February 2025 – Now I've Heard Everything

The Last War Chief: Joe Medicine Crow’s Life and Legacy

February 28, 2025Bill Thompson

Many of us have grandparents who can tell us stories about the old days, the “old days” usually being the 1930s, maybe the ‘20s.

But imagine being able to sit down with an old relative who could tell you firsthand about General George Custer, or even Lewis and Clark.

For several decades, starting in the 1940s, Joe Medicine Crow was the historian of the Crow Indian tribe. And much of the history he wrote down came from those aging family members he had known.

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His step-grandfather, for example. Known as White Man Runs Him, he was a scout for General Custer, and as such was an eyewitness to the Battle of Little Bighorn.

But Medicine Crow had many stories of his very own to tell. He was a noted scholar, World War Two hero, and Native American leader. He was, in fact, the last war chief of the Crow tribe.

I met him in 1993, when, just shy of age 80, he published the first of what would be several books about the Crow tribe. The book was called From The Heart of The Crow Country.

So here now, from 1993, Joe Medicine Crow.

Joe Medicine Crow was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

He died 23 years after our interview, in 2016, at age 102.

Elaine Brown And The Evolution of The Black Panther Party

February 26, 2025Bill Thompson

When Huey Newton and Bobby seale formed the Black Panther Party in 1966, it was largely a very masculine male oriented organization. It was a year before it had its first female member.

And then in 1968 a 25 year old woman from Philadelphia joined the black Panther party. Her name was Elaine Brown.

It was largely through her efforts that the party became more female-friendly, and in 1971 she succeeded Eldridge Cleaver as the party’s information minister.

When Huey Newton fled to Cuba in 1974 to avoid prosecution in the US, he appointed Brown chairwoman of the party.

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But the party continued to struggle with male versus female rivalries, and when Newton returned in 1977, Brown had had enough, and left the party.

The Black Panthers dissolved in 1982.

Fast forward to 1993, and Elaine Browne wrote A Memoir called A Taste of Power. That’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1993, Elaine Brown.

Elaine Brown will be 82 next week.

She currently heads Oakland & the World Enterprises, an organization she founded in 2014.

A Lifetime of Sports Memories: TVs Warner Wolf

February 24, 2025Bill Thompson

TV sportscasters, just like the athletes they covered, come and go.

But a few established themselves as stars, remaining popular for years, even decades.

Meet televisions Warner Wolf. He actually started on the radio in 1961, before moving to TV in 1965 in his hometown Washington DC.

By 1976 he had moved on to New York City, were he further cemented his reputation as a sportscasting star.

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Along the way Warner Wolf popularized two catch phrases: “Gimme a break!” and “Let’s go to the videotape.”

Eventually Wolf wrote two books, each titled after one of those catchphrases. I met him in 2000 on publication of Let’s Go To The Videotape.

Be sure and stick around for his predictions, and see how many of them actually came true.

So here now, from 2000, Warner Wolf.

Warner wolf levt TV in 2016. He’s 87 now, and can be heard weekly on New York’s WOR radio.

Imagining An American Theocracy: The Satire of Tony Hendra

February 23, 2025Bill Thompson

There is a growing movement of Christian nationalism in the US, and opposition to it is growing just as fast.

So what might a Christian theocracy actually look like?

Leave it to renowned satirist Tony Hendra to fill in some of the blanks. I mean, who better than one of the original editors of the National Lampoon?

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In 2006 Tony Hendra wrote a satire called The Messiah of Morris Avenue. Set in the not too distant future it imagined what might happen if Jesus Christ returned, but not at all in the way many Christian fundamentalists think He will.

Now keep in mind this interview was done almost 20 years ago, but see if you don’t think it sounds really relevant today.

So here now from 2006 Tony Hendra.

Tony Hendra died in 2021, at age 79.

TV-radio Fixture Charles Osgood, On How He Practiced His Unique Journalism

February 19, 2025Bill Thompson

Most journalists can craft a pretty good straight news story, in that classic inverted pyramid style. All the facts, expertly and objectively told.

But then there are other journalists, those who have a unique talent for taking that same set of facts but putting them into a context and a perspective with such nuance and grace that it almost becomes a whole new story.

One of the great practitioners in that second category was longtime CBS radio and television personality Charles Osgood.

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His special skill was taking the mundane and turning it into something sparkling, taking some ordinary government pronouncement and turning it into something you would tell your grandchildren about.

His daily feature on CBS radio was known as “Tile Osgood File.” In 1991 Osgood published a collection of some of his best work, in a book called, of course, The Osgood Files. That was when I first met him.

