1980s

Peggy Noonan

Bill Thompson

In the mid-1980s one of President Ronald Reagan’s favorite speechwriters was the talented wordsmith Peggy Noonan.

She crafted some of Reagan’s most impressive speeches, including the one he delivered on the 40th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, as well as his televised message to the nation after the Challenger disaster in 1986.

And then, working with the presidential campaign of Vice President George HW Bush, Noonan came up with even more phrases that have stuck in our memories.

Along the way, Noonan became an accomplished speaker in her own right, and in 1998, wrote a book to help others facing the prospect of speaking in public.

She and I had many conversations over the years, of which this was one. So here now, from 1998, Peggy Noonan.

Peggy Noonan is 71 now, and still writes, speaks, and is often seen on TV. And, I suspect, she still gets butterflies or stomach.

Jim Bakker

Bill Thompson

In the 1970s and 1980s, perhaps no one was more popular on Christian television than Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.

Founders of the PTL club, and later the Heritage USA Christian theme park, the Bakkers also espoused a Theology of prosperity. God wanted you to do well financially, they told us.

But in the 1980s it came out that the Bakers were prospering a little bit too much off of the donations their viewers had set in. And after Jim Bakker was accused of sexually assaulting Church secretary Jessica Hahn, prosecutors moved to charge him with fraud.

Bakker was convicted, and in 1989 was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

But powerful allies, including famed defense attorney Alan dershowitz, came to Bakker’s Aid, and he was eventually paroled in 1994.

But not before Tammy Faye divorced him.

2 years after his release from prison, Bakker wrote a book based on things he says he learned about the Bible while in prison. The book was called I was wrong.

So here now, from 1996, my conversation with the Reverend Jim Bakker:

Jim Bakker is 81 now. He is still seen by millions on TV on The Jim Bakker Show with second wife Lori Bakker. Tammy Faye also remarried — she died in 2007 at age 65.

Polly Nelson

Bill Thompson

Name a famous serial killer.

There’s a good chance that one of the first names that came to your mind was Ted Bundy.

Over a period of years, mostly in the 1970’s, Ted Bundy killed at least 30 people that we know of, but probably more.

Finally, in 1979, the charismatic 33-year-old was caught, tried, and convicted in Florida.

He spent the next eight years in prison, as appeal after appeal went through the courts. Then, in 1987, he met the woman who would be his last lawyer: Polly Nelson.

A freshly minted lawyer with a big Washington law firm, Nelson was chosen to do some pro bono work – it turned out, it was the Bundy case.

For the next two years, Nelson worked on his case, trying to find some way to keep him off death row.

Bundy was executed in 1989, however, and five years later, I met Polly Nelson, when she wrote a book about the case.

So here now, from 1994, Polly Nelson.

Attorney Poly Nelson is 69 now.

You may also like these episodes:
Johnnie CochranGloria Allred

John Sculley

Bill Thompson
Photo: Judae1

Doing a 13-year career at PepsiCo, including six years as its president, John Scully prove to be something of a marketing genius.

If you’ve ever seen The Pepsi Challenge, well .. that was John Sculley’s idea.

Then he made the switch from selling flavored sugar carbonated water to selling personal computers.

In 1983 Scully became CEO of Apple. And soon, behind his marketing skills, Apple had rival i b m on the run.

In 1987, in the middle of his 10-year run at Apple, Scully wrote a book about his transition from Pepsi. And that’s when I met him.

Two things to note about this interview. No, three things.

First, John Sculley apparently had had the services of a consultant who told him to be sure and mention his book in every answer. So you’ll hear lots of references to the title of his book, Odyssey.

The second thing you need to know is that I learned a very important lesson in this interview. And that is, always check your microphone. It turns out that mine was basically turned off for the entire interview, and I didn’t realize it. That’s why it sounds a little strange.

But the third thing, the most intriguing thing, this is 1987. Very few people had personal computers, yet Scully is talking about things that today seem commonplace. It’s like we went back to the future.

So here now, from 1987, John Sculloey.

John Sculley is 82 now. He remains active in high-tech startups, as well as disruptive marketing strategies.

You may also like these episodes:

Steve Wozniak

Carl Lewis

Bill Thompson

The covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics get underway today. We’ll seen enougbh know who the next athletic heroes will be.

Throughout the 1980s and into the ‘90s, one of the world’s dominant sprinters and long jumpers with Carl Lewis.

