Encounters with famous persons over a four-decade experience as a journalist
I fooled Jimmy Hoffa at his most angry moment. Same with Timothy Leary. Nearly trampled Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon. Worked as an editor with Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks. Liked Gloria Steinem the best. Was up-close with eight Presidents. Spent 20 minutes with Fidel Castro in his first year in office. Was stiffed by Zsa Zsa Gabor.
All of these tales in one tightly written, engaging memoir.
Excerpt
Accompanying Sen. Robert F. Kennedy on Long Island 1967:
On the way the chopper went within sight of the huge airport named for Robert Kennedy’s slain brother. The Senator was both excited and concerned when a jet from the runway roared over us. The pilot of our helicopter must have known what he was doing, but his four passengers weren’t so sure.
It was obvious, between stops, that Kennedy would have rather been somewhere else. I had been wondering all day whether there was any fun in appearing before ecstatic crowds like this. And so I asked him. We were alone in the rear seats on the 20-minute flight to Islip. The sky over us was now beginning to darken.
I had learned that Kennedy often allowed endless moments go by before responding to a question. He simply stared, then looked away, out of the window. I simply waited. After what seemed like 90 seconds or so, I thought that he had dismissed my question and was not going to answer.
“I don’t know,” he said finally. “I suppose I’m like anyone else. I’d rather be home with my family. How about you?”
He perked up only once all day. That was when he arrived at the Castle Inn in Islip, He was there for a reception held by local Democrats, the final event on his schedule. The partiers were jam-packed into a noisy and stifling basement room in the 1870s domed “Czech Castle.” On the way through, Robert Kennedy had an idea. He noticed a wedding reception in progress on the main floor.
With an impish grin, he slipped into the receiving line and shook hands with the newlyweds and the wedding party. For years after, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ventura of Bay Shore enjoyed seeing the reaction of their friends when they see the familiar Kennedy face in their album of wedding pictures.
“Both my husband and I liked the Kennedys an awful lot and we were thrilled to have him there,” Mrs. Ventura told me. The pols accompanying RFK missed all of this. They had gone downstairs to find a good seat. I chose to stick with Kennedy.
After a push for Suffolk candidates downstairs, Kennedy was on his way to LaGuardia Airport, still badgering his assistant about flights back to Washington, and presumably back to his family. Kennedy just stared out of the window as we made our way in the early evening. Below, the lights of the residential streets of Farmingdale, Levittown then Manhasset and Great Neck were beginning to sparkle like stars. And up ahead, in front of Kennedy’s gaze, were the strings of pearls of New York City’s great bridges.
Kennedy’s traveling companion for the day could not help but think of the words from Shakespeare that Robert Kennedy recited at the 1984 Democratic National Convention to speak of his late brother John.
“When he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
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Join me as we travel together on the road called "Aging." I will be sharing my personal experiences with you and offer ideas on how we can better navigate the complex byways of our older years. Grief, healing, generations, ancestors, and more.
