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 heard that term. in our daily stories, yours as well as mine, if the candidate or if they said something, that was the story. carl: and usually they had one. in the speech. they gave you your need. tom: something to write about. connie: you can recite the speech with him. but we could hear one new part. tom: they would melt the speech as the candidate was giving it. in one of the mcgovern traveling gurus in 1972 was a guy who'd been central to presidential politics since 1960. fred. he later went on to become believe it or not, the washington operator government in saudi arabia. carl: point and he get rich. tom: but he was marvelous at his craft. one thing he always had, was the candidates he was advising, is personalizing something about the sub speech so at least everybody could have a laugh. and there is one example that involves you and me. mcgovern, would have lines in his speech about classic liberalism. every day the big rich businessman, can deduct the price of his three martinis. in the line in the speech would be in the poor working guy. can afford the price of his . carl: baloney sandwich. tom: and the poor working stiff like coral, like carl leubsdorf, couldn't pay for the cost of his pain to butter and jelly sandwich. carl: i would think what would he do this. and i realized that i was talking from mcgovern on a plane. just before we got off. so i was probably slightly in his mind, and by then he was also losing the election. and it was sort of trying to have a little fun. this is not going to dwell. tom: had a great one for bob kennedy to who always closed his speech with his famous quote from james bernard shaw, some people think see things the dream things the way they were and i would ask or not. and several times, robert kennedy would say into the microphone, and so, hence george bernard shaw says, let's all get to the press. in the mood lightened. access was very different. connie: and the contrast was so profound because nixon was invisible. absolutely visible. he was nowhere to be found. see when it finally became the story at the end of the campaign. connie: i think all of us felt that no one was pressing him from that side to come out of the bunker and meet with the press. he just would not. carl: and he would just before 72, one of the boys on the bus who at the time was representing the newspaper chain and later would be far more famous deservedly for that. his name was jack. it was technically, albany. but at that time, it was a real chain in a series on read things like usa today, hadn't happened yet. they did the column and 77 but anyway, jack had the idea after the 60s, that we needed people who did politics regularly, needed to have regular access to the people were running just to talk and get to know each other rated so he organized something which one of us, karen or who. it was called political writers for a democratic society. tom: and there were maybe seven or eight of us we would have supper at somebody's apartment or house and the candidate and one aid only would come. and it would be, but off the record, it would be in with a call around here, deep background. meaning that you could attribute anything, you couldn't even allude to having talked to the fellow. you could not use a quote. you could say it is for their ways you could say it but you couldn't say it directly. and of course no pictures. carl: endo broadcast in the wires. tom: didn't you ask again which ones on camera. connie: oh yes. it just between you and me. carl: my wife had some dump congressman in upstate new york. tom: go everyone knew who was in going to endorsed to kennedy for president in the sky bedding a tennis ball back and forth with a bunch of us one day and my wife, finally said will off of the record while the cameras were running, would you endorse kennedy and he said oh yeah. [laughter]. connie: the lights on in the cameras are rolling and they have the microphone on. i mean, does. right. tom: but these things were incredibly newsworthy. i was very young then and i was am very old now. but i felt like an of these people. and in a pinch, you could have a candid conversation. edwin: you think you guys were more of rubble it then pretty quote you, at one point when gordon comes out to give a talk to the bus on mcgovern's new economic plans that he is just released. he start talking" you saying, i have heard a lot of bull ship before but this takes the cake. tom: it kept going. we threw gordon off of the bus. we just gave up. there was never another moment with which captured all of us. it was very much of what was happening then inc. compared to know. mcgovern was an early proponent of what is being called an economic demand. every citizen has a certain account that they start out in life with. connie: a thousand dollars a person. how is that different. tom: is more common today. nixon had a version of it in 1969. believe it or not. but this thing came out, it was old all new, and it was called liberal at the time. it was unclear how much it would cost. about a month into of almost around-the-clock, ruthless examination of this proposal. carl: they didn't know how much it would cost. tom: but nobody had ever gone in to an issue like this the candidate that deeply. and after the election, i wish i could remember which it journalism school did it, there was more ink spilled exposing the decisions or deficiencies of mcgovern's economic proposal that had been expended on watergate at the time. connie: oh my goodness. edwin: this intense book. but there was no internet, it wasn't written about. you could say things, off the record and tossed the or talk to the candidates off the record. but it cannot be courted. if a reporter today turns to another record in the white house press room, assuming they had the pressroom still, says something, it is reckoned to be on the internet