In addition to several world championships, Lewis won gold Olympic gold medals in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996.

Sports Illustrated once named him “Olympian Of Tje Century.”

No doubt Carl Louis was one of the world’s greatest athletes. The problem, according to many of his competitors, was that he was much too aware of how good he was, and eager to show it off.

Critics said Lewis lacked sufficient humility. And, they said, he was too aloof.

I met him in the summer of 1990, after he wrote a book called Inside Track.

So here now, from 1990, Carl Lewis:

Carl turned 60 this month. He owns a marketing and branding company.

You may also like these episodes:

Nary Lou Retton

Charles Grodin

Bill Thompson
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

His first big break in the movies came with a film called The Heartbreak Kid.

But that was just the beginning for Charles Grodin.

Then came Midnight Run. Seems Like Old Times. The Lonely Guy. And, finally, a new generation discovered him in the Beethoven movies.

It looks like the classic success story. But in his 1989 book called It Would Be So Nice if You Weren’t Here, Grodin wanted to reveal how about 1% success overshadowed the 99% rejection actors suffer.

This interview was actually the first of several I had over the years with Charles Grodin, before he went on to become a successful late night TV talk show host.

So here now, from 1989, Charles Grogan.

Charles Grodin died in May. He was 85.

You may also like these episodes:

Carroll O’ConnorCarl ReinerMia Farrow

Naomi Judd

Bill Thompson
Photo: State Farm

Naomi Judd was born “Diana Judd” not long after World War II ended. Her dad ran a gas station in Ashland, Kentucky,

By the time she was in her mid 30s, Judd was a divorced single mom with two daughters, struggling to keep a household going.

That’s when she and her older daughter discovered that they liked to sing and harmonize with each other. And they got pretty good at it.

Before long, they came to the attention of the right people, and in 1983, they formed The Judds.

And for the next eight years, they’ve dominated country music, with a string of #1 hits.

But a 1991, a diagnosis of hepatitis-C forced Naomi to break up the act.

In 1993 she wrote a memoir named after one of their hit songs: Love Can Build a Bridge. And that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1993, Naomi Judd:

The Judds reunited in 1999 for a New Years Eve concert, and toured the next year. Since then Naomi has done many TV appearances. She is 75 now.

You may also like these episodes:

Reba McEtnire Dolly PartonGlen Campbell

Al Neuharth

Bill Thompson
Photo: John Mathew Smith

Do you have to be kind of an SOB to be a success?

What kind of connotation does that term even have anymore?

Those were two of the key questions that Al Neuharth tried to address in his bestselling memoir “Confessions Of An S.O.B.”

Al Neuharth was the founder of USA Today, as well as The Freedom Forum, and the Newseum. So apparently being an SOB helped him.

So here now, from 1990, Al Neuharth:

Al Neuharth died in 2013, at the age of 89.

You may also lik these episodes:

Roger MuddSam Donaldson

George Shultz

Bill Thompson

George Shulz served in various positions under three U.S. presidents — in fact Shultz held four different cabinet-level posts over the years.

An economist by training, Shultz came to Washington as Richard Nixon’s first Labor Secretary. He became Director of the Office of Management and Budget a year later, and a year after that Nixon appointed him Treasury Secretary.

Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. and in 1982 chose Shultz as his Secretary of State. Shultz became a key shaper of foreign policy during the Reagan’s administration.

I met him in the spring of 1993, when he wrote a long memoir of his years at the State Department.

So here now, from 1993, George Shultz.

George Shultz died this past February at the age of 100.

Betty Mahmoody

Bill Thompson

Happy Mothers Day weekend to all the moms listening right now.

Today, the story of one exceptionally courageous mom.

Her name is Betty Mahmoody. In the mid-1980s she accompanied her her iranian-born husband back to his native country for what she thought would be a two-week vacation.

But instead of returning to the US, her husband informed her that they would be living permanently in Iran. And that was just the beginning of the ordeal for her and the couple’s four-year-old daughter Mahtob.

Betty Mahmoody tells the story of what happened over the next 18 months in her best-selling book Not Without My Daughter. Her book was later made into a major Motion Picture starring Sally Field as Betty Mahmoody.

So here now, from 1988, Betty Mahmoody…

Betty Mahmoody will be 76 next month. She is President and co-founder of One World: For Children.

Her daughter In 2015, Mahtob Mahmoody wrote her own book about her and her mother’s escape from Iran.