Brian Williams
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Watching Evan Bayh warm up the crowd last night before Hillary Clinton's speech, I could not help but think of the spiderweb of relationship that fuses our modern politics to the generation before it.
Consider this, a story many people have forgotten: Senator Bayh's father, Senator Birch Bayh, was on board a twin-engine plane when it crashed in an orchard in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was June of 1964. Senator Bayh and his fellow passenger, Senator Edward Kennedy, had just cast affirmative votes for the Civil Rights Act, and were en route to make a joint appearance at the Massachusetts Democratic Party convention. The crash killed Ted Kennedy's pilot, Ed Zimny, and a Senate aide, Ed Moss. After Senator Bayh pulled his own wife from the wreckage, he returned to rescue his friend Ted Kennedy. The Massachusetts Senator had a "negligable" pulse when he emerged from the wreckage. He came near death that night, and it must be said he would have died were it not for Birch Bayh's efforts.
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By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Chuck Todd, our Political Director, has it about right about tonight: the ground game, while not over, takes on much less importance after tonight, because the number of undeclared superdelegates will exceed the number of available "regular" delegates in the remaining primary states.
Tonight could be a game-changer, and it could be the 6th inning in a long ballgame. We get our first indication at about 5:30 Eastern time, when Sheldon Gawiser briefs us on his read of "first wave" exit polling results (which he puts through his algorithym pro-rating blender) and about which we are sworn to secrecy. It can "educate" but not otherwise affect our coverage in the Nightly News feeds prior to the poll closings. Tonight might go fast. We will be here nonetheless, making sure each time zone gets a new, live and updated feed. Tonight's speeches will be fascinating, depending on the outcome. The morning shows have already booked a "roadblock" -- both Democrats, in separate interviews, on all three broadcast networks. It feels like the height of primary season. I guess, in a way, it is.
I want to thank the great folks, my friends (sitting about 50 yards from me) at MSNBC for helping me put on a great hour earlier today. We did it seat-of-the-pants style; I hadn't written a word, no teleprompter, and just the most basic format -- the best kind of television news there is. The only problem is: while it's huge amounts of fun for the anchor (and, we hope, the guests) it's hell on a control room, where they always need to plan 2 or 3 moves in advance. But they keep having me back...
We've now swung over to work on Nightly News and begin the writing (they insist on it here) for tonight. We have a great broadcast planned, no matter your time zone, and we hope you can join us. Off to work.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
First-year law students everywhere, along with students of contemporary American history, know it as "The Loving Case" -- shorthand for the landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving vs. Virginia. The court ruled unanimously, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, that laws forbidding interracial marriage (in this case, a law in the Commonwealth of Virginia) violated the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Mildred Loving (formerly Mildred Jeter) was a black woman who fell in love with a white man. They married in Washington, D.C. in 1958, when she was 18. It was upon their eventual move to Virginia that their union was legally challenged. Her husband died in a car accident (in which Mildred was also injured) back in 1975.
Mildred Loving shunned the spotlight for her entire adult life, often saying she never set out to be famous, only to fight for her right to marry the man she loved. Her case was brought to the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice (under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy), who referred it to the A.C.L.U. The Supreme Court ruling voided similar laws in at least 16 other States. The Lovings had three children and several grandchildren.
Mildred Loving died today in Milford, Virginia. She was 68 years old. Her name will live on, like Linda Brown and Jane Roe before her -- the surnames in American jurisprudential history that now stand for the cases that changed the course of our nation.
On the broadcast tonight, we'll preview tomorrow's presidential primaries. A word about our coverage tomorrow night, for those of you who see the first feed of Nightly News at 6:30 Eastern time: while the polls will not be closed in all of Indiana (80 of the 92 counties will be closed -- but polls in Gary and Evansville will still be open), we will be able to report the raw vote tallies from the rest of Indiana as early as 6:30 ET. That is because the State of Indiana puts the numbers out -- posts them on the web. I didn't want anyone to think we were violating any agreement, principle or policy when those numbers pop up on the screen tomorrow night... the state itself will be reporting the early (albeit incomplete) raw vote.
Also tonight: why some passenger jets are flying more slowly today than they did in 1959 -- and a fascinating health news story.
I hope you all had a good weekend -- we hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
Jim Maceda spent a second straight day with the Marines, under fire in Afghanistan. Tonight we get to see what he's been through.
Last night's piece was harrowing -- not just because we knew our friend Jim was under fire, but because we were all seeing it for the first time; it was rolling out of our London control room, having been fed from the field into our London bureau by computer. We had seen and cleared the written portion of Jim's story, but not the pictures -- and so we watched it for the very first time along with our audience. He's with a great group of Marines who don't scare easily, and while they've been surrounded more than once over the past 48 hours, we don't fear for Jim's safety. He knows his way around a battlefield, and so do the men he's with.
We have several West Point cadets visiting today -- a great group, and I spent time with them earlier. We discussed the debate underway on our blog -- and my belief that this kind of an exchange is always a good thing.
