I am the 113th president of the National Press club and wanted an honor it is to have this is the First Program on my watch. This year. The former general manager of cbs Radio Network news and former managing editor, the boys on the bus is required reading and i have the pleasure in the challenge for one of those boys chamberlin from opi. [laughter] [applause] looking forward to a terrific discussion this evening now i have the pleasure of introducing the chair of the National Press club history the 87th president of the National Press club, bureau chief of gaylord News University of oklahoma and a dear friend. [applause] thank you so much the legacy of the 112 year history of journalism especially in washington we are pleased we have a new book of the new history of the club called tales from the National Press club scheduled to be published by the History Press and those that have had an impact on history. This event tonight was proposed by our moderator who himself is part of the Grover Family founded by eds greatgrandfather Alexander Graham bell. Who by the way now editor and publisher of the American Heritage magazine that has inspired generations of historians and hes also the author and editor of 13 history books and a thirdgeneration club member and is here to introduce our distinguished panel from the campaign not only the book the boys on the bus but also of the 12 elections that have followed. We will have an hour with the panel and then well open to questions on the floor well pass around the microphone so your question can be picked up by cspan. Please ask the synced questions if you ramble that mike may disappear immediately after the program please join us for a reception for our guests. Thank you so much for doing thi this. The floor is yours. [applause] thank you and congratulations on your book that just came out i dont know how you find so many good history stories. Welcome everybody we are pleased we will have a lively discussion about political campaigns and specifically of the experiences of the three distinguished Panel Members when boys on the bus came out a reviewer said it described a whole gaggle of reporters glamour boys fornicators drunks and virtuosos all crammed like monkeys. Phonetically dogging the candidates something to paying their best works so now that may be a little overthetop that the book did provide a fascinating window into political campaigns and the people that bring those stories to us like the distinguished journalists on the panel. For most of you who dont need an introduction Carl Leubsdorf with the Dallas Morning News for nearly three decades covering the Mcgovern Campaign for the ap that gave him a special status with reporters looking over his shoulder. And the past president of the gridirons club it where he had the distinction to be roasted by john stuart. [laughter] he recently published his memoir entitled the adventures of the boy on the bus. Tom oliphant was known as the kid on the bus. Even though he worked for the boston globe already for four years after the 72 campaign to help manage the coverage of School Desegregation in boston winning the pulitzer prize. He was a long time washington correspondent and reported on ten president ial campaigns. A frequent commentator on pbs and is known for his handsome bowties. Hes also written most recently the road to camelot connie chung last but not least were so glad shes come down only the second female coanchor to coanchor a Network Newscast as part of cbs evening news also an anchor reporter for nbc, abc, cnn and msnbc that is in demand. [laughter] and kim krause when heard that kozy disrupted the world of the boys on the bus always showed up well prepared bright and early with microphone ready and never hung over. [laughter] first of all tell us briefly how you came to be on the campaign in 1972 where i spent most of my career in since that day i joined the ap at of Columbia Journalism School after i was assigned there a spot opened up in new orleans and that has to be more interesting than tampa but what i didnt know they were about to desegregate the schools there. So the next three years i did mostly desegregation and in 1963 i got to the Washington Bureau courtesy of my new Orleans Bureau chief. This is how long ago it was this is before kennedy was killed but the day he was shot when i called and i heard what happened and said should i come in they said no come in at 1030 so wasnt significant at the ap at that point. [laughter] but as the world war ii generation of journalists began to retire and die off in spots began to open up and then there were a couple of thousand representatives and then a couple of descendents and then the 68 campaign i spent some of that covering hubert humphrey. And by the time 1972 came aroun around, i was the ap Political Writer and i was assigned mostly to mcgovern i covered him mostly all year. After that i stayed with the ap a couple years but then went to the Baltimore Sun at the end of 1975 they gave me a good offer to cover politics at the white house and in 1981 a former editor from Dallas Morning News hired me to be a Washington Bureau chief after 28 years as bureau chief i retired ten years ago but im still writing the column i wrote all those years. 