The Morning Delivery

59 Years Ago, Hemingway Lands His First Pulitzer Prize

59 years ago, May 4, 1953, Ernest Hemingway is awarded a Pulitzer Prize, his first, for ``The Old Man and the Sea’’,  his sixth novel about an old Cuban man who had gone 84 days without a catch until finally snagging one in an epic 2 ½ day struggle.

Hemingway was traveling on his 38 foot Cabin cruise, the Pilar (his pet name for his wife Pauline) when he learned that ``The Old Man and the Sea'' had been awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

This well traveled American author and journalist wasn't sure just how the prestigious honor would impact the book. ``Can't hurt it, I guess'', he sarcastically wrote to his editor at Scriber’s, Wallace Meyer.  Hemingway also indicated that he couldn't really take the award all that seriously considering he was denied a Pulitzer for ``A Farewell to Arms’’, his semi-autobiographical novel concerning events during the Italian campaigns during World War I.

As it turns out, Hemingway had good reason to grouse. Despite a unanimous approval by the Pulitzer advisory board in 1941 to award a Pulitzer Prize to a ``For Whom the Bell Tolls, Columbia University President, Nicholas Murray Butler blocked the award, blasting the novel as ``lascivious.’’ In a memo to the Pulitzer Board, Butler wrote: ``The trustees of Columbia University would never, under any circumstances, approve the awarding of the prize for a Novel so obscene, vulgar and revolting a book as Ernest Hemingway's ``For Whom the Bell Tolls.''

No Pulitzer was awarded in 1941 in the category of fiction.

A Footnote: Hemingway briefly flirted with the titles of ``The Sea in Being’’ and ``The Dignity of Man’’ before settling on ``The Old Man and the Sea’’

Life Magazine paid him a handsome $21,000 to publish ``The Old Man and the Sea’’ in a single issue, which appeared in their September 1, 1952 edition. A week later, it was released as a book and sold 5.3 million copies in two days.

Critics, by and large, warmly received the ``The Old Man and Sea’’, a sharp departure from his previous work, ``Across the River and into the Trees’’ which was savaged by critics. The Atlantic (September, 1952) described ``Old Man and the Sea’’ as ``Hemingway at His Best’’; ``A great American classic of man’s battle with the Titan of the sea’’ wrote Fanny Butcher of the Chicago Sunday Tribune, (September 7, 1952).  William Faulkner, Hemingway’s contemporary, was certainly taken with it, writing in the Shenandoah (Autumn, 1952) ``Time may show it to be the best single piece of any of us, I mean his and mine contemporaries.’’

Even The New York Times (reviewed by Robert Gorham Davis, professor of English at Smith College on September 7, 1952) embraced Hemingway’s clear unpretentious writing style and his influence on American literature, when writing:  `` In the Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway has like the young man in ``Big Two-Hearted River'', got back to something good and true in himself, that has always been there. And with it are new indications of humility and maturity and a deeper sense of being at home in life which promise well for the novel in the making.’’ `` Hemingway is still a great writer’’, Davis wrote, ``with the strength and craft and courage to go far out and perhaps even far down for the truly big ones.’’

But not all reviews of ``The Old Man and the Sea’’ were so flattering.

Phillip Rahv writing in Commentary hardly considered it a masterpiece: ``The meaning of The Old Man and the Sea is sought in its profound symbolism. It may be that the symbolism is really there, though I for one have been unable to locate it...Hemingway's big marlin is no Moby Dick, and his fisherman is not Captain Ahab nor was meant to be.’’

G.T. Dempsey, writing it in the Antioch Review (Spring, 2007), offered some tough love: ``The sad truth, though, is that this short novel is a masterpiece despite its awfulness. It is marred throughout, both structurally and stylistically, by all the sentimentalizing excesses of Papa's ``hokum'' period at its most pervasive.’’

Though most literary critics agree Hemingway turned out his best work in the 1920’s, ``The Old Man and the Sea’’   nonetheless was a masterpiece, even if it was a late masterpiece. As Alfred Bendixen, Executive Director of the American Literature Association and Professor English Texas A&M University tells me: ``The Old Man and the Sea was part of a projected trilogy on the land, the sea, and the sky which never quite came together but this short, beautifully shaped work of fiction merits attention and praise as one of the few post WWII masterpieces by a modernist of the post WWI generation.’’

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois and began reporting for the Kansas City Star in 1917; by 1920, he landed at the Toronto Star Weekly, a year later becoming their European correspondent based in Paris, covering the Greco-Turkish war along with conferences in Geneva and Lausanne.

He traveled to Spain in 1923, where he witnessed his first bullfight, a seminal event which sparked his lifelong love affair with the savage sport. He published his first major work in 1925, ``In Our Time’’; and in 1944 he fled to Europe and England to cover World War II for Collier’s with the Fourth Infantry of the U.S. Army.

Suffering most of his adult life with severe bouts of depression, paranoia, obsessions and delusions, Hemingway committed suicide on July 2, 1961, 19 days shy of 62nd birthday, killing himself with a shotgun at his home in Ketchum Idaho, two days after being released from the Mayo Clinic.

