Mary McGrory

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Mary McGrory Page 39

by John Norris


  “The excitement in that hall”: “Recent Democratic National Conventions.”

  But she also had: Mary McGrory, column, June 28, 1984.

  Mary was elated by: Mary McGrory, column, July 18, 1984.

  Never particularly interested: Mary McGrory, column, July 29, 1984.

  In private correspondence: Mary McGrory Papers, container 8.

  Mary was torn from: Mary McGrory Papers, container 165; Mary McGrory, column, December 2, 1984.

  “The good news for”: Mary McGrory, column, October 4, 1984.

  Reagan brought down the house: Mary McGrory, column, October 23, 1984.

  In 1985, Mary became: Mary McGrory, column, March 14, 1985.

  She took her fellow journalists: Christopher Reed, “Obituary: Mary McGrory: Astute Reporter of American Power and Politics,” The Guardian, April 24, 2004.

  Mary became part: Gary Lee, “Gorbachev Building a Forceful Image,” Washington Post, September 3, 1985.

  Mary joined a congressional delegation: Mary McGrory Papers, container 121; Mary McGrory, column, October 1, 1985.

  While Gorbachev was driving: Mary McGrory, column, November 17, 1985.

  Mary had no idea: Mary McGrory Papers, container 124.

  Not long after returning: Mary McGrory Papers, container 124; Mary McGrory, column, April 15, 1986.

  “She has an angel’s eyes”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 163.

  “Where has all the passion gone?”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 163.

  Congressman Tip O’Neill’s last year: Mary McGrory, columns, October 19, 1986, December 14, 1986, October 12, 1989, January 8, 1994, and November 2, 1989; McGrory, interview by Currie.

  President Reagan’s grip: Mary McGrory, columns, August 13, 1985, October 14, 1986, November 11 and 27, 1986, December 4, 1986, March 15, 1987, May 5 and 12, 1987, June 7, 9, 11, 14, and 18, 1987, July 9, 14, 16, and 23, 1987, and November 18, 1987; Mary McGrory Papers, container 7; Borger, “An Inspiration Named Mary.”

  “She had trouble walking”: David Corn, “The Death of Mary McGrory,” The Nation, April 23, 2004, http://www.thenation.com/blog/156084/death-mary-mcgrory.

  As Mary complained: Mary McGrory, column, October 4, 1987.

  On the Republican side: Mary McGrory, column, November 1, 1987.

  However, Mary was incensed: Gerald Boyd, “Bush Recalls No Strong Dissent on Arms to Iran,” New York Times, January 14, 1988; Mary McGrory, columns, January 12 and 28, 1988, February 4, 1988, and April 14, 1988; “There Never Was a Formal NSC Meeting on Iran Initiative,” Washington Post, January 14, 1988; David Hoffman, “Bush Asserts Wider Doubts on Iran; Vice President Says He Voiced Concern on Sales in Others’ Presence,” Washington Post, January 14, 1988; Gailey, “Words That Emblazoned”; “Bush Getting in a Deeper Iran-Contra Hole,” St. Petersburg Times, January 15, 1988; George Lardner Jr. and Walter Pincus, “Phone Note Puts Bush Claim on Iran-Contra into Dispute,” Washington Post, August 26, 1992; “Editorial; Come Clean on Iran-contra,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 24, 1992; Lionel Barber, “TV Anchorman Who Lost His Grip Lets Bush Off the Hook,” Financial Times, January 30, 1988.

  Although Mary found Bush’s: Mary McGrory, column, February 18, 1988.

  Dukakis’s earnestness and rectitude: Mary McGrory, column, April 21, 1988.

  In April 1988: Mary McGrory, column, April 24, 1988.

  He wanted to charm Mary: Mary McGrory Papers, container 76.

  With Bush and Dukakis: Mary McGrory, column, July 7, 1988.

  His choice of the relatively: Mary McGrory, column, July 17, 1988.

  Mary tartly observed: Mary McGrory, column, August 16, 1988.

  Republicans appreciated Quayle’s: Mary McGrory, columns, August 18 and 19, 1988.

  “The campaign is unfolding”: Mary McGrory, column, September 11, 1988.

  A flushed Quayle tried: Mary McGrory, column, October 9, 1988.

  “I lost,” Dukakis admitted: Mary McGrory, columns, December 27, 1988, and December 30, 2001.

