January 03, 2008
New Hampshire Primary Redux
The non-stop coverage of the election that won’t end will soon turn its focus from Iowa to New Hampshire. The thought makes me nostalgic for those halcyon days when I too was a newsman covering the presidential candidates in their glorious quest for the best home-office in America.
The year was 1988, and I was a producer for a Boston TV station. The wise elders there generally kept me inside the newsroom, chained to a desk, where I could provide brilliant direction for those poor souls out in the field. My job was to offer reporters guidance in their never ending search for Truth, or if Truth was in short supply, at least something to fill a minute and a half on the 11 o'clock News.
But as the 1988 primary season began, the powers that be deemed it important for me to expand my horizons. So I was sent up into the great rolling stretch of suburbia that constitutes southern New Hampshire to help cover the first in the nation New Hampshire Primary. Here was my chance to put all my years of education and accumulated political acumen to work.
My first assignment was to field produce a live interview with Bob Dole. I poured him a glass of water, fixed his tie, and reminded him what state he was in. A real test of my skills!
On my second day I interviewed Mike Dukakis. He told me he was not a technocrat. For some reason my bosses weren't interested in this piece of exclusive news. So instead we showed a picture of Mike Dukakis whistling. I didn't know what he was whistling, which suggested to me the need to beef up my investigative reporting skills.
On Day three I was assigned to cover Vice-President Bush on his whistle-stop bus tour through Southern new Hampshire. Up until then I wasn't even aware that busses had whistles. The first event was at a truck stop where I was able to observe the vaunted national media in action. They all crowded into the gift stories like a gang of drunken Hells Angels, and bought hats with four letter words on them. Hats that said: “S___ happens.” The vice president thought the hats were funny, and couldn't stop giggling at them. That of course was not news. Then he climbed into an 18 wheeler and drove it around the parking lot, with Secret Service men hanging off the side. That of course was news. I complimented myself that I could tell the difference.
After three days of generating this hard-hitting political coverage, the station suddenly decided to send me back to Boston. I was too valuable inside, they said, to waste my considerable talents outside. What a shame. I was just getting the hang of it.
Now I watch from the sidelines. Never again will I adjust Bob Dole's tie, or chase the Vice President around a truck-stop. But I remain proud of my unique contributions to the American political dialogue.
Posted by rickbeyer at 06:54 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2007
Op Ed Piece in Politico
The New Hampshire Primary: Was it’s “First in the Nation” status consecrated by a crusading band of constitutional angels? Or does its origin have more to do with a man named Winston Churchill?
Check out my op-ed piece “Granite doesn’t last forever” on today’s Ideas page of the new online publication The Politico.
BTW, The Politico is a multi-media publication launched in January, 2007 with the mission of covering the politics of Capitol Hill and of the presidential campaign, and the business of Washington lobbying. It has proven fabulously successful at drawing online readers and making a name for itself.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2007
Almost, Somewhat, Postive
A more than positive review of the new book on the Almost, Somewhat, Positive blog.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2007
Publication Day--Yay
Today was the official “on-sale” ate of my new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. It was a quiet day. It is sort of strange, to be honest with you. You look forward to the publication date for months, and unless you have some event scheduled, it seems anti-climactic when it arrived.
Nonetheless, it is a banner day, and to celebrate I want to share some pre-publication comments. All are from “regular people,” as opposed to reviewers who work for a publication or news outlet.
Some come from folks who, by one means or another, have gotten their hands on an advance copy:
As an unofficial presidential history geek, I just wanted to say how absolutely riveted I was by your outstanding book, "The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told." I simply couldn't put it down. It was that wonderful.Steve, Minnesota
Some come from reviewers on the social-networking site gather.com
Rick Beyer has managed to uncover the real humanity in the all-boys' club called the Presidency.Donna, Baltimore
You will not want to put this book down until you are finished reading it so grab a soda and get cozy and begin your journey into the lives of the Presidents. You will smile, laugh and say “Wow I did not know that” while reading it.Connie, West Virginia
Some come from friends and acquaintances on who received my announcement email
Good luck on your new book…I am just wondering when you found the time to write it!! I cannot even find the time to get family birthday cards out on time.Richard, Lexington, MA
Those presidents…they’ll stupefy you every time.Maura, New York
Do I know you?Dennis, Honolulu
(Yes he does. But he forgot—I’m that memorable!)