1972 is my second of 11 president ial campaigns. I had covered the above kennedy and George Wallace 1968. But i started in New Hampshire where i met this one. I am pretty sure. So that was my second. Tom and i are about the same age. But that is off the record the number. [laughter] but he had a lot more experience. And i was in my mid twenties suddenly i was assigned to cover the mcgovern president ial campaign so i was the third string and that was bruce martin primarily. He was smart and respected the preacher did not respect any television truly. For someone who would talk about talk for a living and sick about what we were saying but i think most people expected him and then i was bumped down to the third banana so that i covered race obviously i did not know what i was doing. [laughter] but i persevered. There is a lot of interesting details in this book what did you think when it came out quicks why do you think theyre still reading it today quick. I was just happy my name was in. [laughter] im not sure but i think it captures a time and a place that somehow has a romantic atmosphere about it. And the Mcgovern Campaign one thing he didnt do very well so almost up to the point where he died. But there was a change in some way with Timothy Crouse says he quotes joe to say you have to pay because of Middle America to go really cracks. [laughter] one of my favorite moments toward the end in the general that came to be known as big feet. As the most Senior Network people i did not come out all that much during the general in fact one of the things i learned about that part of the trade is how little they worked. [laughter] but for some of us who had correspondent responsibilities in those days the arrival of bigfoot was much appreciated because they could do your job for a day and file and you could rest so it was kind of nice but toward the end i remember two of the most hawkish of the washington columnists joe was famous for his association with kissinger at that time and the mcgovern people, god bless them had that sort of thing and then they showed up thinking it was 1960. But they said they would be writing on what we called the zoo point. [laughter] and then to explain what that was like. There was an elite group that could fly on the mcgovern plane and often they were part of the group but then there was the rest of us. [laughter] we were the scum we were animals and not to be respected. [laughter] i think carl was the bigfoot. That the ap had a couple of people that were on the plane every week but really they had journalists and then the backups and the tv crews third person with an organization but the funny story shows in some ways one of the people sent out to the zoo plane was bob novak. [laughter] mcgovern didnt write like anything hero and put him on the zoo plane if you think anything has changed i remind you of the story the other day of the npr reporter not allowed to travel with pompeo. I traveled with spiro agnew some and the Washington Post and the baltimore post couldnt go with him so that part has not change changed. I will never forget on mcgoverns plane it was called dakota queen to. Because the first one was a world war ii plane and for those Bombing Missions during world war ii but the dakota queen pulling away from the tarmac in cleveland and everybody waving by out the window. [laughter] a lot of younger people today must be difficult to fathom what it was like for us to file articles with no computers or internet or email not even a fax machine or a cell phone. The most technologically advanced person covering the nominee was the ap guy. It shows what a different world that was for example i remember coming back from south dakota with senator mcgovern and then he announced and told everyone he would dump them. We will get to that. That the ap reporter had them from the morning papers we wrote separate stories for the morning and afternoon. I said get me a copy and i will find a phone. You had to find a payphone somewhere so you could call it in your story. I said dont worry i will find a pay phone. Sometimes the secret service would find you want. What did you do quick. Yes. The receiver part you had to unscrew it and do the alligator clip for a phony recorder it was really hard to unscrew. I mean really hard to. [laughter] i recall being asked. [laughter] yes i can. [laughter] that connie you have to get that film back well before 7 00 oclock you have to send your film back in the morning you have to send your film back in the morning my husband told me you have to tell them because it just shows how aggressive and brutal you were. [laughter] little old me . [laughter] it is true in those days you had to fly your film to a location where it could be developed or literally flown back to new york in these rickety planes. I cant do this. [laughter] i was always accused of trying to go around the big guy with their first or Second String guy one said he was supposed to show me around and show me the ropes but then i kept going around his back calling new york for my stories directly. But this time my father had a heart attack and they said you can come home and i said great so im flying to the location with the film and then i said why dont i do it . And they said no. You are outrageous it went all through the bureau and it was everyone was appalled. You ever hear of Andrea Mitchell . It still isnt easy. First of all in the world of printer there were portable typewriters. Yes. I had an underwood i had to the late 1930s. You had these little typewriters and the tape recorder was just beginning to be miniaturized that you can hold in your hand in 1968 they were ridiculous because they got in the way of taking notes but there is something that is long gone because of the monopolies but once you had a nominee the candidates always had a guy from a sponsor called at t whose job was to make sure wherever you stopped there were several rows of telephones that worked so we didnt have to fight for pay telephones. And you could write your story a couple of times i wrote the stories in the middle of nowher nowhere. I didnt once with a pen and the Western Union guy with those operators waiting at the next stop. And all of that is gone today. That your life for you but one of the things about that perhaps is different