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Murphy Martin Commentary
February 22, 2007
"President's Week"
This is the week designated to remember the Presidents, past and
present, of our great nation. Monday of this week is when all
government offices and banks closed and all car-dealers. and anyone
else with anything to sell, offered President's Day Specials, big
money-saving values that had absolutely nothing to do with anyone
who ever served as President of these United States of America.
But President's Day did bring something else to mind. Few political
analysts will argue that the presidency of the United States has
undergone profound changes since the days of George Washington.
Today's presidents are, to a large degree, products of the media. In
a country obsessed with popularity ratings and polls, we are most
likely to elect the candidate who best looks and talks the part.
Still, whatever the capacity to govern, the president must also be a
human being committed to an almost superhuman effort.
The late Larry Grove, a former Dallas news man who first suggested I
write a book, which I did 20-years later, once wrote: "The greatest
task of a President is not that of Commander-In-Chief or party
leader or legislative leader or director of foreign policy or chief
of the executive branch or head of state. Each of these is important
of course, but if a President is to be a great leader of a morally
great nation, he must do something that transcends these jobs. He
must speak TO the United States as well as FOR it."
As we wrote in our book "Front Row Seat", we wholeheartedly concur
with this assessment. The President must find the words to lift men
and women above themselves. He, or she, must be this nation's
conscience and it's chief teacher. Such leaders are rare and we have
a tremendous task of finding one every four years. Some are better
than others. In this column we will mention two of the Presidents we
"covered" at various times during our four-decades as a broadcast
journalist.
The man from Independence, Missouri was one of my favorite White
House occupants. I never had the good fortune to cover him while he
was in the White House but in April of 1967 I took several
early-morning walks with Harry Truman in New York City while I was
at ABC-TV. No one, before or since, was any more forthright when
talking with the press than this man who lost twenty-thousand
dollars in the clothing business in Kansas City before being elected
County Judge and working his way up to the United States Senate, the
Vice-Presidency and then President when Franklin Roosevelt died.
Harry Truman never
appeared concerned about his candid-comments, he said what was on
his mind and never flinched. He was still candid at age 81 when we
were doing early morning walks with him.
As an example, during one of our strolls while he was in New York in
April 1967 to accept an award and spend some time with his daughter,
it was not long after the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march.
The civil-rights struggle was in full swing. We asked Mr. Truman who
had been the black leaders he had listened to during his presidency?
He said: "In those days we had several good n----- leaders. And
there are plenty of leaders among the colored people now, decent
people, just the same as we are. Of course there are also a lot of
damn fools among them, just like Martin Luther King."
We asked Mr. Truman to
elaborate on his thoughts about Dr. King. After all, this was a man
who had recently won the Nobel Prize for Peace. Mr. Truman said: "I
think he is a troublemaker and acts like a damn fool." Surprised, I
asked if he was calling Dr. King a damn fool? Mr. Truman said: "No,
I said he acts like one...and you make damn sure you quote me
correctly." We reminded the former President that he was talking
about the man who just recently won the Nobel Peace Prize to which
he responded: "I didn't give it to him."
Unlike today's journalistic climate that thrives on exposing the
gaffes and the politically incorrect statements of public figures,
those comments, although heard by my editors and producers at ABC-TV
and Radio, never aired. I knew it wasn't the first time Mr. Truman
had used the "n" word, and it probably was not the last. I also
doubt that he meant to insult the black race. He was simply one of
those people that had been brought up in an environment in which a
disgusting label was accepted without passion, used simply to denote
a different race.
Another President, Lyndon Johnson, as probably most occupants of the
White House, had his favorite reporters that he gave preference to
their questions first. Sometimes that Presidential favoritism could
make you look bad if you were on the same assignment. Election-night
1964 was among the times I paid the price. We were assigned to Mr.
Johnson the last six-weeks of his campaign. Mr. Johnson was due to
arrive at the Driskill Hotel in Austin within a half-hour. I was
there for ABC-TV, Dan Rather was there for CBS-TV and Nancy
Dickerson was there for NBC-TV.