My favorite so far, from my high school English teacher, Harry Goldgar, now living in New Orleans
Another book! Wonderful. How energetic you are. ("Another damned, thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr. Gibbon?" -- William Henry, Duke of Gloucester upon receiving from Edward Gibbon Vol. II of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in 1781.) This is great news, and I look forward to digesting all the dirt you have dug up on the High and Mighty. (But I fear you may never eat lunch in Washington again.)
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2007
Gather.Com
Four days and Counting...there have been some book sitings, people who have seen the new book in stores, (before the pub date--shocking!) but I have not yet.
I am working with Harper Collins to promote the book on a social networking site called Gather.com, which bills itself as a social networking site for adults. Harper Collins has its own "group" on Gather, and for the next few weeks I am one of two featured authors. I have posted some materials, and other people have written reviews of the book You can check some of it out here: (if you want to see the reader reviews, the easiest way to do it is just search the title of the book on the upper left hand corner of the Gather page, and they should pop up.
I have a live chat coming up in a couple of weeks on Gather. As soon as I learn details, I'll do a post about it.
Posted by rickbeyer at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2007
New Book Countdown
UPS delivered two boxes of new books arrived last night, and I got a package today with a few more. It is always exciting to get your hands on the final product. I really the love the quality of the photo reproductions in the book...a leap forward! I also really dig the spine, which contains a tiny presidential seal between "Rick" and "Beyer"-just where it belongs!
If you want to monitor how long until the book comes out, here's the best way to do it: a countdown widget from Harper Collins. Best of all, you can copy and put it up on your own website, blog, etc.
It is really amazing how the marketing of books has changed since the first book came out four years ago. Harper Collins had a website, but they weren't doing much with it. This widget is just one example of the ways in which the publisher has embraced the internet.
Another is that they have done a deal with gather.com, which describes itself as "the premiere social networking site for 'grown-ups'". As part of this deal, Harper Collins is launching a sponsored group on Gather, the HarperCollins Book Group. Each month, the group will feature 2 authors. I'll be one of them in October. Check it out! So now social networking groups are one of the tools used to market books.
Of course some things don't change. Lisa Sweet will be working on this book as she has the previous two. She is the publicist on the original book, and now has her own company. Harper Collins brought her back for the War Stories book, and I am delighted that she will be working on this one too.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2007
New Sample Pages
Harper Collins has sent some sample pages of the new book, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. I've posted a couple on the site here. (Note: these are uncorrected proofs, so don't be alarmed if there are typos.) It's very exciting to see the pages, and get the sense of how it is going to come to life. Even though I know what the book will look like, since it roughly follows the model of the previous books, it's a thrill to see one of the new stories set up and looking great!
Posted by rickbeyer at 02:39 PM | Comments (1)
February 21, 2007
Amazon
The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told is now officially listed on Amazon. Go ahead, look it up. No cover yet, no information, still, there is is! THe pub date is listed as Octobeer 1, which jibes with what Harper Collins has told me.
Today I finished revisions on the manuscript requested by the editor. I did replace one story with a new and better one, but aside from that, most of the changes were pretty minor. Mauro suggested some new subheads for about half a dozen of the stories, and I went along with his ideas, I thought they were all good.
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2007
Done!
I finished the manuscript of The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told on January 15th at 7:31 PM after a long struggle. I snapped a photo of my office to capture the carnage caused by the last heaving effort it took to finish the book. (You can get a larger view by clicking on the picture.)
My editor, Mauro Dipreta, has the manuscript now. When I saw him in NY last week he said that he had started it and it looked good. I expect to receive his suggested edits any day. Maybe just for fun I will scan one of the pages to show the kind of comments I get. The book is due out in October.
Posted by rickbeyer at 04:51 PM | Comments (1)
December 14, 2006
Presidents' Book Cover
Harper Collins sent a first pass on the cover of the President's book, and here it is.(Click on it to see a closer-to-life-size version.) The plan is to make some changes in the color scheme--the colors red, white and blue were mentioned. I guess I better finish it soon!
I'm writing a story a day, and coming closer to the target every day.
Today' story was about Herbert Hoover. It has a great sidebar:
In 1919, Hoover’s success at humanitarian efforts lead a well to do New Yorker to say: "He is certainly a wonder and I wish we could make him President . . . There could not be a better one." The man who spoke those words: Franklin D.Roosevelt.
