September 2024 – Now I've Heard Everything

C-SPAN Founder Brian Lamb on Where History and Literature Intersect

September 13, 2024September 12, 2024Bill Thompson

The journalist who founded C-SPAN in the 1970s retired last month after leading the network for 47 years.

To many viewers, Brian Lamb was C-SPAN. His quiet and intelligent demeanor helped set the tone for the cable outlet dedicated to bringing the workings of the federal government into American homes.

And for 15 years, from 1989 to 2004, Brian Lamb was also host of the popular weekly C-SPAN show “Booknotes.”

Each show featured a prominent writer of nonfiction, and each was allowed on the show only once, meaning Lamb tapered 800 shows with 800 authors.

About halfway through the show’s run, Lamb and his staff collected highlights from many of those interviews in a book called – appropriately enough – Booknotes.

That’s when I had the chance to spend a few minutes with him.

So here now, from 1997. Brian Lamb.

Brian Lamb will be 83 next month. He lives in Virginia. .

Historian Allan Lichtman on Why Presidential Campaigns Don’t Matter

September 11, 2024September 8, 2024Bill Thompson

Kamala Harris is going to be our next president. So says the historian who has correctly predicted every presidential election except one since 1984.

American University professor Allan Lichtman,along with a noted expert in earthquake prediction, came up with a method of forecasting elections that Lichtman calls “the 13 keys.”

He explained them in his 1990 book Thirteen Keys to the Presidency. I talked with him when that book was first published.

As you listen to this interview, you have to put yourself back in 1990, less than halfway through George H.W. Bush’s term. And listen as Lichtman hints that Bush may already be set up to lose in ;92 – an election two and a half years in the future.

Sol here now, from 1990, Allan Lichtman.

By the way, the only election Lichtman got wrong in the last 40 years was the 2000 Bush v. Gore contest. Lichtman did correctly predicted that Al Gore would win the popular vote.

Allan Lichtman is 77 now. He has taught at American University.since 1973.

Mariette Harley’s Story: Turning Personal Tragedy into a Message of Hope

September 9, 2024September 7, 2024Bill Thompson

September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, as designated by the World Health Organization.

Each year hundreds of thousands of people take their own lives, leaving behind family and friends who may feel the impact for the rest of their lives.

It was in the summer of 1963 that young actress Mariette Harley lost her father to suicide, a tragedy that has colored her life ever since.

Get your copy of Mariette Hartley’s book

But even she wasn’t fully aware of just how deeply it had affected her until the 1980s. And it inspired her to write a book that became a bestseller, called Breaking The Silence.

I met her in the fall of 1991 to talk about her book.

So here now, from 1991, Mariette Harley.

Mariette Harley.is now 84. She is currently spokesperson for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which she founded.

Margaret Whiting, America’s Post-War Singing Sensation

September 6, 2024August 30, 2024Bill Thompson

In the years immediately following World War II, one of America’s most popular entertainers was a young singer named Margaret Whiting.

She was born into an entertainment family. Her father, Richard Whiting, was the guy who wrote “Hooray for Hollywood,” “Ain’t We Got Fun” and many other hits.

Margaret’s sister was a popular singer and actress, and her aunt was a recording artist in the 1920s.

Little Margaret was “discovered,” you might say. at age seven by Johnny Mercer, who was one of the co-founders of Capitol Records.

Get your copy of Margaret Whiting’s book

She had her first million selling record at age 20 And within a decade was among the country’s most popular singers.

She was a star on radio, on television, – even had a TV series of her own for a short time.

In 1987, the then-63-year-old Margaret Whiting wrote her autobiography, a book named after one of her most popular songs: It Might As Well Be Spring.

In the mid to late ‘80s America was still grappling with the AIDS epidemic, a faltering economy, the Reagan revolution, and an ongoing evolution of pop music.

In a moment, Margaret Whiting.

So here now, from 1987, Margaret Whiting.

Margaret Whiting died in 2011. She was 86.

What Does The First Family Eat? The Scoop From Former WH Chef Henry Haller

September 4, 2024August 26, 2024Bill Thompson

No matter who wins the presidential election in November, new occupants will be moving into the White House next January.

And beyond the issues of policy and politics will be food. The White House employs a staff to prepare meals for the president and their family.

For 21 years, starting in 1966, through five administrations, Swiss-born Henry Haller was the White House executive chef .

In that role Haller had to learn the “right way” to prepare First Families’ favorite dishes, and to keep track of their culinary likes and dislikes.

Not to mention preparing huge meals for major White House events.

After his retirement in 1987 Haller wrote a book that was part memoir, part cookbook. He called it simply The White House Family Cookbook.

In a moment, my 1987 conversation with Henry Haller.

Henry Haller died in 2020.at the age of 97.

How Marvin Miller Changed The Game of Baseball, And Then Some

September 2, 2024August 25, 2024Bill Thompson

Today is Labor Day, and I wanted to share with you an interview I did more than 30 years ago with one of the most influential labor leaders of our time

In 1966, Marvin Miller – an economist by training – was elected executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

By the time he retired 16 years later, Miller had helped transform not just the players association but the entire professional sports industry.

Miller negotiated the players’ first-ever collective bargaining agreement with team owners in 1968.

And it was Miller’s leadership, and the courage of St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood, that brought an end to the longtime “reserve clause” that effectively let owners treat players as properties to be bought and sold.

It’s largely because of Marvin Miller that the concept of free agency now exists in not just baseball, but across professional sports.

Red Barber once said Marvin Miller was one of the two or three most important people in all of baseball history.

Miller wrote a book in 1991, called A Whole Different Ballgame. That’s when I got a few minutes with this icon of labor.

So here now, from 1991, Marvin Miller.

Marin Miller died in 2012 at the age of 95. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame seven years later.