Daniel Schorr at 90 (81 cents)

Daniel Schorr, still active at ninety, participated in a conversation this evening with Marvin Kalb at Adas Israel.

Schorr talked about his first job with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, how he became a European stringer for a number of American and British newspapers, before going to work for Edward R. Murrow at CBS. And the rest is history. He has been everywhere, and reported everything.

But best were the anecdotes:

1. When he first was given a responsibility on television, he asked someone what you need for success in this new media. He was told that the answer was "sincerity". "You need to project sincerity, and know how to fake it."

2. When he was in Moscow in 1956, he was going to go on vacation, but had heard that there might be a secret meeting of the Communist Central Committee. Important things were going on, including the Stalin denunciation, the Hungarian revolution and invasion and the march by Israel and others towards the Suez Canal. He was at a reception and Khrushchev was there, and he had a chance to speak a little to him. He told Khrushchev that he was about to leave on vacation, but that he had heard there might be a meeting, so he just did not know what to do. Khrushchev says to him: "Let me understand this. You want to take a vacation but are concerned that you are gone for two weeks, there might be a meeting of the Central Committee. Right? Well, Gospadin Schorr, my advice to you is to go ahead, not worry about anything, and take your vacation." "So there won't be a meeting, Mr. Khrushchev?" "Well, let's put it this way. If it really becomes necessary to meet, we will go ahead without you."

3. During the Nixon years, the Nixon administration identified Schor as one of its enemies, and the White House asked the FBI to get some background on him. The FBI misunderstood the request, thinking that they were being asked to do background checking on Schor for a possible White House appointment so, among other things, they interviewed Schorr, who told them that there must be a mistake and there was no White House job he would accept. The White House was nonplussed at this revelation, and thought that the best thing to do was to tell a White (House) lie: "we were thinking about hiring him, but changed our mind". Of course this all came out, and the misuse of the FBI was one of the bases for the suggested Nixon impeachment. Twenty years later, Schorr was at a dinner where ex-President Nixon was speaking. He went up to him and said: "Mr. Nixon, you may not remember me..." Nixon interrupted him and said: "Your Dan Schorr. Of course I remember you. I almost gave you a job."

4. As to Libby and the effect it might have on future leaks to the press: "Libby. I believe that it means that there will be no major leaks the next three weeks."

Other things he said were not funny, but interesting. The position over time of the New York Times not to over-hire Jewish journalists or to cover Jewish issues to closely. The respect with which Edward R. Murrow held his journalists (Murrow, who had never been a newspaperman), and how much respect CBS boss William Paley had for his journalists: "You guys go get the news, and don't worry about the money. We hae Jack Benny to make the money."

Was Nixon a bad president? No, a good one, just paranoid. Was he anti-Semitic? No, but some of his people were, and he wanted to be one of the guys. What about Carter's reference to Israel and apartheid? "Not worth talking about".

Kalb added a lot to the night, as well. He has known Schorr since 1956, asked questions well, and added his own interesting comments.

It was very well attended.