  Chapter Ten: Gentleman George

  Early in President George H. W. Bush’s: David Nyhan, “The Grid-Irony of a Membership Invitation,” Boston Globe, January 11, 1989; Marianne Means, “Why We Invited Richard Nixon to Dinner,” Washington Post, January 14, 1989; Mary McGrory, column, January 8, 1989; Jack Germond interview.

  Mary liked President Bush: Mary McGrory, column, January 24, 1989.

  In February 1989: Mary McGrory Papers, container 156.

  “I feel fine, thank you”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 8.

  Mary closely chronicled: Mary McGrory, columns, March 16 and 23, 1989, June 8 and 25, 1989.

  Bush received a rapturous: Mary McGrory, column, July 13, 1989.

  The Berlin Wall fell: Alterman, Sound and Fury, 223.

  “Why did the leader”: Mary McGrory, column, November 14, 1989.

  When President Bush and Ben Bradlee: Mary McGrory Papers, container 8; Alterman, source materials for Sound and Fury.

  The late 1980s: Mary McGrory, columns, July 19, 1990, and April 4, 1993.

  Mary continued to volunteer: Mary McGrory, columns, December 25, 1983, and March 19, 1981; Francis X. Clines, “Faith and Fatalism Mix in Security-Wary Capital,” New York Times, December 20, 1983; Donnie Radcliffe, “Fostering a Favorite; First Lady Tots It Up,” Washington Post, March 19, 1981; Josephine Murphy, interview by author, January 19, 2010; Mary McGrory, columns, December 22, 1991, September 22, 1994, February 9, 1997, January 8, 1998, February 21, 1999, and December 16, 1999; Mary McGrory Papers, containers 2, 9, 10.

  “It is increasingly plain”: Mary McGrory, column, August 16, 1990.

  “So far, President Bush”: Mary McGrory, column, January 22, 1991.

  As Bush delivered his: Mary McGrory, column, January 31, 1991.

  Some 86 percent: Mary McGrory, column, February 21, 1991.

  “My patriotism is often”: Mary McGrory, “Patriotism,” The Nation, July 15, 1991, http://www.thenation.com/article/what-patriotism.

  General Colin Powell was: Jacqueline Trescott, “The Postwar Media-Military Mingle,” Washington Post, March 20, 1991; President George Bush, “Remarks at the Radio-TV Correspondents Association Dinner,” March 23, 1991, http://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/public-papers/2823; John Aloysius Farrell, “Glitz Is Masculine at Reporters’ Dinner,” Boston Globe, May 1, 1991.

  “I didn’t have any great trouble”: Don Graham interview.

  Mary liked Hamilton: McGrory, interview by Currie; Dowd, “A Star Columnist”; Dowd, Are Men Necessary? 130–34.

  “She became more imperious”: Haynes Johnson interview.

  “We became sort of partisans”: Don Graham interview.

  “Everybody deferred to Mary”: Tina Toll, interview by author, July 26, 2010.

  Yet when the editor: Dowd, “A Star Columnist”; Dowd, Are Men Necessary? 130–34.

  “Hill defended herself”: Mary McGrory, columns, October 8 and 20, 1991.

  “Nobody knows what Cuomo”: Mary McGrory, column, November 5, 1991.

  “I’m not discussing anything”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 2.

  “Doesn’t she know that”: Maralee Schwartz and Christopher B. Daly, “Politics, ‘Tormented Musings,’” Washington Post, November 12, 1991.

  “I am convinced that”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 8.

  Just before Christmas: Mary McGrory, column, December 26, 1991.

  “a tall, square-shouldered”: Mary McGrory, column, February 18, 1992.

  Carter told New Hampshire: Mary McGrory, column, January 26, 1992.

  In mid-January: Mary McGrory, column, January 21, 1992.

  “I was extremely critical”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 8.

  Yet Mary was quick: Mary McGr
ory, column, March 17, 1992.

  But Mary kept her: Mary McGrory, column, March 31, 1992.

  “One of my boss’s constituents”: This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News Transcripts, April 25, 2004.

  When Stephanopoulos’s career: Al Kamen, interview by author, January 22, 2010.

  “Dear George,” she wrote him: Mary McGrory Papers, container 6.

  It was significant praise: Mary McGrory, column, June 7, 1992.

  But Mary also spotted: Mary McGrory, column, May 7, 1992.

  Gore was more conservative: Mary McGrory, column, July 12, 1992.

  Mary had been unsparing: Mary McGrory, column, June 28, 1992.

  Perot’s announcement meant: Mary McGrory, column, July 17, 1992.

  “Closed to the public?”: Dowd, “A Star Columnist”; Dowd, Are Men Necessary? 130–34.