We're off to start writing the broadcast -- I hope you can join us, and have a good weekend.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
What a great piece posted in Slate by Daniel Gross on the meeting here in New York this week between the top management of Exxon/Mobil and some of the adult descendants of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, the forerunner of Exxon/Mobil. In Gross's hands, the story I first read as an item in the business sections of several dailies yesterday is a great set piece, full of detail and an appropriate reference to David Rockefeller's fascinating autobiography.
To the task at hand: by my count, we have no fewer than a dozen contenders for stories -- that's in just the FIRST block of the broadcast, before the first commercial. So we need to do some winnowing down.
This is the one day every few years when my hobby actually intersects with my job: I've listened to all of the raw tapes so far released by the LBJ Presidential Library (hundreds of hours) of his tape-recorded telephone conversations. Today's release deals with a critical period of his Presidency. I've got all of the CD's at home and have been sampling on the web all day.
We've also got an astounding piece of work by Jim Maceda from Afghanistan tonight, politics, food prices, physical pain and infrastructure. It's a full boat. We hope you can join us tonight.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I had a 2-hour outing (rare, as I hardly ever leave the building during the day) to attend a luncheon and moderate a panel discussion at the American Society of Magazine Editors gathering at the impressive Hearst headquarters building in Midtown Manhattan -- and since we just broke from our delayed afternoon editorial meeting, and since I'm now screening an incoming interview for air tonight and must start writing for the broadcast -- while it pains me not to join in on the boisterous debate on our blog these days, today time just won't permit it.
Over time, we'll try to get to as much of it as we can. We may change lead stories tonight at the last minute -- we're still debating over what should be at the top of the broadcast, but we'll certainly cover the economy and politics up high -- along with Iraq, infrastructure, and health. I'm trying to concentrate on work despite the fact that its beautiful outside, and I have Chris Rock tickets for later this week. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
So, in this space yesterday, I had a little fun with the New York Times. I hope it's obvious to our frequent readers that the Times’s news pages are normally my first journalistic stop every morning -- for all the arguments over ideology, the paper's depth and breadth are often without parallel. In fact, it is quoted here more than any other publication, for good reason.
A few of you correctly noted I’ve yet to respond to the recent Times front-page article on the military analysts employed by the television networks, including this one.
I read the article with great interest. I've worked with two men since I've had this job -- both retired, heavily-decorated U.S. Army four-star Generals -- Wayne Downing and Barry McCaffrey. As I'm sure is obvious to even a casual viewer, I quickly entered into a close friendship with both men. I wish Wayne were alive today to respond to the article himself.
I made four trips to Iraq with Wayne. We were together, in close quarters, for over two months at the start of the war and survived at least one harrowing adventure. I won't attempt to respond on Wayne’s behalf, and I know Barry McCaffrey has his own response to the article.
All I can say is this: these two guys never gave what I considered to be the party line. They were tough, honest critics of the U.S. military effort in Iraq. If you've had any exposure to retired officers of that rank (and we've not had any five-star Generals in the modern era) then you know: these men are passionate patriots. In my dealings with them, they were also honest brokers. I knew full well whenever either man went on a fact-finding mission or went for high-level briefings. They never came back spun, and never attempted a conversion. They are warriors-turned-analysts, not lobbyists or politicians.
As far as Wayne was concerned, he was an NBC News employee, and while he would never do anything to diminish his decades of extraordinary service (nor would we expect him to), we all marveled at how quickly he took to the notion of being a journalist -- taking a good, hard, critical look at the Pentagon as an entity, the way "analysts" do.
And about General McCaffrey: I was among those who fielded complaint calls -- from the Pentagon, from the White House, from the highest levels of the Administration -- protesting his harsh criticism of the Rumsfeld Pentagon and the war effort. General Downing and I (during some unscheduled "down time" in the Iraqi desert at the height of the invasion) watched the U.S. military supply line in the distance, driving through the darkness, undefended. Because he viewed it as a result of fighting the "war on the cheap," he was infuriated by it, and said so. General McCaffrey's criticisms were too numerous to mention, but here’s a particular favorite from Nightly News on August 3, 2006:
"Well, I think some of the debate over civil war is absolutely nonsense. It's been a civil war for a couple of years. Thousands are being killed and wounded. It is clearly a struggle between the Shia, the Sunni and to some extent the Kurds. Secretary Rumsfeld, in my judgment, is increasingly going to become irrelevant to this debate. The ambassador on the ground, Khalilzad, General George Casey, General John Abizaid and the White House are going to have to sort this out. It's a very bad situation, and it's getting worse."
Another man deserves mention here: Jack Jacobs is a familiar face to MSNBC and NBC News audiences. We have employed Jack as an analyst for years. He is also a personal friend. Most important: he's among 105 living recipients of the Medal of Honor. I serve on the Board of the Medal of Honor Foundation -- our job is to raise awareness and funds for the recipients, as I've done rather unabashedly in this space over the past two years. Jack, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, travels often to embark on tours of the combat zone, and I've always regarded his analysis as rock-solid... and he has never hesitated to take a whack at the Pentagon brass.