In all, Hemingway published seven novels, six short story collections and two non-fiction works and in addition to his Pulitzer Prize in 1953, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
May 4, 2012

55 Years Ago, Dodgers Say Goodbye to Brooklyn

****

55 years ago, May 3, 1957, Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, meets with Los Angeles city officials, including City Attorney Roger Arnebergh at the Statler Hotel (now the Wilshire Grand) located at Wilshire and Figueroa in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.  It was at this meeting where O’Malley agreed in principle to relocate the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

The meeting produced the infamous ```Arnebergh Memorandum. ‘’

According to the memo: ``At a conference today, held at the Statler Hotel, discussion was had involving the possibility of bringing Major League Baseball to Los Angeles. It was indicated that the City and County should be prepared to make an offer containing the following provisions: ‘’

The first of 10 provisions read as follows:  1.) ``City and/or County to acquire and deed to the Major League Baseball club 350 acres in Chavez Ravine, including the present 257 acres now owned by the City, the additional acreage to be adjacent thereto. Such 350 acres to comprise an approximate circle, if possible.’’

Mr. O’Malley made it painfully clear to New York City planning officials that he needed a new stadium to replace the dilapidated Ebbets Field (the team’s home since 1913), a stadium built by Charles H. Ebbets,  which included inadequate parking and a seating capacity of only 23,000. Attendance at Ebbets Field, moreover, had been declining every year since 1948. Specifically, O’Malley wanted a 40,000-seat ballpark with 12,000 parking places.

Talks seemed to go nowhere with the Dodger owner and city officials. New York City planner Robert Moses stipulated the city would own and operate a new ballpark, not in Brooklyn, but in Queens at the site of the 1939's World's Fair at Flushing Meadows, the eventual site of Shea Stadium.

6,702 Brooklyn fans attended the final game at Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957 not knowing if this would be the last time they would see their beloved Dodgers in a Brooklyn uniform. The Dodgers blanked the Pirates, 2-0 in the season finale, finishing in 3rd place with an 84-70 record, 11 games behind the Milwaukee Braves.

The official announcement that the Dodgers were bound for L.A. didn’t come until October 8, 1957.  O’Malley expressed regret  for the relocation, citing four reasons which forced his hand: 1.) A new ballpark for an aging Ebbets Field; 2.) Poor attendance; 3.) Insufficient parking; 4.) A New York City amusement tax of 5% on admissions.”

Los Angeles offered O’Malley 400 acres of land in Chavez Ravine, an area in Sulfir Canyon, with an additional 40 acres to be developed for recreational purposes. The city additionally gave O'Malley $4.7 million to begin construction on a premier baseball facility, Dodger Stadium.
 
When the Dodgers announced they were leaving Brooklyn, many New Yorkers felt as if they had just been delivered a swift sucker punch, especially members of the press. Milton Gross of the New York Post imagined O'Malley saying, ``Damn the fans, L.A. Here we come.’’ Journalists Pete Hamill and Jack Newfield, meanwhile, compiled their list of 10 worst human beings of the 20th Century; their top three included: Hitler, Stalin, and Walter O'Malley. Newfield once wrote that O'Malley`` killed a generation's innocence.'' Hamill, a Brooklyn native, later wrote:  ``After 1957, it seemed like we would never laugh again. Of course we did. It's just that we were never young again.''

The Dodgers had represented Brooklyn in the National League since 1890. The Brooklyn Dodgers won the National League pennant 12 times and the World Series once, in 1955.

Despite his pariah status among Brooklynites, the late Walter Francis O’Malley was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
May 3, 2012

 

  

Pulitzer Reaction: Has Editorial Writing Become a Lost Art?

Dallas Morning News vice president and editor of the editorial page Keven Ann Willey and her editorial page staff paused to pop some bubbly after learning they won the 2010 Pulitzer for examining the disparities between northern Dallas and the city's southern sector.
***

When the 96th Annual Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday on a bright spring afternoon at Columbia University, the biggest surprise wasn’t who won journalism’s top prize, but who didn't win.

For the second time in four years, the Pulitzer Board didn’t award a Pulitzer to Editorial Writing, leading many to wonder if the editorial page has lost its strong voice in the daily newspaper.

Another surprise was there was no Pulitzer awarded for Fiction Writing. Prior to Monday’s announcement, 10 times the Pulitzer Board did not award a Pulitzer to Fiction, the last being in 1977.  Monday’s announcement, meanwhile, marked the ninth time a Pulitzer for Editorial Writing hasn’t been awarded (including 2012).

Not awarding a Pulitzer to fiction writing wasn’t that much of a surprise to many in the literary community.  Alfred Bendixen, author of ``A Companion to the American Novel’’ (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture) and co-author of the ``Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature’’ tells me: ``the Pulitzer was always a journalism award awarded by journalists and with a commitment to fiction and poetry that varied over time. ‘’ `` The old National Book Award’’, Bendixen said, `` used to be a better marker of literary quality than the Pulitzer, which liked to reward big best-sellers.’’