  By the time the delegates: Mary McGrory, column, July 19, 1992.

  “The Republican assembly was not”: Mary McGrory, “A Grip on the Party: Republicans Lean to the Christian Right,” Sojourners, November 14, 1992, 13–14.

  “The man who served”: Mary McGrory, column, December 22, 1992.

  “An ugly editorial”: Bob Woodward, “Hammered,” Washington Post, June 20, 1999.

  There were leftovers available: Mary McGrory Papers, container 6.

  Chapter Eleven: The Grande Dame

  Arriving along with the Clinton administration: Al Kamen, “Now the Job Quest Begins in Earnest,” Washington Post, January 21, 1993; Conor O’Clery, “Neo-conservatives on the Defensive over Iraq,” Irish Times, April 24, 2004; Mary McGrory Papers, container 8.

  In January 1993: Mary McGrory Papers, container 6.

  Gearan recalled President Clinton: Mark Gearan, interview by author, November 17, 2009.

  Clinton and the press corps: President Bill Clinton, press conference, CBS News Special Report, CBS News Transcripts, April 23, 1993.

  Dubbing him “William”: Mary McGrory, column, May 20, 1993.

  She compared Clinton: Mary McGrory, columns, June 1 and 17, 1993.

  “I think he is”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 8.

  She described his first year: Mary McGrory, column, January 20, 1997.

  “It was a stupendous evening”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 165.

  “The first First Lady”: Mary McGrory, column, October 2, 1993.

  “He ostentatiously waved”: Mary McGrory, column, December 9, 1993.

  After a warm hug: Mary McGrory, column, January 8, 1994.

  Mary said of O’Neill’s: Mary McGrory Papers, container 9.

  O’Neill’s son Thomas: Mary McGrory, column, January 11, 1994.

  After a moment he replied: “Columnist with a Laser Eye and a Rapier Pen,” Irish Times, May 1, 2004.

  “Adams came for 48 hours”: Mary McGrory, column, February 24, 1994.

  Mary repeated her question: Conor O’Clery, “Breaking Down the Barriers,” Irish Times, May 18, 1996.

  “But he paid no”: Mary McGrory, column, December 5, 1995.

  Mary called her old friend: “National Press Club Fourth Estate Award.”

  “There was no chance”: Dowd, “A Star Columnist”; Dowd, Are Men Necessary? 130–34.

  Mary insisted that: “National Press Club Fourth Estate Award.”

  Mary blurted out: “Names & Faces,” Washington Post, June 6, 1998.

  In Mary’s theatrical terms: Mary McGrory, column, April 17, 1994.

  Mary reasoned that: “Whitewater and the Media,” C-SPAN, Washington, DC, April 19, 1994.

  Reporters laughed in disbelief: President Bill Clinton, news conference (part 2), News, CNN, August 3, 1994.

  “If the Whitewater hearings”: Mary McGrory, column, August 4, 1994.

  Mary—and most of America: Mary McGrory, column, August 2, 1994.

  “He was pretty much”: Mary McGrory, column, November 10, 1994.

  “The newly designated House speaker”: Mary McGrory, column, December 10, 1994.

  “Nobody is saying that”: Mary McGrory, column, December 13, 1994.

  Clinton, on the other hand: Mary McGrory Papers, container 9.

  It was not the company: Mary McGrory Papers, container 110.

  In April 1995: Mary McGrory Papers, containers 6 and 115; “Post’s McGrory, Dash Win RFK Journalism Awards,” Washington Post, April 13, 1995; Susan Bickelhaupt and Ellen O’Brien, “Friday Celebrity,” Boston Herald, April 14, 1995; John Harris, “Among New Deal Believers, Clinton Has His Skeptics; Comparisons Intrude upon FDR Ceremony,” Washington Post, April 13, 1995; David Dahl, “Luminaries Celebrate FDR and His Accomplishments,” St. Petersburg Times, April 13, 1995; Celestine Sibley, “FDR in Warm Springs: 50 Years Later,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, April 13, 1995.

  “His offense is tastelessness”: Mary McGrory, column, April 27, 1995.

  “Now, as for the first lady”: Rush Limbaugh, May 1, 1995, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11:15 A.M. broadcast.

  On another show, Limbaugh: Rush Limbaugh, July 6, 1995, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11:15 A.M. broadcast.

  “Bill Clinton has made”: Mary McGrory, column, August 15, 1995.

  Mary wrote, “The Republican attitude”: Mary McGrory, column, July 27, 1995.

  “I am kicking subjects away”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 9.

