May 2025 – Page 2 – Now I've Heard Everything

Theodore Hesburgh: A Legacy of Leadership, Faith, and Service

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Not many six year olds know what they want to be when they grow up.
I mean really know what they want to be.

Llittle Teddy was one of those.

The young Theodore Hesbergh knew from the age of six that he wanted to be a priest.

He probably didn’t realize that someday he would also be the renowned, honored, and
revered president of one of the most honored institutions of higher learning in America,
Notre Dame University.

Get your copy of Theodore Hesburgh’s book

But Hesbergh achieved those dreams and more. In 1952, he became president of Notre Dame, a position he held for 35 years, including through the turbulent 1960s when college campuses across America were
roiled by controversy, protests, demonstrations, and student takeovers.

How did Father Hesbergh handle that? You’ll hear that in this interview coming up.

Finally, after his retirement in 1987, Hesbergh was persuaded to write his memoir. In 1990, he did. He called it God, Country, Notre Dame.

Finally, after his retirement in 1987, Theodore Hesbergh wrote a memoir.
His autobiography. in 1990,he published his book God, Country, Notre Dame.”

And when he was on the book tour to promote it, that’s when I had the chance to sit down for a few minutes
with his illustrious and much-honored leader—————————————————————

So here now, from 1990, Father

Theodor Hesbergh died in 2015 at age 97.

Gail Sheehy’s Legacy: Redefining Second Adulthood for Women

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Millions of Gen X and Baby Boomer women know something their mothers didn’t – or, at least, wouldn’t acknowledge.

And that is that women over 40 do not lose their sexual appetite. In fact, quite the contrary.

In 1976 Gail Sheehy wrote a powerful book that really redefined the stages of life we all go through. That book was called Passages, and it introduced us to the term “second adulthood.”

Thirty years later, in 2006, Sheehy showed us what one aspect of a second adulthood looks like for women. She called her book Sex And The Seasoned Woman.

Drawing on the same interviewing technique that made her famous, Sheehy uncovered the secret that was right there before our eyes the whole time: that older women still enjoy the same pleasures they enjoyed in their 20s.

But no, you won’t hear the word “cougar” anywhere in this interview.

So here now, from 2006, Gail Sheehy.

Gail Sheehy died in 2020. She was 83.

A Complicated Leader in a Tumultuous War: South Vietnam’s Nguyen Cao Ky

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

April 30 is the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Effectively ending the Vietnam War and bringing a humiliating end to the American effort to prop up South Vietnam’s government.

An eyewitness to the events that day was a man who had also been a pivotal figure in trying to preserve South Vietnam, former Premier and former vice president Nguyen Cao Ky.

Ky Was head of South Vietnam’s Air Force but had
virtually no government experience when he was thrust into a leadership role in the mid-1960s.

Nguyen Cao Ky proved a complicated, controversial and flamboyant leader who frequently alienated his American allies.

In 2002 Ky wrote in Memoir, one of the only books detailing the war from the South Vietnamese perspective. He called the book Buddha’s Child, and that’s when I had the chance to spend a few minutes with him.

Nguyen Cao Ky died in 2010 at age 80.

Ben, Jerry & Chico: The Friendship Behind the Ice Cream

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

A few years ago two guys started a small business in an abandoned gas station in Burlington, Vermont. And they built it into one of the world’s best-known and most successful businesses.

Their names were Ben and Jerry. They made ice cream. Perhaps you’ve heard of them?

One of their customers when it was still just a little business in Burlington was A guy who owned a bar in town. His name was Fred Lager, but everybody calls him Chico.

Fred, Ben, and Jerry became good friends, and in 1982 Fred Lager joined the young company as its general manager and CFO. It was in that role that he helped build Ben & Jerry’s, the brand.

In 1988 he became president and CEO.

And in 1994, Chico Lager wrote a book about the Ben & Jerry’s experience. He called it Ben & Jerry’s: The Inside Scoop. It was part memoir, part business how-to, and a lot of social responsibility.

So here now, from 1994, Fred “Chico” Lager.

The Man Behind Newport Jazz: A Conversation With eorge Wein

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

In 1954 a young man from Boston took his passion for jazz and turned it into an American tradition.

1954 was the year 29-year-old George Wein organized the first Newport Jazz Festival, an achievement that launched a decades-long career of promoting – and helping shape – American jazz.

He later helped establish the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Newport Folk Festival.

His long career Wein met, worked with, and helped advance the careers of many of the most revered jazz artists of the 20th century.

And he introduced jazz to millions around the world.

In 2003 Wein – who was then 78 – wrote his memoir, called Myself Among Others. That’s when I had a few minutes with this music legend.

So here now, from 2003, George Wein.

George Wein died in 2021 at age 95.

The Timeless Quest to Understand Love: Diane Ackerma’s Masterpiece

May 14, 2025Bill Thompson

Women and men of all ages and all cultures and all backgrounds in all societies have tried for all time to define love.

… and to study and deconstruct and analyze love.

Great artists, writers, poets, musicians, playwrights, and authors have all had their say.

And in 1994, acclaimed author poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman had hers.

More below video:

She followed up her best-selling book A Natural History of The Senses with a book called A Natural History of Love.

But that was much more than just a literary effort, as Ackerman brought together science and religion and culture.

And what did she conclude? You’re about to hear it. So here now, from 1994, Diane Ackerman.

Diane Ackerman is 76 now. She lives in Ithaca, New York.