Bill Thompson – Page 2 – 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.

White House Memories From FDR Grandson Curtis Roosevelt

August 30, 2024August 25, 2024Bill Thompson

In 1933, a three-yearold boy, his older sister and their mother moved in with the boy’s grandparents – who had a very large house in an important city.

Curtis Roosevelt was that young boy. His grandparents were Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who had just recently moved into the White House themselves.

And for much of the next twelve years Curtis – nicknamed Buzzie – was a White House resident.

Get your copy of Curtis Roosevelt’s book

But as he later wrote, it was a double-edged sword living with two such compelling figures as Franklin and Eleanor. Life as a normal child was not an option.

Curtis Roosevelt recalled his early life in the White House in a 2008 book called Too Close to The Sun. I interviewed him twice for this book, once in 2008, again in 2010

So here now, from 2008 and 2010, Curtis Roosevelt.

Curtis Roosevelt died in 2016 at age 86.

A conversation with conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr.

August 28, 2024August 24, 2024Bill Thompson

A number of countries require national service from their young men, and Israel from its young women as well

What should the US?

Require national service? No. But more than 30 years ago, a conservative commentator suggested national service as a means of letting America’s young people express their gratitude for the civil liberties we enjoy.

In a book length essay called Gratitude, William F Buckley junior argued for voluntary national service

Get your copy of William F. Buckley Jr.’s book

Buckley founded National Review in 1955, an act many believe launched the modern conservative movement.

And for 33 years TV audiences watched him on “Firing Line. “

By today’s measure, however, Buckley’s views may be seen as less rigidly conservative

I spoke with him in 1990 when his book Gratitude was published.

So here now, from 1990, William F. Buckley Jr.

William F Buckley Jr died in 2008. He was 82.

A conversation with chocolatiers Frances & Ginger Park

August 26, 2024August 24, 2024Bill Thompson

For 40 years a modest family-owned business has been supplying folks in Washington DC with the treat no one dislikes – chocolate.

It was started in 1984 by sisters Frances and Ginger Park, daughters of a Korean immigrant. And their story is as appealing as the morsels they sell at their store, called Chocolate Chocolate.

In fact it’s their store’s atmosphere of family and community as much as it is the quality of their products that keeps people coming back for years.

Frances and Ginger also write books, especially children’s books. And in 2011 they wrote their own story, in a book called, appropriately enough, Chocolate Chocolate.

Get your copy of Frances & Ginger Park’s book

That’s when I met them – and, yes, happily sampled their products.

So here now, from 2011, Frances and Ginger Park.,

The Park sisters are now both in their 60s, and Chocolate Chocolate continues to thrive in Washington DC.

A World War II Double Life: OSS Spy Aline, Countess of Romanones

August 23, 2024August 18, 2024Bill Thompson

It’s 1943, and the war in Europe is raging. The United States and the Allies are looking for every way to gain an advantage over the Axis powers.

And that, of course, includes espionage.

This is where a 20-year-old model from New York comes in. Aline Griffith was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS – which, of course, later became the CIA.

Get your copy of Aline, Countess of Romanones’s book

At “spy school” Aline learned the essentials of being a spy, including how to kill when necessary,

She was then posted to Madrid, Spain, where she became active as a socialite, scooping up intelligence from the gossip she overheard.

After the war, Aline married a Spanish aristocrat, eventually acquiring the title Aline, Countess of Romanones.

And in 1987 she wrote a bestselling book about her World War II spying, called The Spy Wore Red. I first met her the following year.

So here now, from 1988, Aline, Countess of Romanones.

Aline Countess of Romanones, died in 2017. She was 94.