Words Can Make 2022 More Bearable (if you know what to look for)

One of the joys of a life in journalism is you get to enjoy the “sayings” of public figures – without regard to politics. Despite all the harsh words tossed around in the public arena, some gems can actually emerge – even those with a bit of a bite. Watching for those can make 2022 a bit more bearable. Let me share some examples from the past.

President Harry Truman was the master of telling it like he saw it. After his controversial firing of popular General Douglas MacArthur due to insubordination, he famously told reporters “I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.” Truman’s wife Bess was asked if she could get him to stop saying manure. Her reply: “You don’t know how hard it was just to get him to use that word.”

From that same era, failed presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson said “I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they stop telling lies about us, we’ll stop telling the truth about them.” A lie? Former Secretary of State Al Haig said “That’s not a lie. It’s a terminological inexactitude.”

President Ronald Reagan quipped that “one of the most important rules in politics is poise – which means looking like an owl after you have behaved like a jackass.” President Dwight Eisenhower cautioned that “sweet praise is like perfume. It’s fine if you don’t swallow it.”

Storytelling is a form of humor used by Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson, as I point out in my memoir, With The Bark Off A Journalist’s Memories of LBJ and a Life in the News Media.

Abraham Lincoln c. 1859

©1960 David Iwerks Smithsonian

Former Treasury Secretary and Texas Governor John Connally liked to twist the old George Washington-chopping-down-a-cherry-tree-legend into a Texas tale. Connally pointed out George Washington’s father told his son they would have to leave Texas and move to Virginia after young George confessed he couldn’t tell a lie when he cut down a mesquite tree in their backyard. As his father put it: “You’ll never get elected in Texas if you can’t tell a lie.”

Or sometimes, a Texas politician can simply “twist” the facts. Agriculture Secretary John White was badly beaten when he ran for Texas Governor. His rationale: “Texans like the job I was doing as Ag Commissioner, so they voted overwhelmingly to keep me in this job.”

And the following quote was made in jest, but it’s a good ’un: Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hill commented after he was soundly defeated in a race for Texas governor: “The people have spoken – the bastards!”

As 2022 unfolds and the harsh political rhetoric heats up, be alert for the little humorous gems that are sure to emerge and brighten your day a bit.

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George Phenix: "Damn. That was not the way I remember it."

It was 58 years ago on November 24, 1963 that millions watched live on TV as nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald. It happened in the basement of the Dallas Municipal Building as police were transferring Oswald to the County Jail.

Photo: Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald. Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

Ruby fired a single 38-caliber round from his Colt Cobra revolver as police, news reporters, and a live nationwide TV audience watched in stunned horror. Robert H. Jackson, a photographer with the Dallas Times Herald, won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his dramatic photo.

A young Dallas TV cameraman George Phenix also filmed the event, but didn’t get the notoriety Jackson received for his tremendous photo. But Phenix continued in journalism, moving to Austin, publishing a weekly newspaper with his family. At one point, he dabbled in politics working for such Texas political legends as US Senator Lloyd Bentsen and US Congressman Jake Pickle.

But, back to Ruby for a minute. Born Jacob Leon Rubenstein, he was known in police circles for running a strip club and was said to have provided prostitutes out of the club, sometimes as the story goes, to police officers themselves. This may be why he was able to, while carrying a gun in his pocket, move in the midst of police and reporters to get within point-blank range of the handcuffed Oswald to fire a lethal shot into Oswald’s abdomen at 11:21 am.

Ruby was wrestled to the ground as Oswald was rushed to Parkland Hospital (the same hospital where President Kennedy was declared dead). Oswald died at 1:07 pm. Ruby was later convicted of Oswald’s murder and sentenced to death. Ruby died in prison of a pulmonary embolism from lung cancer in 1967, awaiting a new trial.

How does all this relate to George Phenix? Years later, I ran into my friend George at the Austin downtown post office. He was writing a book with three others who were working in Dallas at the time of Kennedy’s assassination, Wes Wise, Bob Huffaker and Bill Mercer, titled,When the News Went Live: Dallas, 1963.

“Hey, George, haven’t seen you in a while. How’s the book coming?” He stopped, looked at me and said, “You’re not gonna believe this. For the first time since I shot that film of Ruby killing Oswald decades ago, I went back and looked at it. Damn, that was not the way I remember it.”

Think about that. Here was a guy with a laser-like focus, looking through a camera lens, recording a stunning moment. And as he told, and re-told, that story over the years, the details changed in his re-telling. Memory has a way of morphing with the passage of time.

Believe me, I kept George’s words uppermost as I checked, and double-checked, what I wrote in my newly-released memoir, With the Bark Off, A Journalist’s Memories of LBJ and a Life in the News Media.

P.S. George died September 24, 2021, at age 82. RIP, my friend.

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Bill Moyers. Take Time to Float.

I first met Bill Moyers in 1953, though he probably doesn’t remember it. I was a 17-year-old snare drummer and Bill was the emcee of a summer band concert-in-the-park in the deep East Texas town of Marshall. We were both on summer break as students from the University of Texas in Austin. Soon thereafter, our lives started to intertwine. We’ve been lifelong, long-distance friends since that time. We talk. We laugh.

Photo: Bill Moyers & Neal Spelce

My admiration and respect for Bill’s brilliance began early and has grown exponentially since then. Turns out, I was asked to fill Bill’s shoes (I fell way short, I might add) as a part-time reporter at KTBC-TV in Austin. We were both still UT students. And when Bill left the job, my UT journalism professor recommended me. I became aware right away that Bill had set an amazingly high bar of accomplishment.

And that high bar has been Bill’s standard to this day.

By the way, the public first became aware of Bill when, just minutes before Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Bill was whisked to Dallas to join LBJ on Air Force One before the plane took off for Washington, bearing the dead president’s body. Bill became LBJ’s White House press secretary.

Bill’s national media career is legendary. No need to recite his many successes here. Just Google him. It is truly impressive. His contributions during recent decades have been his acclaimed work on PBS.

What I want to point out now is some personal advice he gave to me two decades ago that still rings true today. Not many are aware that Bill was a seminary student back in the day. He was an ordained minister.

But they may be aware Bill’s body of professional work has included some important productions about philosophy, faith, and theology. In fact, one of his most memorable shows was where he spent the entire program analyzing the legendary hymn, Amazing Grace.

As I write in my just-released memoir With The Bark Off, A Journalist’s Memories of LBJ and a Life in the News Media: “He did something very special for me when I had five bypasses in open heart surgery. Bill had heart surgery himself and he sent me the sweetest personal note.”

This was more than 20 years ago. He was telling me to settle down, take it easy, relax.

And he gave me words to live by in his own, eloquent way: “Don’t forget to take time to float every day.”

https://billmoyers.com/

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