from now but this was at the dawn to let women in. 1972 saw the arrival of three people one a fabulous correspondent at cbs was marvelous Michelle Clark who we lost in a plane crash the following year. She was africanamerican when i was hired the equal Opportunity Commission was putting great pressure to hire women and minorities. Cbs news which was in the neanderthal years and still kind of is. [laughter] hired for women and one smell one one fell swoop me chinese, a black person leslie stall and sylvia chase also had blonde hair. [laughter] it looked like a ticket of the old democratic party. [laughter] you have one of everything. There was one other woman that year who broke through and was a print reporter for the Hearst Newspapers and also arrived on the scene during the primaries who lit up the set at the convention and she is gone sadly in the early eighties but really that is all there was. And then to go to a stone wall through a story but then it was generational at that time. We had grown up with television and were totally comfortable with it. Those in personal life or political life for the Womens Movement that was gathering steam. And those who had trouble with women or television. Tom mary Susan Spencer who is a force to be reckoned with on her own as a Television News correspondent long time at cbs news. But trying to think of her career if there is some way to have meaningful professional life to see them that long ag ago, it was the breakthrough and sadly it is very male in a lot of respects there were a few women covering the campaign. But elizabeth rarely came out and at that point and mary was there. When she wrote for the star i used to watch her that she was an incredible writer. I was such a poor writer i would just be sitting there we would be the only ones there and i was just trying to come up with something mundane just so i could convey what had happened and she is toiling away in the middle of the night working and i would watch her out of the corner of my eye to give her vibes. Please. [laughter] she had already achieved that status but she was a character. I remember the night of one of the primaries i will take a wild guess and say it was wisconsin. We were in the press room and since she is not here to jump down my throat she may have had a couple at dinner before the returns came in. [laughter] she was boston tough talking gal but very fastidious about her appearance and her hair was always done. There we were in the newsroom and return started to come in that night and she was a little off but she had a cigarette. She was on the phone and a bunch of us were watching the cigarette getting closer and closer to her hair. [laughter] and all of a sudden it lit up. [laughter] no. And mary liked young men to carry her bag so they sprang forward and put her out. [laughter] me being the only woman, woman, there was a lot of gameplaying but i was used to that because it was an everyday affair. Every day. If you see the Metoo Movement today but back then it was a daily occurrence in all of you know what im talking about. You just deal with that. Are you going to make me tell the story . [laughter] tell me yours first. [laughter] remember there were all these things the pioneers helped to establish the idea of women. And one of the things they really were one of the boys. Especially this one. I remember one night during the general election, we were somewhere and sometimes after we filed we would go have a couple before we would turn in connie was pretty good about hanging out with us. But then i realize thats we were getting your story. [laughter] but i was always in bed in my room. So he said when i realized carl was breaking stories right and left how did this happen i realize they go down to the bar you get whoever you can on the campaign then they may be able to tell you something. So there are three or four of us including connie. And how many times have you see this happen . That someone in a leisure suit. [laughter] started to hone in awkwardly making passes in connies direction. I was struck first of all how calm and cool she was that she really didnt notice the guy. He did not understand and he kept circling again coming back. And finally he was coming back and i started to get up out of my chair to shoo him away but then connie gave him one of the most withering stairs i have ever seen in my life and said a line that has stayed with me forever. Honey look you dont want to go to bed with me you will just be horny 20 minutes later. [laughter] then we knew she was one of us. [laughter] he said he had a story but i had forgotten it. But i had to develop a little repertoire because there were so many coming out. So roger mudd reminded me when he was writing his book he said jim and the New York Times and another one who at that time was working for the l. A. Times and then i was at the biltmore on the phone on a pay phone the actual with the accordion glass door and a seat so i is sitting there i was talking to someone who i was stating. Dating and they came up impress their noses and were asking me. I that they were sexually harassing me. So they push their way in i was sitting here so i could see their belt buckle so to get rid of them i pull down there flies. [laughter] and they said did you do that . I said i think so. [laughter] on that note. [laughter] that is a hard one to follow. Did you feel you had a lot of access to mcgovern . And all the journalists covering the campaign because they would get kos on close to the candidate and the journalist knocked down five rounds of whiskey. And thats one of the things that was most different and with the candidate or the staff there are no barriers. But i remember being in New Hampshire i wanted to do a story about mcgovern so i dont know i