I think it's fair, of course, to hold us to account for the military analysts we employ, inasmuch as we can ever fully know the "off-duty" actions of anyone employed on an "of counsel" basis by us. I can only account for the men I know best. The Times article was about the whole lot of them -- including instances involving other networks and other experts, who can answer for themselves. At no time did our analysts, on my watch or to my knowledge, attempt to push a rosy Pentagon agenda before our viewers. I think they are better men than that, and I believe our news division is better than that.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
I read that the New York Times Sunday (and weekday) circulation is down. I must admit that on Sundays it becomes a tough paper to figure out. While this week's paper featured an op-ed piece by Elizabeth Edwards bemoaning the lack of serious, in-depth coverage of the political race, it's tough to figure out exactly what readers the paper is speaking to, or seeking.
Consider this: the Sunday Styles section lead story on April 13th was "Scavengers on the Urban Savannah" (people buy things at flea markets!), and promoted on Page One was "A Sex Chair Becomes A Battlefield." Alrighty then.
This Sunday's lead story was "Through Sickness, Health, Sex Change..." in a section that included the essay, "Was I On A Date Or Baby-Sitting?," and "Let's Say You Want To Date A Hog Farmer" (and who among us hasn't?).
The magazine cover story this week was "The Newlywed Gays!" (happy gay men in Massachusetts who are married outdoor grilling enthusiasts!), and another feature story profiled a man who "lives and paints" in New Mexico (one of those states west of New Jersey) and has an old-fashioned typewriter!
This week's restaurant/bar review featured a place in Brooklyn that features (tragically-hip/quaint alert!) "old-time cocktails and cheeses" (it strikes me: so did my Mom, at home in Jersey) and the so-called "big box" featured wedding was a classic: the groom wore the obligatory sneakers with his tux, the bride was a "spitfire" with a "wide and ready Julia Roberts smile." Per usual, bride and groom are both free-spirited, with strong opinions.
The lead story in the Travel Section? The rise of vacation resorts catering to nudists. It did occur to me that I haven't been getting out a lot on weekends. Is it just me?
On the other hand, one sparkling piece of journalism (which touched on a lot of themes frequent readers of this space will recognize) was by Peggy Noonan in this weekend's Wall Street Journal. Curl up with this one and give it the quality time it deserves. I'll say it again: Peggy is doing the work of her career and must be considered an early favorite for next cycle's Pulitzer for commentary.
A mea culpa and a thank you to the sharp-eyed Newsviners who wrote us (along with others) to tell us we had used file tape of penguins in a piece on the North Pole! There are no penguins on the North Pole. I must admit I was watching from home, and muted the sound to talk to a family member. Something registered, and I'd like to think I'm smart enough to have noticed. It was the visual equivalent of a kangaroo bouncing through Central Park.
Also, to Joan: I did not attend the Correspondent's Dinner this weekend, though sampled some of the festivities on C-Span (I thought the President was very good). I have attended those dinners for 26 years or so, and on occasion I opt for home and hearth. I saw the first 50 laps of Talladega, however, from the comfort of my kitchen. You were nice to ask.
We hope you had a good weekend. We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
U.S. Army Lt. John Fernandez (Ret.) didn't wear shorts to his interview with us here at 30 Rock today -- he wore long pants -- so there was no way the folks who passed us in the hallway would ever know that John's lower legs are made of titanium. But those who come out to watch the former West Point lacrosse Captain in this weekend's Army/Navy alumni lacrosse match will see how he gets around...and will no doubt marvel at it. But if you ask him, in the classic swagger of a soft-spoken military combat veteran, he'll tell you, "I was never that quick on my feet anyway..."
John's injuries were caused when an American F-15 dropped a bomb on his position. He was the commander of a missile battery -- they're called MLRS's -- and if they weren't instruments of war they'd be beautiful things to watch. As I told him today, I was stranded with General Downing during that stage of the war, and the MLRS launches we were watching at night could easily have been from John's position.
These days, John is working for the Wounded Warrior Project. He's a native of Long Island -- married, father of two with one on the way. He is a great guy, and in a few days we'll air portions of our interview with him, and we'll put all of it on the website.
By the way: my favorite story of the day? Right here.
We have a great broadcast planned to cap off what I think has been a great week. Have a great weekend, and I hope you can come back to join us on Monday night.
By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor
If you measure life's occurrences through the prism of our newsroom -- our daily editorial meetings and the broadcasts we air each night -- I'm not sure what it says about our world. A few days ago no one in the national media was giving much thought to rice -- except perhaps those who do the family shopping and had reason to know its price had risen globally 140% over the past year. Ditto the housing market, in that it only got to where it is now over the last few months.
We have some interesting stories tonight -- including a high-interest story on lasik surgery (if you're considering it or if you've had it, you'll want to see this) and a strange occurrence (what is it about strange occurrences this week?) in Alaska, which is my personal favorite story of the day. We also have a revealing interview with John McCain -- and right now I'm watching some supercell storms roll through parts of Texas and the upper Plains.
So we'll put it all together in some manageable fashion for your approval tonight. I continue to read all posts -- and wish I had the time to respond to all.
