwood that i think dated to the late 1930s. and then just beginning to be miniaturized. in 1960 but there was something different that is long gone because of the device of monopolies but once you have a nominee the candidates claim they always had a guy named at&t whose job was to make sure that wherever you stop, there were several roles of telephone that worked so we didn't have to fight for that. >> you could write your story. a couple of times in the middle of nowhere and the western union guy would take it in there it be operators waiting at the next stop. and all of that is gone today that talk about life for you because really one of the things that perhaps is different from now is that this was at the dawn of let the women in age. 1972 saw the arrival of three people. one is a fabulous correspondent who was just marvelous especially in new hampshire and then to put great pressure on the network to hire women. so cbs and still kind of is. [laughter] to hire in one fell swoop for like me a chinese person or a nice jewish girl with blonde hair. >> it looked like one of those tickets in the old democratic city. [laughter] there was one other woman that year who were a print reporter and arriving on the scene with the primaries of 1972. and now she is gone sadly from the early eighties. that is really all there was. and yes connie would go through a stonewall for the story but then you tell the story and then you realize, it was generational at the time. we grew up with television we were totally comfortable with it. most of us in personal or political life are comfortable with the women's movement and those who had trouble with women and be with television and then to mary susan spencer and then had her own television news a long time at cbs. >> trying to think of a career or at some point to have a meaningful professional life to be that long ago 1972 it was the breakthrough and in a lot of respects and. >> in 1976 they were uncovering the campaign and in eighties there were fights and then a change and i read her disclaimer but i was such so the two of us would be the only ones there and i was just trying to come up with something mundane so i could gauge of what had happened and she was squirreling away in the middle of the night writing and rewriting and i watched her on the corner of my eye and we said we would take a wild guess and wisconsin. we were in a press room and mary isn't here to jump in she may have had a couple of dinners who was very fastidious about her appearance and her hair was always done. there we were in this room and the return started to come in that night. [laughter] got closer and closer to her hair. [laughter] and all of a sudden it lit on - - it and then allowed young men to carry her bags. and then they would pour water. [laughter] that i was used to it because every day in a fair. every day. but you see so you just deal with it. . . . . >> they were really one of the boys. "the boys on the bus". especially this one and i remember one night during the general election, we were somewhere and sometimes after we were all finish it, we would have a couple before we turn in in connie, was pretty good about hanging out with us a little bit. connie: i realized that was how you were getting your stories. [laughter]. is that i was always in bed in my room. no. [laughter]. he never said who i was in bed with. he said when i realized that carl was breaking stories right and left. and you are breaking stories right and left. how does happen, i realize if you out of the bar, if you get whoever you can like on the campaign, a little snowbird, then the might be able to say something. tom: so there we were, three or four of us including connie. how many times have you seen this happen. some bouldering salesman, and a leisure suit. started to hone in obviously and awkwardly, making passes in connie's direction. i was comfortable by how calm and cool she was about it all. as if she didn't really taking notice to the guy. and he didn't. he kept circulating and coming back, with his barflies do sometimes. and finally, he would come back and was starting and again and i was just starting to get up out of my chair. just sort of to shoo him away when connie, gave him one of the most withering stares i have ever seen in my life. and so the line that it stayed with me forever. said connie, look you don't want to go to bed with me. you would just be horny 20 minutes later. [laughter]. connie: we were e-mailing. tom: from that moment on, connie ones one of us. connie: we were e-mailing back and forth and he said he had a story. nice and i have no memory anymore. i forgot it. i had to develop a little repertoire because there were so many of these things coming out every day read one time, i have to tell you roger mudd reminded me, he called me and he said, new york times, let's see, another one. at the time was working for la times. before he came to the post. i was i think at the biltmore hotel in philadelphia on the phone, on a phone. the old-fashioned payphone with the accordion glass door. in a big black payphone estate. so i was sitting there. i was actually talking to somebody who had been dating. they came up and pressed their noses against the glass and they were harassing me, that they were harassing me. they pushed their way in. i was sitting here, i could see the belt buckles. they were at that height. so to get rid of them, i pulled the flies down. [laughter]. roger said to me, did you do that. and i went, i think so. edwin: on that note. that was a hard one to follow up on. did you feel you have a lot of access to mcgovern. i'm just curious about how and when all of the journalists, when they were covering the campaign, they would get close to the candidate enough that they felt almost