two minutes later. connie: the eastern liberal establishment press was 11 will as it probably is today. eleven guess, most all of the reporters get those for mcgovern, they probably did not vote for nixon and yet i think all of us believed very strongly, that if we happen to be as an individual citizen of one who might want to vote for that person, we would bend over backwards to be critical. i thought that every reporter went overboard being critical of mcgovern just because they did not want to be accused of soft pedaling him or his message. carl: that is still happening today. it's happening with the times with governor biden today. you look at the times everyday. there's something about what biden is doing wrong. i'm assuming he will finish eighth in iowa. i was going to pick up on what connie was saying. when you are out there, when you were out there, with the microphones, how did you know what to ask. you were not just sticking the microphone in people's faces. you're one of the people prompted people like mcgovern to say something to get some fresh sounder something. the required ub completely up to speed first thing in the morning so when he came out of the hotel to get in his car in the motorcade, if you can a newsy question you're likely to get dizzy insert. and that is what you did. come). connie: right. yes thank you knowing that. tom: the way it was done then, is that everybody did it travel on the ground especially, when 5400 people, particularly in general election in the convention reporters, are divided up into shifts, morning, afternoon, evening. in seven or eight of them, will represent on their colonies. the can't fit everybody had. and there called pool reporters. and so i would maybe have a duty every other day or something. but you had it 24 hours a day. [laughter]. >> we are about out of time. tim talks about trying to cover a campaign from 30000 feet. and still a lot of the reporters got it wrong but the mcgovern campaign because you said it's only were going around seeing large crowds and enthusiastic people. carl: the polling was in its infancy. edwin: 120 was 20 points up in the field. tom: we thought it was probably losing but he had these enormous crowds everywhere. i got off of the plane about a week out to go back to the headquarters to and i was stunned to discover that no 130 was going to carry anything. you did not really have the same information that everyone has today. i would say today everything is so whole driven that's another story. anedwin: one quick question. what was the best prank, because there were some pranks on the bus. tom: wealthiest. edwin: maybe you can't tell. tom: one of the things was different, if there is a common feature of the presidential campaign, this the arrival of somebody from vanity fair. origin of bones quarter or esquire. and those kind of magazine big shots. sometimes, now to write about the past. and is there was a big story in the style section this morning of the washington post who is screwing home. [laughter]. in iowa. i did another do that. if they weren't doing that in 1972. connie: about this woman was a nixon spy. edwin: lucy with the cigarette holder. lucienne goldberg. on a plane and later it reappears some years later as a friend or config get confident of monica lewinsky. and she helped break that story. and her son is still a columnist i believe. tom: she was there everyday. we struck she was writing about. jim cigarette holder, and a drink more often than not. she talked into a tape recorder and supposedly, she said she was doing a book. and she would mumble these ridiculous details things into it. like 500 people here ., mcgovern looks tired. that sort of thing. ridiculous. it turned out this was going to office every night. and it didn't come out until the hearings next year. anyway. connie: am i going to tell this. tom: one of these fancy magazine reporters showed up. the dress beautifully. at least, if not a designer. in a handbag, the had to of cost for figures. i just could not take my eye off of it. [laughter]. the campaign was going to san francisco that day. by the time we got there, we were pretty lubricated. not particularly pleased with the spiritual arrival. she was sitting at the front of the bus. hard-core. she put this persons whatever it was spectacular thing in the aisle. in those days, campaign buses, press buses did not come equipped with restrooms. one of her numbers, and emergency as we were driving in from the airport. i will see who. and he just couldn't wait any longer and from the backseat, he tried to use a beer can. [laughter]. and mostly failed. [laughter]. and this little rivulets, san francisco, he avails all of this. dear of the story. anyway, he began to make its way down the aisle. [laughter]. towards the front. and pretty soon the entire bus is cheering. then there was this huge cheer when ahead home. [laughter]. welcome to presidential politics. mr. big shot. [laughter]. [applause]. edwin: let's give the audience a chance to ask questions. don't make a campaign speech. yes her. >> hi craig sherman, back in the days when this book was written, the three of you, they were sort of gatekeeper so i think sort of got to decide in a way karen from president. if you thought were a serious contender or not. in the last couple of administrations we had a president who only had two years his experience of senators. since then we found present who's had no political experience that whatsoever. in the days of "the boys on the bus" would've either one of those been taken seriously. what are they got elected. tom: not a problem. remember that when mcgovern ran, in 1972 started to happen, for all of this way over-the-top concentration. everybody covering that campaign has been through the earthquake of 1968. when the same thing would happen, also new hampshire with jean mccarthy. as somebody who went through it, there was