  “The Republicans are”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 9, McGrory prepared remarks for speech at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center, October 1996.

  Mary was also able: Mary McGrory, columns, December 24, 1995, and January 10, 2002; Mary McGrory Papers, container 10.

  Mary had told Russert: Mary McGrory Papers, container 110.

  One day in 1995: Josephine Murphy interview; Mary McGrory Papers, containers 165 and 168.

  In her later years: “A Writer’s Life”; Mary McGrory, columns, September 26, 1996, July 4, 1996, and July 14, 1996.

  “A disaster with a crowbar”: Mary McGrory, column, February 22, 1996.

  As one of her fellow reporters: Mary McGrory Papers, container 139.

  But as the primaries: Mary McGrory Papers, container 9.

  “I’ve decided, with the help”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 164.

  When he finished reading: Brian McGrory, interview by author, April 24, 2010.

  He wrote to Mary: Mary McGrory Papers, container 109.

  Mary stressed how important: Dan Kennedy, “Globe Nearly Loses McGrory to the Herald,” Boston Phoenix, June 20, 1997.

  “I would go up”: Brian McGrory interview.

  “I hear about the cynicism”: Tim Russert, CNBC News Transcripts, March 9, 1997.

  “They were trying to pretend”: Ibid.

  When Clinton rattled off: Mary McGrory, column, September 7, 1996.

  “I cannot believe that you have”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 6.

  “George tried to be funny”: Mary McGrory, column, October 18, 1997.

  In the summer of 1997: Mary McGrory, column, July 24, 1997.

  Mary was aghast: Mary McGrory, column, June 28, 1997.

  “Morally, he is”: Mary McGrory, column, January 22, 1998.

  Mary was outraged: Mary McGrory, columns, May 3, 1997, and August 2, 1998.

  “We have fallen into a dim age”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 109.

  As author David Foster Wallace: David Foster Wallace, “Host,” The Atlantic, April 2005, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/04/host/303812.

  “The press, terrified”: Mary McGrory, column, June 18, 1998.

  “It was like seeing Houdini”: Mary McGrory, column, February 5, 1998.

  “We can’t go on this way”: Mary McGrory, column, March 5, 1998.

  “He says they d
o”: Mary McGrory Papers, container 9.

  Mary was vacationing in Italy: Mary McGrory, column, September 19, 1998.

  Others picked up on: Joe Carroll, “Irish Media in US Come Out Swinging at Talese,” Irish Times, October 17, 1998; Mollie Dickenson, “Letter from Washington, Aging Hormones,” Salon.com, August 5, 1998.

  “Millstone? No, he’s Moses”: Mary McGrory, column, November 5, 1998.

  “The Republicans are beyond”: Mary McGrory, column, December 17, 1998.

  Dowd closed by saying: “National Press Club Fourth Estate Award.”

  “I never wanted to be anything”: “National Press Club Fourth Estate Award”; Mary McGrory, column, July 19, 2001.

  Mary greeted the news: Brian McGrory interview.

  Chapter Twelve: The Last Hurrah

  Mary said that the constant pressure: Dowd, “A Star Columnist”; Dowd, Are Men Necessary? 130–34.

  “You would see her cook”: Ted McGrory, interview by author, April 22, 2010.

  At the memorial service: McGrory family correspondence. Ted McGrory interview.

  Mary was candid about: Von Drehle, “Columnist Illuminated.”

  Mary was under no: Tim Russert, CNBC News Transcripts, March 9, 1997.

  After observing her being feted: Mark Feeney, Mary McGrory Papers, container 164.

  Her friend Phil Gailey: Toner, “Mary McGrory, 85.”

  Marjorie Williams of the Post: Williams, “A Woman Who Knew.”

  “She would arrive”: Jack Germond interview.

  When asked publicly: Belford, Brilliant Bylines, 270–278.

  “Did Mary hold on”: Bradlee interview.

  “We were watching the Super Bowl”: Gay Jervey, “Every Four Years, a Star Is Reborn,” New York Times, January 23, 2004.

  “I hope they like to read”: “A Writer’s Life.”

  “Technology is eating up”: “Relationship Between Hillary Clinton and New York Media Goes Sour; How Does Media Factor in on Campaign Trail?” Reliable Sources, CNN, January 22, 2000; “A Writer’s Life.”

  Finally, he surrendered: Brian McGrory interview.

  When George W. Bush’s parents: Mary McGrory, column, February 3, 2000.

  When asked about Mary’s: Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, CNN, February 13, 2000.

 

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