possessive or something. timothy crouse writes about after muskie taken the full, see a group of his generals had just knocked down five rounds of whiskey. there guy, was out. that was one of the things it was most different about 1932 versus a the access. principle for the same plane with the candidate and with the staff. and really no barriers. you could go up and talk to mcgovern and things like that and i remember being in new hampshire in early january 1972 and i wanted to do a story. every round with him in a car. i think the only other person in the car was the driver. i don't know if you want me to tell the story about the thousand percent. connie: oh you must. it was so good. edwin: i wrote the story that prompted him to write the story about a thousand percent behind. in a press conference that they announced eagleton, had treatments for depression. including the electric shock treatment. after that story, with wires coming got it think of what is the follow-up. and i saw tom of the post going to mcgovern's cabinet and i thought, he's got an interview with him. i can figure how to do that. i found out that he was playing tennis. in a network tennis lesson. so it over to the tennis court where he was, and asked when he was finished, if i could write up with him to his cabin. and talk to them. he said sure. you couldn't get within 10 miles of the candidate today. most cases, you don't plan the same plane with them, or anything. so i went back to the pressroom and we did not have one of those tape recorders we had one of these big things. we had one for the two of us. i got this recorder for my colic. not telling him i wanted it. i did want to tell anyone you might have. i interviewed mcgovern. in the course of the interview, i asked him what did you think the public reaction to eagleton's announcement will be. it had been very supportive of eagleton. i said well, we'll have to wait and see. a lead. mcgovern is still supporting eagleton but he says we will have to wait and see how the public reacts. a simple wire service lead. totally innocuous. i filed it. yet understand, about communications in those days. half of mcgovern step is in south dakota. have is in washington. they barely have phone communication back and forth. they don't have a wire. they don't have an internet. they have no way to see my story for hours and hours and hours. and when they see my story, they go crazy. oh he is pulling back from eagleton. we have to do something about it. they have a hurry up meeting. mcgovern says, i will deny it. the press secretary said i don't think you can do that. and of course i had it on tape. so his solution was to print up a statement saying in response to the story, i'm a thousand percent behind eagleton. and by the way, the statement. was put on the wall at the pressroom of the lodge. tom: and the person who did it is here in the third row. [laughter]. [applause]. she had red hair then. there's some of it still there. carol it went on to join our racket after the election and had a great life. those are moment in history. and she pulled it off beautifully. but here's a more serious thing. carl: in the book, timothy crouse got something right and we all got it wrong. timmy thesis in this book, is that the established way of covering politics, was full of it. that it created a two dimensional linear reality. an reality, easily manipulated by politicians. on the eagleton and mcgovern thing, is.was an overall windblown the story because we failed to transmit how manipulative i loved eagleton but how manipulative eagleton was in trying to stay on the ticket. and then how skillfully manipulative mcgovern was in trying to raise the skids getting rid of him without having dramatic press conferences saying i am getting rid of the guy. you have this confusion about that. timmy's point was that all of this was farce. and not genuine drama. and that is the larger point that he was trying to make in the book. i think that is one reason it is still studied today. because there is something wrong still with two dimensional journalism. in many respects, the hero of this book, noah stories about drugs and booze and. there are a few of those. his hunter, thompson. who could make a campaign more real by going off to pluto with these wild, unsavory ones in new hampshire. that he had discovered. the reason muskie was allowed or lousy candidate was boring and stiff as a board, etc. was that somebody had smuggled to new england, this drug from brazil and even a name for it. it made you boring. [laughter]. and then he would go on to describe an actual appearance by muskie which could be like if the rugae was very funny. very profane. worried about assessor. but a very interesting man. but this thing that was campaigning was just not, anyway hunter's description of muskie, were more real than ours. and that's tim's message. connie: but the wholesale decision about everyone, i don't think it is true with every single reporter. carl: i couldn't agree more. if you look at david broder. you have to weigh in. one of the questions, tim is wrestling with in this one and it would come up repeatedly in the campaigns later all of the way to today. his how could the whole institution have been dead wrong about it muskie. but about whether it was a good guy that guy, but just with the situation was from early on. tom: practically the eve of the new hampshire primary. there was this massive's structure knows that known as the muskie campaign. it dominated everything. connie: this is alive and well today. tom: we were just beginning to have a debate in 1972. among ourselves, usually in the barroom. about whether our coverage was about candidacies and what they were about. connie: or the horse race. tom: 1972 was the first time he he