never, the one thing that i thought was unfortunate looking back, is that there was not much attention paid to it really was a historical change in those the candidacy of shirley chisholm. i don't think any of this understood would be deal that was. but remember how big the field was in 1972. it was one debate in new hampshire where they had five candidates. no no. they've used two tables, they had them stacked up on top of each other somehow and some dinner. crazy guy who threw the rat on the table is said there's not enough being done about hunger. some guy named ed. i still remember a still life. his because was public access to beaches. anyway he of was running for president. mills. was running in any way, and them stacked up like this. in new hampshire but musky, dominated so much. but before i shut up, there's a message behind you question though not sure i accept. and one thing alone from 1972, the impact of what we do is almost zero trade people of their own ways of figuring out what the hal is going on. we play a role but i think most of us tend to exaggerate it. and it is true, full don't get mentioned to should. i'm sure everybody was dropped on the democratic race so far, would feel in some way cited. but the truth is it is a fair fight. with a mistake you can make is thinking that your impact is colossal. we really don't matter at all. >> is a big change . carl: a new paradigm now. print and television, the way i knew it, television network. actually lacks relevance today because of the internet. information such through the cloud accurate information. edwin: a lot of stories about all of the things that trump has done indent, and his people didn't care. they said don't care. it didn't matter that everyone wrote about it. and it didn't matter that was all true. tom: nixon was an early believer that. his operation was the first one to be structured that way. they learned that some of it with television and 68. but in terms of content and scheduling, they had a down pat. reagan did and 84. but in contest for nominations, i think the experience shows that is a free-for-all, fair fight. the runner doesn't mean anything. that word finally got his comeuppance pretty. carl: when mesquite was the front runner before mcgovern had announced a year earlier, it was going all around the country. no one was paying any attention to him. so finally by the six-month in, a star new york times thing mcgovern has been a candidate for seasons and he's not going anywhere. for some reason he called me up. i don't know why. maybe just because i had covered him. what should he do about this. so my job to tell him what to do. i said the first thing that came into my head. all you have to do is when the new hampshire primary. he didn't but he did well enough in the prosody one. tom: actually the margin of the moment in 1972, is a turning point. up until that point, not always been a lot of attention paid to the following word. expectations. when you had a front runner, it would be a game in the 60s and into 72, how much does he have to win by. what is the expectation. every night, and the campaign setting, i credit, a bunch of us would write a mocking song about some event or theme the campaign. in new hampshire, expectations, was done to the tune of rock of ages. and if i remember the lyric, it is david right for me, tell me what is victory. [laughter]. and the number that the musky evil best known was 55 percent. 55 percent. the famous quote is very, and he doesn't get 55, she said i will beat her east my heads. was ithere are still people who haven't learned. but that was the first moment that just dumped all over him. carl: but there's stories being written today about the expectations on monday in iowa. connie: before i forget, timothy crouse set of nixon, no president has ever worked so lovingly for pain staking reporters. i'm sorry. oh my goodness. >> you won't find my name and timothy crouse "the boys on the bus". but i did have one small advantage and that was that i had covered mcgovern in south dakota. fresh out of iowa, south dakota and sioux falls. he kept mentioning about this young rising young democratic politician pretty democrat. from septic go to named george mcgovern. i have never heard of him. and he would is a debate coach as you know, and he was about to run for the house against joe foss, the world war ii ace. nfl commissioner. anyone it. there was a small advantage that i had. timothy crouse said to me later, sometime will have to talk about what is going to cover whenever in the early days. we never had the talk. one way that we never did campaign can, in sioux falls hope for a rundown office building in the syndicate building, the elevators didn't start running into something like a clock and i had to file the weather. every morning during campaign, many mornings during campaign, george mcgovern, who caught those five floors without an elevator and stop by with a handout the probably written and typed himself. that was before going off to a sales a better whatever. but the man struck me because i never heard anybody who was quite so articulate were moving. tom: it is illegal to be a democrat in south dakota when mcgovern started in the early 50s rated as a college guide any drove himself around in a beat up station wagon. and he built that party all by himself. edwin: >> did come along for the ride or in my breaking up the wrong tree. there a lot about things as a reporter. it strikes me to look at the amount of money the journalists are willing and able to pay for with the drink and what kind of establishment the drink and pretty so i wonder going from a time when somebody is dressing and very expensive attire on the bus would be looked down upon a time now where people are taking elements debt to go into journalism and i think probably having different kind of drinks a different kind of ours. i wonder if anybody has thoughts