Posted by rickbeyer at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2006
Jerry and Me
As I slave away on the Presidents' book (new deadline: October 15) and read in the news that Jerry Ford is in the hospital, it seems like a good time to share piece of video I recently unearthed.
It all began with a conversation I had with Debbie Padgett from the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation a few weeks ago when the Godspeed was in town.
Debbie: Rick, I want to ask you a question, but I don't want to offend you.
Rick: It's hard to offend me, go ahead.
Debbie: Well, IT has to do with age.I was watching C-Span the other night, and they were showing a Jerry Ford news conference from New Hampshire in 1976, and someone named Rick Beyer asked a question, and I thought it looked kind of like you, thinner, and I wondered if that could be you, but I didn't know if you were old enough for that to be you.
Rick: (Shaking his head in amazement) Wow. Yes, I'm old enough, and yes that's me.
I couldn't believe it. I remembered attending a Jerry Ford news conference as a reporter at WDCR, the Dartmouth student radio station, but I didn't remember asking him a question. Neer mind the fact that this was showing up on C-Span 30 years later, or that someone I know happened to catch it.
To make a long story short, I tracked down the video, and there I am: skinny, with huge glasses, wearing the clothes and hairstyle dubbed the "Rhode Island look" by my firends Peter Hirshberg and Neil McCarthy, asking the president about abortion.
Here's the exchange. My question is, which of us is more wooden?
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:27 AM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2006
Joshua where are you?
A 16 year old named Joshua sent me an email with a bunch of suggestions for book I am working on now, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. When I tried to respond to say thank you, my emails were bounced back to me. So, Joshua, here's my note, hope you get it:
Dear Joshua,I am delighted to know that you have enjoyed my first two books, and I appreciate all the suggestions you have made for the new one. Some of the ideas you have noted I was aware of, others I will take a look into. The assassination attempt on TR is already part of a story that will appear in the book about how one speech killed a president (Harrison) and one speech saved a president’s life (the folded up manuscript in his pocket slowed down the bullet that went into TR.)
If any of your ideas lead directly to a story in the book, I’ll be sure to let you know.
How wonderful that you are interested in history. I fell in love with history when I was about 12, and for nearly four decades it has continued to fascinate me. I hope it will do the same for you.
Stay well...
Rick Beyer
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2005
Presidential Colleges
The subject of Presidential Colleges came up in conversation last night--who went where, which college has the most presidents, etc. This conversation prompted me to assemble the list that appears below. It covers undergraduate degrees only. For those intested in the score, Harvard is the winner with 5 presidents. William and Mary and Yale can each claim 3. Two presidents went to Princeton and two to West Point. No other college hs more than one presidential alum. Nine presidents did not attend college, the most recent of whom was Harry Truman. The full list follows:| George Washington | None |
| John Adams | Harvard |
| Thomas Jefferson | William and Mary |
| James Madison | Princeton |
| James Monroe | William and Mary |
| John Quincy Adams | Harvard |
| Martin Van Buren | None |
| Andrew Jackson | None |
| William Henry Harrison | Hampden-Sydney College |
| John Tyler | William and Mary |
| James Polk | University of North Carolina |
| Zachary Taylor | None |
| Millard Fillmore | None |
| Franklin Pierce | Bowdoin |
| James Buchanan | Dickinson |
| Abraham Lincoln | None |
| Andrew Johnson | None |
| Ulysses Grant | West Point |
| Rutherford B. Hayes | Kenyon College |
| James Garfield | Williams |
| Chester Arthur | Union College |
| Grover Cleveland | None |
| Benjamin Harrison | None |
| William McKinley | Allegheny College |
| Theodore Roosevelt | Harvard |
| William Taft | Yale |
| Woodrow Wilson | Princeton |
| Warren Harding | Ohio Central College |
| Calvin Coolidge | Amherst |
| Herbert Hoover | Stanford |
| Franklin Roosevelt | Harvard |
| Harry Truman | None |
| Dwight Eisenhower | West Point |
| John Kennedy | Harvard |
| Lyndon Johnson | Southwest Texas State |
| Richard Nixon | Whittier College |
| Jerry Ford | Michigan |
| Jimmy Carter | Annapolis |
| Ronald Reagan | Eureka College |
| George Bush | Yale |
| Bill Clinton | Georgetown |
| George W. Bush | Yale |
Posted by rickbeyer at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)
June 01, 2005
Nixon Aides on Deep Throat
I find it deeply humorous that former Nixon aides are coming forward to condem Mark Felt for assisting Woodward and Bernstein. Does G. Gordon Liddy realize what an incredible hypocrit he is when he says Felt "violated the ethics of the law enforcement profession?"