So here now, from 1991, Charles Osgood.

Charles Osgood died in 2024. He was 91.

One Momentous Summer, 60 Years Ago, Told In Fiction B y a Veteran Actress Who Lived It

February 17, 2025Bill Thompson

Freedom Summer was a paradigm shift in America’s deep South in 1964.

Thousands of young Americans, black and white, poured into Mississippi that summer for a massive black voter registration movement.

They were young, idealistic, and motivated. Most were there for the summer only, but their brief presence shone a bright light on the injustices of the day.

One of those bright and eager volunteers was a young woman who would later become a well-known actress, Denise Nicholas.

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Best known for her roles in the TV series “Room 222” and “In The Heat of The Night“ Nicholas was also featured in dozens of other TV shows and movies.

And finally, in 2005 she reached back for those memories of 1964 in writing her debut novel, a book called Freshwater Road. It was about an idealistic young woman named Celeste arriving in Mississippi in 1964 to do the work of Freedom Summer.

She and I talked about her book when she was on an author tour.

So here now, from 2005, Denise Nicholas.

Denise Nicholas is 81 now.

The Power of Liberalism: Insights from Robert Reich’s 2004 Book

February 12, 2025Bill Thompson

Are you a liberal?

For several decades now that word has carried a negative connotation, largely through the efforts of conservatives.

But some 20 years ago one of the country’s most prominent liberals, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, wrote that most Americans probably are liberal.

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His 2004 book was called Reason, It was subtitled Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America.

Robert Reich and I talked about his book in the spring of 2004, just as the presidential campaign that year was heating up . But listen to how timely and relevant the things we talked about 20 years ago still sound today.

So here now from 2004, Robert Reich..

Robert Rice is 78 now. He blogs at robertreich.org.

Nikki Giovanni’s Different Perspective On American Icon Rosa Parks

February 10, 2025Bill Thompson

The powerful story of Rosa Parks and her act of civil disobedience is so often reduced to just a headline,It’s often easy to forget the three-dimensional person she was.

It was with that in mind that the poet Nikki Giovanni set out to write a different kind of Rosa Parks book. Her 2005 book Rosa is nominally a children’s book, but one that readers of any age will find Illuminating.

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I spoke with Nikki Giovanni about her book just a few weeks after Rosa Parks passed away at age 92.

So here now from 2005 Nikki Giovanni.

Nikki Giovanni died this past December, at age 81.

Iconic Tunes and Timeless Performances: The Legacy of Pete Seeger

February 7, 2025Bill Thompson

One of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century was a man who often needed nothing more than a banjo and a strong voice to entertain an audience.

Pete Seeger was born in New York City in 1919. He was performing by the 1930s, and by the 1940s he was a major radio personality.

His political views in the 1950s ultimately got him blacklisted, but in the 1960s he revived his reputation and grew in popularity once more.

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Well into the 1990s Pete Seeger was still drawing huge crowds of all ages.

His songs, including “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” “If I Had a Hammer,” and “Turn, Turn, Turn” are still very popular today.

In the summer of 1993 I had the rare chance to spend some time one-on-one with this legendary figure.

So here now from 1993 Pete Seeger.

When Pete Seeger died in 2014 at the age of 94, President Barack Obama called him “America’s tuning fork.”

Hiding in Plain Sight: Edith Hahn Beer’s Holocaust Survival Story

February 3, 2025Bill Thompson

Have you ever heard the phrase “hiding in plain sight”?

At the age of 25, an Austrian Jewish woman named Edith Hahn and her mother were sent to the Jewish ghetto in Vienna by the Nazi regime.

Two years later she was moved to work in a German factory – and never saw her mother again.

But a Christian friend gave Edith copies of her own identification papers, With which she was able to return to Vienna – and ultimately travelled to Munich.

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Carefully concealing her true identity, Edith Hahn volunteered as a German Red Cross nurse.

And that’s where she met a Nazi party member, who married her – even after she revealed to him her Jewish identity.

Their daughter Angela was born in a Nazi Hospital. Their marriage ended soon after the war, and so did Edith’s lifesaving charade.

She lived the rest of her life in Israel and London. And in 1999 told her story in a book called The Nazi Officer’s Wife.

It was a book that her daughter Angela had urged her to write, soon after Edith’s letters were sold at auction and ultimately donated to the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

I met them both when Edith’s book was published. So here now, from 1999 Edith Hahn Beer and her daughter Angela.

Edith Hahn Beer died in 2009. ten years after our interview. She was 95.