on hundred the challenge for journalists today to connect with readers and viewers when there's a bigger gap between the word of the living lives there was in the 70s. connie: actually, they did provide in the mcgovern campaign, or i think. charters. tom: before deregulation, so everybody wanted to keep the monopoly. my god, the first thing in the morning. connie: i think it was provided. carl: is always been on the charters on the plane. but the differences today, reporters don't drink as much. it's as simple as that. [laughter]. you if you notice through the years, when it switched from blood he marries in the morning to mineral water. you go to the mid-nineties of the early 90s, and they're only two or three, the older guys were still drinking. all of the new breed to come along were not. carl: you have to work harder to. tom: aligning is used, is expected that you always go at the table when you pick up checks. i was trained in expense living, don't leave the check on the table and so i would return and somebody would object to say no, i will get that. it is only money and is not mine. [laughter]. >> good evening. new york times editor, several years ago had gone to journalism and what you see is news. we know, background. we feel his opinion. with increasing frequency, we see reporters on cnn, msnbc, or fox. offering opinions 24/7. is this knowing journalism forward. tom: as a husband of someone who appears on television, actually think is somewhat of a problem. there are many people, or some people i would say and susan is certain one of them who can find themselves through analysis and explanation of what they see is coming in and many others who are expressing points of view. i'm amazed to see a reporter from the associated press where i once worked, expressing opinions on morning joe, morning after morning. but it seems like the news organizations, like prominence, on tv, websites, and clicks on the website mean someone is paying attention. in the line is gotten very bored rated and don't think it's that good. >> past president of the press club. you talk about the opinion let you think bent over backwards onto favor mcgovern. this is the first first campaign of the white house mood is platform. do you think that influenced your coverage anyone today doing these organizations out there are going after the press. in this way the new york times is going after joe biden. and hillary clinton, even now. edwin: boy there are a lot of premises there. in the question, honey is more perspective i think that either of us. what is your sense . connie: us to a little bit there. see what did we bend over backwards. carl: i don't think it has any effect quite frankly. connie: are just normal people. i think when you are a normal reporter, you want to be, we all want to be fair. and we have a personal bias, in one direction or another direction, then we try very hard to push our personal bias out of the way and be fair. so consequently, if we were at that time, appalled with what someone said, i think try very hard just to be objective. we are all products of her own experiences. we can't help being slightly subjected going trying to be. tom: i didn't know many nixon people really believed all of that malarkey. it was way of doing politics that they have discovered and work. in the times when it was almost a game. after that first speech, window sapphire, are still there and still arguing about who wrote it. negativism. there would be game playing at night with them to come up with other alliterative phrases. some of them not principal. they all indulged in this. they transmitted to me a feeling that this is more of a game that it is something serious. even today. it strikes me is other worldly. carl: but what i was talking about with the times, think bending over backwards it to show that in the times this case, enough of the democrats. and against trump. so you do it by being as tough as possible on the other side. i think is sometimes a care it to an extreme point prickly ar area. >> you mentioned people don't have the direct access that they used to have. they can't go to the tennis club and have a direct conversation. police the political journalists are in some came in trials with the candidates and it seems like now we've got the seminary layer of the curators and the people are getting it is not from the people who are in direct contact with the candidates but through whether it is a blog, or an article, they're compiling the stories and become that intermediary. does that seem to include the internet. whether it is bloggers, someone at the newsroom who sort of is pulling the information from the people were out of the allies. were not getting the stories directly from the people who are on the frontlines. tom: do you study all of this. i will tell you is a consumer, here's what i would like. take a 24 hour. and is somehow get it all, stream some events, if one of these, or handful of these blogs, was a thing that has a circle with a line and it and can only write hundred and 50 words or something. three twitter. [laughter]. two people read this stuff. carl: yes. tom: get it all. give me a day in the life of the 20 percent three media is only when it is like. if you learn anything, if it was all just a bunch of jibber jabber. and here's a picture of my lunch or something. because it is so diffused now. i can't learn very much for coverage. can you print. connie: i can't find the truth. i am having such a hard time trying to find out what is accurate and what is true. while. tom: i'm taking disturbing events. getting video so you can watch a candidate event. just find out what they are saying and what is going on. horserace, it was three paragraphs in a daily 72. it is now the story and believe me, is still reads to me like 9. and doesn't have anything to do with educating me about anything going on in the country or whatever. if