Liddy, Colson and others seem to feel that it would have been more honorable if Felt had stepped forward and confronted Nixon, or gone public with his suspicions. Perhaps that would have been more noble (if self destructive) thing to do, but Felt's response to the cover-up was a hell of a lot more honorable than that of anyone in the White House, from Nixon on down. Where was the honor among Haldeman, Erlichman, Mitchell, Kleindienst,Dean, Liddy, Colson, and others, any one of whom also could have forced Nixon to end the cover-up at any time? Instead of acting in an ethical fashion, they all took part in a conspiracy to cover-up the truth. And now they have the gall to question the honor of a many who at least did something to bring that conspiracy down.
One other point: Whatever Felt's motives, and I'm sure they were complex, it is important to note that he did not leak everything to Woodward on a silver platter. He generally would only confirm information they already had, and give them general guidance to help them steer clear of false reporting. He walked a careful path between leaking confidential information and keeping his mouth shut. I think he acted wisely and discreetly.
CHuck Colson said this morning on NPR that it was sad Felt would be remembered for being "Deep Throat," instead of his many acts of distinguished service to the nation. Dan Schorr responded that he thought being Deep Throat WAS an act of distnguished service. I'm with Dan.
Posted by rickbeyer at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 31, 2005
The Post Confirms it: Felt was Deep Throat
Posted by rickbeyer at 05:42 PM | Comments (0)
More Felt/Deep Throat Speculation
A quick spasm of research reveals a few items--including excerpts fromt the Watergate tapes-- that seem to butress the idea that Mark Felt is Deep Throat.
Exhibit One is a 1974 article in Washingtonian magazine by Jack Limpert...Felt was a Deep Throat suspect even then:
Read the February 28 and March 13 Presidential transcripts and then try someone like Mark Felt on for size. A Hoover loyalist and number-two man to Pat Gray, he had every reason and resource for leaking the Watergate story and destroying Nixon. Why would someone like Felt pick Woodward and Bernstein? Why not?
Speaking of transcripts of the Watergate tapes, here's one dated October 19, 1972, in which Haldeman lets Nixon know that they think Felt is leaking information harmful to them:
Nixon: Well, if they've got a leak down at the FBI, why the hell can't Gray tell us what the hell is left? You know what I mean?...
Haldeman: We know what's left, and we know who leaked it.
Nixon: Somebody in the FBI?
Haldeman: Yes, sir. Mark Felt. You can't say anything about this because it will screw up our source and there's a real concern. Mitchell is the only one who knows about this and he feels strongly that we better not do anything because--
Nixon: Do anything? Never.
Haldeman: If we move on him, he'll go out and unload everything. He knows everything that's to be known in the FBI. He has access to absolutely everything ...
Nixon: What would you do with Felt?
Haldeman: Well, I asked Dean ...
Nixon: You know what I'd do with him, the bastard? Well that's all I want to hear about it.
Haldeman: I think he wants to be in the top spot.
Nixon: That's a hell of a way for him to get to the top.
Haldeman: You can figure a lot of--maybe he thought--first of all, he has to figure that if you stay in as president there's a possibility or probability Gray will stay on. If McGovern comes in, then you know Gray's going to be out ...
Nixon: Is he Catholic?
Haldeman: (unintelligible) Jewish.
President Nixon: Christ, put a Jew in there?
Haldeman: Well, that could explain it too.
(Not PC, Richard, not PC!)
Here's another excerpt of a conversation in the Oval Office from February 28, 1973. This time it is John Dean and RIchard discussing the possibility that Felt is leaking...and alsolaying out a rationale for why he wouldn't ever want anyone to know.
Dean: Now, about White House staff and reporters and the like, and, now, the only, the only person that knows--is aware of it--is Mark Felt, and we've talked about Mark Felt, and uh--I guess, uh--
Nixon: What does it do to him, though? Let's face it. You know, suppose that Felt comes out and unwraps the whole thing. What does it do to him?
Dean: He can't do it. It just--
Nixon: But my point is: Who's going to hire him?
Dean: That's right.
Nixon: Let's face it.