Ropes had been stretched
from the hotel entrance to the street where Mr. Johnson's limousine
was to arrive. All three networks were going live with his arrival.
As I looked at the throng of people behind those ropes. I saw Rather
behind the rope on the left and Ms. Dickerson behind the rope on my
right. I thought to myself, if the President stops to talk with
anybody it will be Nancy Dickerson, she was one of his favorites.
So, I took a position alongside Ms. Dickerson.
When the President exited his car, he spent a few minutes "pressing
the flesh" with people lining the streets. Finally he moved toward
the hotel entrance and I began calling Mr. President ... Mr.
President. He finally heard my voice but when he turned he saw Ms.
Dickerson standing beside me and he walked straight to her and
almost in a cooing voice said: "Nancy, I have been watching you
tonight." Not one to be ignored, I asked : Mr. President, throughout
this campaign you have called for a mandate from the people. Do you
think you received that today?"
He leaned to within
about twelve inches from my face and said: " I'll talk with you
about that later." Then he turned to Nancy and said: " Now what was
that you wanted to know?"
Still trying to get a
conversation going with him, after he mused with Ms. Dickerson for
another question, I asked: Mr. President have you spoken with Mr.
Humphrey this evening?" "Yes, he said, and he'll be arriving here
early tomorrow morning. And we are going to honor all of you nice
press people with a party at the ranch!"
To make matters worse that evening, Barry Goldwater , who lost by a
landslide to Lyndon Johnson, went to bed in Arizona without
conceding defeat and Mr. Johnson waited until four in the morning
before heading back to his ranch. Presidents can make for long
nights and an occasional disappointment when favoritism shows.
But they can also
provide warm, tender moments such as the time in that '64 campaign
when I was "pool" reporter from Chicago to Milwaukee on Air Force
One and once on the ground in Milwaukee, the five "pool" reporters
were the second car behind the President's top-down Limousine
traveling through jam-packed streets.
I noticed the President,
bull-horn in hand, eyeing a small Mom and Pop looking store about
thirty-yards from the street. I thought to myself, he is going to go
into that store. Sure enough, his Limo stopped, and I bailed out and
headed to that store just ahead of the President and his two secret
servicemen. He entered the store, walked straight to the back about
20-feet to a market display and a meat-block. He asked the startled
owner: "Do you have any baloney back here?"
The owner came out with
a new loaf of "baloney" and the President cut several pieces and ate
them along with some "hoop" cheese. When he had finished "grazing"
the market area, he turned to Lem Johns, one of his secret service
men and said:" Lem, do you have any money? Pay the man." The store
owner thanked him profusely and said you don't owe us anything Mr.
President.
As the President reached the front of the store en route back to his
Limo he knew me and he knew I was from Lufkin and that my Dad was a
lifelong Democrat. He said: "Murphy, how is your Dad back in
Lufkin?" I thanked him for asking and told him dad was fine. He
reached into his coat pocket and came out with two "LBJ" lapel pins
and said: "Give these to your Dad and tell him I said Hello."
We had a party for my
Dad on his 100th birthday 38-years later in Lufkin and he wore his
most prized possession, that LBJ pin in his suit coat lapel.
Presidents Day 2007 reminds us not only of the six Presidents we
interviewed while working as a journalist, but also regardless of
political party label, we doubt there has ever been a president that
did not feel the weight of the world on his shoulders at sometime
during his stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And if they were candid
as was Harry Truman, they may tell you : "The happiest day of my
stay in the White House, was the day I walked out of it!" He told me
that during one of those morning walks in 1967. I doubt many other
occupants of that most powerful house in the world would have been
that candid, unless like Mr. Truman, they served before the days of
television and a pack of 500 news people assigned to cover it.
Why is today's posture so surprising when the occupant of that
cherished residence is a product of the media? Should we re-name
President's Day?
Maybe call it Media
President's Day?
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
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