you get this much in iowa to be translated to new hampshire and then to nevada, i want to say shut up. it's all built around. which are mostly built on sand. every poll that you've seen from new hampshire, nevada, south carolina and nationally, will be worthless next tuesday after iowa votes. and everything that is been written about them and what is happening in the states, will change. connie: i want a wholesale criticize or for today either. i think that such incredible events a gated journalists have been doing that today. phenomenal, and runs across the board. . in the new york times, washington post but also some of the broadcast networks are doing great investigative journalism. so i don't want to dump on the media and wholesale way. because i think a lot of people do. i do have a problem with our the social media and misinformation that gets disseminated very quickly with nobody checking it. the old-fashioned way, was we had editors and producers so many layers of people breathing down our throats making sure that what we reported was accurate. i was deathly afraid of being fired. because it didn't want to fire. it is really brother or not a question of that if i had a right or not. i knew my head would be on the chopping markey jeanette. today, it is not because people are not dedicated or whatever but there are certain outlooks that allow into mine, into the mind and out of the mouth or on the paper and disseminated instantly. that is where i have a problem. i can not bring out the truth. swift read all kinds of things to sort of come to my own conclusion as to what might be the truth. probably the best is actually to watch it. whatever it is. whatever is going on, you watch it yourself. you come to your own conclusions. tom: on the democratic side, i would say 90 percent of for the note about the race, comes from watching each of them. i even now, in retirement, a couple of events today. beginning to end. just have a sense of what they are like. i used to get from somebody here pretty. carl: i think there is too much coverage away. everything is written and everything is restless and no one is stepping back and saying, this is important. or this isn't important. and he read the post, and they've done a wonderful job in some ways. they got a terrific bunch of, he fired every reporter practically the western world it doesn't work for the times. and god knows what's going to happen to them after the election but in any case, there is many stories about so many people. i don't know where the truth lies. carl: assume up after the last questions but there was a beautiful summer so let's just go to the last question. edwin: the last question. coming from someone who has worked both sides of the bus. >> my name is bill outlaw. i used to work as a reporter down in south carolina. i was on the jimmy carter campaign bus. traveling around then later worked for the associated press and washington times, then the other side of the bus for a long shot for governor in delaware. i deal with you guys some of that. it was a very successful yes. but anyway, my question in today's world with a focus and use of the term, big news. how do you think the medio are dealing with that, and what would you advise the media to do to deal with that. it's the one i think we have to do her job frankly. there are people in the journalism world who can take on at the forms and the seminars and on tv. the concept but we've got to make sure that we don't fall into the traps and start doing things to cater to them or oppose that. i think most people in this room has a good sense of what makes good journalism. and when political candidates for their own purposes, do with the president and has done, you cannot counter except by do your job the right way i think. tom: is a piece of video that might illustrate my point. a few weeks, or however often it is that the president goes off to one of these shows. i have been able to find cutaways. i don't know what the really cold. the pictures of the press. about an hour before the event. he see children and grandchildren arriving and you see the taunting. other times, it is almost physical. it is always extremely loud. mm struck at the quiet dignity of these people who just go into the pan and do the work and leave. and don't pay any attention to what is happening. it's a nice example. grace under pressure. connie: i think the accusation of think news, parts. it hurts those of us who believe in th what we were doing, we pursued it where the profession and we were, after, we were trying to right the wrongs of government or society or social ill. we considered it an honorable profession. and even though others don't consider pursuing an honorable profession, i think there are plenty of reporters today, who still have that mind set. ... ... ... ... >> but i guarantee if anyone in 1972 treated connie the way the fake news criers do today she would flatten them. [laughter] [applause] >> do you have any final words? thank you for coming. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> hello. good evening everyone per co- and the director of religious programming i will start by asking who is here for the first time tonight? if you are first time or repeat visitor we have a bunch of events coming out you may want - - coming up you may want to check out. with the incredible songwriter

Related Keywords

New York , United States , Nevada , New Hampshire , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , Washington , Delaware , Boston , Massachusetts , China , Whitehouse , District Of Columbia , Sioux Falls , South Dakota , Oklahoma , South Carolina , Iowa , Saudi Arabia , Hampshire , Timmy Point , Saudi , Chinese , American , Pat Reagan , Monica Lewinsky , Mary Susan , Timothy Crouse , Markey Jeanette , Graham Bell , Joe Biden , Arabia Carl , David Broder , Craig Sherman , Roger Mudd , Hillary Clinton , George Mcgovern ,