Dean: He can't. He's--
Nixon: If he--the guy that does that can go out and, uh, you mean he's a--of course, he couldn't do it unless he had a guarantee from somebody like Time magazine saying, "Look, we'll give you a job for life." Then what do they do? They put him in a job for life, and everybody would treat him like a pariah. He's in a very dangerous situation. These guys you know--the informers, look what it did to [Whittaker] Chambers. ... They finished him.
Dean: Uh huh. Well, I think I, there's no--
Nixon: Either way, either way, the, the, the informer is not wanted in our society. Either way, that's the one thing people do sort of line up against. They--
Dean: That's right.
Nixon: They say, "Well, that son-of-a-bitch informed. I don't want him around." We wouldn't want him around, would we?
One other piece of info. In 1992 Atlantic Monthly published an article by James Mann, a former colleague of Woodward's at the Washington Post, laying out the case that Felt was actually Deep Throat.
Posted by rickbeyer at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
Deep Throat Revealed
Hot Stuff: Vanity Fair is reporting in it's current issue that a man named Mark Felt, who was the #2 guy at the FBI during the Nixon Administration,has admitted to his family and friends that he is Deep Throat. The articile reports that Felt, age 91, kept his role secret, because he was very conflicted over whether it was an honorable or dishonorable thing to do. I just read the article and find it both fascinating and convincing. I can't wait to hear what (if anything) Woodward has to say, not to mention the legion of others who have written on this subject. Can it possibly be true that one of the most fascinating political/journalistic mysteries of my lifetime has finally been solved? (FOr the record, I have always believed it was John Dean, but after reading this article I am ready to change my mind.)
Posted by rickbeyer at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)
May 27, 2005
Election Night Gem
I was screening tapes of election nights past at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York this week, as part of the research for a new book. Among several gems I found was a priceless moment from the CBS election night coverage in 1956, the first election night broadcast hosted by a not yet world famous Walter Cronkite.
As Cronkite updates the returns in the Eisenhower-Stevenson presidential race, he holds an earphone to his ear just like Garry Owens used to do in Saturday Night Live. Behind him, many young men in suits stand on a catwalk, apparently working on some kind of giant tote board that we really can�t see. Then Cronkite transitions to the next segment. �Now let's go over to our Univac Corner and DOuglas Edwards� says Cronkite. Cut to a shot of Douglas Edward sitting in front of several giant magnetic tape drives, with a huge Univac computer console to his left. But Edwards isn�t quite ready to speak to us. In fact, he�s on the phone. Nor does he hang up when the camera comes to him. There is a slight pause as he listens, and replies �Yeah. � Then he hangs up the phone with a very gentle�almost intimate�� bye.� Only then does he turn to camera and say in his TV voice: �Just checking on time, Walter, I get two minutes to tell you about the latest Univac projections on the Presidential race�.�
In this early use of computer projections, the networks don�t quite have the language down. Edwards refers to the computer projections as �guesses,� which, while accurate enough, would probably drive modern TV managers crazy.
Later on in the broadcast, I kid you not, it looks as if a janitor walks in behind Walter as he is talking and empties the trash!
TV aint what it used to be!
Posted by rickbeyer at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2005
Martin Van Buren
I just completed Ted Widmers new biography of President Martin Van Buren , in which he tries to rescue this forgotten president from obscurity and give him much of the credit for creating the modern Democratic party. A tall order, considering that most people probably consider Martin (His enemies called him "Matty") Van Buren about as interesting as paint drying on a wall--if they stop to consider him at all. (Im sure an expose on Abigail van BurenDear Abbeywould be far more likely to generate book sales.) But in fact it is a very engaging book, and well worth reading, though Van Buren is a curiously elusive subject.
Mr. Widmers book-jacket bio notes his work as an aide to Bill Clinton and the fact that he is a professor of History at Washington College in Maryland, but oddly enough, fails to mention that a) like myself, he is a graduate of the Gordon School in East Providence Rhode Island, or b) he was one of the founders of The Upper Crust, a Boston area punk band whose members appear in baroque dress portraying 18th century Lords. (Widmer, who as far as I know is no longer with the band, was known as Lord Rockingham). It is my pleasure to correct these omissions here.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2005
All the President's Hair
Heres a historical website thats a bit on the wiggy side, testing visual acuity and historical expertise: All The Presidents Hair. I must confess I did baldyI mean badlyat this hair-brained quiz, so I guess I better brush up on my presi pompadors.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)