teddy's the toast of tehran! --12/9
Today's selection-- from Paper of Wreckage by Susan Mulcahy and Frank DiGiacomo. Rupert Murdoch at the New York Post
“I've heard people say that Murdoch wrote this or that the headline was ordered by him. The person who actually came up with it, I believe, was [Michael] Hechtman, who was the most apolitical person I've ever met. The Post then became very pro-Carter and anti-Kennedy.
“DICK BELSKY, metropolitan editor, 1970-1989: We did that headline, and Rupert got in trouble. People were saying, ‘You're going after Kennedy?’ and Rupert didn't even know anything about it. Supposedly, he told somebody, ‘My boys sometimes get a little over-the-top.’
“BARBARA ROSS, political reporter, 1978-1985: I recall meetings with [potential] presidential candidates, but not being invited to the table. I was allowed to escort Joan Kennedy to the ladies' room. The boys dealt with the boys. There was a bit of a hullabaloo before [the Kennedys] arrived because we had all those front pages on the wall, across from the elevator. I think somebody had the common sense to take the TEDDY'S THE TOAST OF TEHRAN! wood off the wall before he showed up.
“DAVE BANKS, night managing editor, 1979-1981: I remember Rupert coming to the Post one night. He'd been out to dinner with Ronald Reagan. He was kind of appalled that Reagan was going to run for president. He said, ‘Nice enough guy, affable, but he's an old guy. He can't hear. I'm not sure that he's all there’ If those were not his exact words, it was the tenor of his words. We were amused by this, but a bit gobsmacked. Then he put his full weight behind Reagan, even though he had these private misgivings.
“GEORGE ARZT, City Hall bureau chief, 1968-1986: Dunleavy believed I knew more than I knew. One day, Ronald Reagan was in the office. Dunleavy had awakened me after a long night and he said, ‘Where are you? Murdoch is here.’ I said, ‘Where am I supposed to be?’ ‘You're supposed to be in Murdoch's office,’ I grabbed anything I could and ran down. He said, ‘Where's your jacket?’ He got a jacket off a really skinny guy. I'm struggling to get into this jacket and then all of a sudden we go into the meeting with Reagan. I say hello and I'm thinking, ‘God, I hope I don't fall asleep,’ I have my tape recorder going and soon Murdoch looks at me, and says, ‘What's that on your shirt?’ I look down and there's this big Rorschach ink blot going across my shirt. I think, ‘This is going to be a hell of a day’ Then he said, ‘What's on your head? You look like you came off a wedding cake’ It's shaving cream. Suddenly, I raised my hand to ask a question and the whole sleeve rips. Dunleavy got me out of there immediately after the meeting and got me some coffee to sober up. He said, ‘Except for the fright of having the boss there, that was hilarious’
 |
| President Ronald Reagan during a meeting with Murdoch in the Oval Office in 1983 |
“ANDY SOLTIS: In the spring of 1980, the Post endorsed Carter in the Democratic primary in New York. The fall comes around. I'm backing up Steve Dunleavy on the city desk. It's the night of the Al Smith dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, the big political and Catholic charities dinner of the year. Both Carter and Reagan were there. [Post political reporter] Deborah Orin calls in and says, ‘There's a crazy rumor going around the room. Is it possible the Post is going to endorse Reagan tomorrow?’ I laughed. I said, ‘Debbie, Murdoch has owned the Post for four years and the Post has not endorsed a single Republican for any significant office. Why would he suddenly do that now?’ She said, ‘You got me, but the Republicans are being coy. I need to know, is this happening? I said to Dunleavy, ‘Debbie wants to know, are we endorsing Reagan?’ Dunleavy said, ‘Yes, mate. Tomorrow’ That absolutely shocked me. People are going to say, ‘Well, the Post endorsed Koch, and Koch was right wing’ That's nonsense. Koch often had a one hundred percent rating from the Americans for Democratic Action, which was the litmus test in those days. He was about as pure a liberal as you could be at that time. Four years into Murdoch's ownership, the Post had swung around and changed politics.
“ERIC FETTMANN, associate editorial page editor, columnist, 1976-1991; 1993-2019: The factor that I think more than anything else did it was Jimmy Carter: Murdoch thought Carter was god-awful.
“SUSAN MULCAHY, Page Six editor, 1978-1985: At Madison Square Garden during the 1980 Democratic convention, I remember curtains separating the headquarters of different news organizations. One night Carl Bernstein lifted the curtain in front of the Post's booth. He didn't say hello or introduce himself. He was with somebody else and said to that person, in a disgusted voice, ‘This is the New York Post.’ It was like he was pointing out animals in a zoo. Which was clear to everybody working that night. A couple of people started jumping around, scratching under their arms and making ape noises.
“ROGER STONE, Republican consultant: I don't think Rupert Murdoch is a conservative. I think he's a believer in free enterprise, and a strong capitalist. He wants what's best for him and his business. He's not afraid to think outside the box. He and the Post had not only played a major role in Koch's election as mayor, but also his reelection. The Post actually ran full-page ads urging the Republicans to endorse Koch, and indeed, in his reelection run, Koch was the nominee of the Republican and Democratic parties, having won both party primaries. In any event, going into the 1980 presidential campaign, Murdoch uses Koch and the Post to torture Jimmy Carter. Koch never actually endorsed Carter. He certainly never endorsed Reagan, either, but on a clockwork basis, he criticized Carter regarding Israel in the closing weeks of the campaign, which did real damage to Carter among Jewish voters. Koch was saying, look, I'm a Democrat and I'm supporting Carter, but he's completely bungling the situation in Israel. He was killing Carter with love.
“MAUREEN CONNELLY, former press secretary for Ed Koch: I wouldn't trust anything Roger Stone had to say.
“WAYNE DARWEN, assistant managing editor, 1983-1987: Murdoch is remarkable, whether you like his politics, you like him, or you don't. He's a remarkable dude. I don't know what sort of character it takes to be that fricking strong, with a good measure of ruthlessness, and not giving a fuck what anyone says. He is not intimidated by anybody: by politicians, by prime ministers, by presidents. He didn't give a shit what they thought. People often say he's political, but I've seen him support left and support right. The bottom line is, his god is his business. And nothing gets in the way of business. Politics is not going to get in the way of it. He's successful because he's single-minded. I'm going to make a fortune, and I'm going to build an empire, and no one is going to stop me. And I don't give a fuck what anybody says.”
COMMENTS (0)
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/customer/www/delanceyplace.com/public_html/cmsAdmin/plugins/websiteComments/websiteComments.php on line 279