Journalists – Now I've Heard Everything

The Compelling, And Offbeat, History of Air Force One

May 22, 2025Bill Thompson

Air Force One has been in the news a lot lately A lot more than usual, because of the unusual gift of an airplane from Qatar to president Trump.

The history of an official presidential aircraft goes back 80 years. There have, of course, been several aircraft known as Air Force 1, and not all of them were jets.

Longtime White House correspondent Kenneth Walsh was one of the rare individuals who got to fly on Air Force One.

And his fascination with the aircraft, as well as the men who have called it their office in the sky, grew into a 2003 book called simply Air Force One.

Get ready to hear the stories of what the plane is, what it isn’t, what people think it is, and what it definitely is not.

So here now, from 2003 Kenneth Walsh.

Redefining Freedom and Democracy: Fareed Zakaria

May 16, 2025Bill Thompson

Most Americans might define a “democracy” as a form of government in which the people have their say, typically by way of free and fair elections.

And most Americans would probably agree that a democracy is better than, say, a dictatorship.

For generations the United States has actively encouraged and nurtured democracies around the world, but with mixed success. And that may be because of a fundamental misunderstanding of what a democracy is.

Journalist and political commentator Fareed Zakaria has long been a student of democracy and other forms of government, how they work and how they succeed or fail.

And in a 2003 book called The Future of Freedom Zakaria explained why American-led democracy building often fails.

And at the time that he and I talked about the book it was more than just an academic exercise. The interview you’re about to hear took place just days after the fall of Baghdad in the early days of the Iraq War.

So here now, from 2003, Fareed Zakaria.

Fareed Zakaria is 61 And lives in New York. You can see him on CNN and read him in the Washington Post.

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.

True Stories From A Living Legend: CBS’s Bob Schieffer

April 21, 2025Bill Thompson

From the JFK assassination to Vietnam to the Nixon White House, longtime CBS TV correspondent Bob Schieffer has covered it all.

During a broadcast career that has now spanned six decades Schieffer has helped write the book on modern electronic journalism.

Bob Schieffer started his career in his native Texas as a newspaper reporter – that’s how he found himself in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

And it was his newspaper that sent him to Vietnam – at his own request.

After joining CBS in 1969 Schieffer covered Congress, the State Department, the Pentagon, and ultimately the White House, winning virtually every major journalism award along the way.

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And Sunday morning TV viewers will remember him as the moderator of “Face the Nation,” a position he held for 24 years.

It was during his tenure on “Face the Nation” that Schieffer wrote a journalist’s memoir, a book he called This Just In.

So here now, from 2004, Bob Schieffer.

Bob Schieffer was named a “Living Legend“ by the Library of Congress in 2008. Today at age 88 Bob Schieffer is a fellow at Harvard.

Batter Up! Columnist George Wills Tribute to The Genius of Baseball

March 26, 2025Bill Thompson

For fans of Major League Baseball tomorrow is the big day, Opening Day. It’s the only day of the season when every team is in first place, every batter is hitting 1.000, and every pitcher has an ERA of 0.00.

A few years back George Will wanted to write a baseball book, in an effort to analyze exactly what makes Major League Baseball such an intriguing sport.

And for his research he went to the experts: Cal Ripken, Orel Hershiser, Tony Gwynn, and Tony La Russa.

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And what Will found was not just a deep well of talent, but extraordinary ability to synthesize mountains of information.

What emerged was George Will’s 1990 book called Men At Work. he and I talked about it just a few weeks into the 1990 Major League season.

So here now, from 1990, George Will.

George Will will be 84 in May. You can read his columns in the Washington Post and see him on NewsNation.

But You Knew What I Meant: Lynne Truss On The Degradation of Language

March 3, 2025Bill Thompson

Does it drive you crazy when people can’t tell the difference between their, there, and they’re?

Do you do a slow burn when someone puts an apostrophe where it doesn’t belong?

If you’re a Millennial or Gen Z, are you offended when your parents put a period at the end of their text?

Punctuation, grammar, and spelling matter a lot to many people, maybe moreso than they will admit. In fact, some proudly wear the mantle of “stickler.”

British author and journalist Lynne Truss is a stickler, and proud of it. And about 20 years ago she tapped into a whole vein of sticklers, first in Great Britain, then in the US, with her book Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

And suddenly people were openly expressing their disdain at misspelled signs, badly punctuated emails, and the general lack of literacy.

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I met Lynne in 2004 when she was on a US book tour.

so here now, from 2004, Lynne Truss.

Lynne Truss will be 70 in May. And yes, I ran AI punctuation, spelling and grammar checks on this script.

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.

Maureen Dowd’s satirical Take on The Gender Politics of Our Time

January 29, 2025Bill Thompson

Are men necessary?

No, I’m not asking the question, I’m merely repeating the title of the 2005 book by the renowned New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.

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In a witty, often tongue-in-cheek examination of the sexual politics of the day, Dowd explains many of the perplexities of male-female relationships , which seems especially relevant in today’s world where politicians define us as men or women, period.

I met Maureen Dowd just before Christmas 2005 to talk about her book.

So here now, from 2005, Maureen Dowd.

Maureen Dowd turned 73 a couple of weeks ago. She’s been with the New York Times since 1983.

A Longtime Broadcasters Secret to Happiness: Be Thankful

January 22, 2025Bill Thompson

Have you counted your blessings today?

If you haven’t, maybe you should. It might be good for your health.

So says longtime TV journalist Deborah Norville.

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Get your copy of Deborah Norville’s book

In 2007, the “Inside Edition” anchor wrote a book about gratitude, thankfulness, and how they can actually change not just your attitude, but your very health.

So here now, from 2007, Deborah Norville.

Deborah Norville is now 66.

In March she will mark 30 yeasras anchor of “Inside Edition.”