Bendixen additionally points out that in 1974, the Pulitzer Board balked at awarding Thomas Pynchon's postmodern novel ``Gravity's Rainbow’’ a Pulitzer, which subsequently was named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Time Magazine, while other critics hail it as one of the greatest American novels ever written.

There were other surprises on Monday.

The New York Times came away with only two Pulitzers (Explanatory Reporting, International Reporting), the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal were shutout altogether, while The Huffington Post, won its first Pulitzer for National Reporting; and Politico, the political online newspaper, also won its first Pulitzer for Editorial Cartooning.

For all those David’s fighting the Goliath’s year after year and coming up empty handed, they must have taken heart in seeing some fresh faces on the winner’s list this year, including: The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News Staff for Breaking News (reporting on the devastating tornado); while Local Reporting went to Sara Ganim and members of The Patriot-News Staff, (Harrisburg, Penn), for the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky.

When I asked Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Chairman, CEO and Publisher The New York Times Company if he was surprised the Times only pulled in two Pulitzers, he responded through an email: ``Since when was two Pulitzers anything but fabulous? Yes, there have been years we've won more. And there have been years we won less. We feel very good about this year's results.’’

The only surprise to Jonathan Krim, senior deputy managing editor at the Wall Street Journal was that there was no top prize given to Fiction Writing.

In a recent article published in the Columbia Journalism Review  Pulitzer Administrator Sig Gissler didn’t place much stock into the notion, voiced by many observers, that the craft of editorial writing has been diminished over the years. The article points out that ``no award for editorial writing’’ simply means that a majority of the 18 board members couldn’t agree on a single winner. ``It’s not a statement about the condition of editorial writing today,’’ Gissler was quoted as saying.

But not everyone agrees with  Gissler.

A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, who did not want to be identified, told me:  ``When did you last read an editorial that changed how you viewed the world?  Editorial writing is a lost art.  It requires extensive research and quality writing. ‘’

Aside from that stinging commentary on the state of editorial writing, only time will tell if 2012 was just an off year for the big boppers (N.Y. Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal) in the other Pulitzer categories-or if we’re in fact witnessing a seismic shift in which the best journalism is moving toward Internet only sites like the Huffington Post and Politico, both of whom won a Pulitzer this year.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
April 18, 2012

***
Since the craft of editorial writing has been under sharp scrutiny ever since the Pulitzer announcement, I thought I would ask others if they were surprised there was no top prize for Editorial Writing and whether they feel it has become a lost art.

Here are some responses that came flying back:

``Not at all, anymore than I think fiction is a lost art because no prize was awarded. This is a commentary on the Pulitzers, not on editorial writing or the American novel.''
- Frank Rich,  former New York Times op-ed columnist, currently an essayist and editor-at-large for New York magazine

``I was puzzled by that. I don't think so, but then maybe I'm just hoping it's not.  I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about, but I think a lot of places, smaller places, are afraid of taking a stand, because of pressures from their communities.''
-Rick Bragg, a 1996 Pulitzer recipient for Feature Writing and former New York Times national correspondent, currently a Professor of Writing in the Journalism Department at the University of Alabama.

``I have been disappointed in the editorials, which have lost both any real sense of outrage at bad things, real compelling language, and real compelling logic to shape opinions. But I think all that is transitory.''
-Norman Ornstein, political scientist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

 ``I was surprised and disappointed that the board chose not to make an award in editorial writing and in fiction. That a majority of the board could not settle on a winner in either of those categories suggests to me that the rules need to be changed. Not picking a winner suggests that nothing was worthy of an award and it demeans the work of the finalists. As to prizes going to new media players, I can't help thinking this is an outsized effort to dispel the belief that the Pulitzers are stuck in the past, which, I guess, is where I am.''
-Doug Clifton, former Executive Editor of the Miami Herald, where he led The Herald to three Pulitzer Prizes, including a gold medal for Public Service, awarded to the paper for coverage of Hurricane Andrew. Mr. Clifton was also editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland from 1999 to 2007.

 ``It's possible that there's a feeling that we on the editorial pages aren't innovating fast enough in how we put our opinions out there or to the degree that other parts of the business are doing. (I would take issue with that, by the way. Necessity is the mother of invention, so we're all inventing new ways to be relevant, timely, and accessible.)

In general, I think it's great that the judges are looking beyond traditional big metropolitan dailies for the best journalism out there.  In the end, it must be the work itself, and its impact, its 'degree of difficulty,' if you will, not just how it's delivered to the readers, that should take the prize.''
-Betsy Sullivan, Editorial Page Editor, The Plain Dealer

``It's becoming one [a lost art] Bill, yes indeed.''

-Howard French, former New York Times bureau chief for Central America and the Caribbean, West Africa, Japan and the Koreas, and China in Shanghai, currently an associate professor at the Columbia School of Journalism.

``A seismic shift, [reaction to Pulitzer winners] to be sure.  Curious about editorial writing.  A lost craft?''
-Dennis Ryerson, editor of the Indianapolis Star

***
PULITZER SHUTOUTS

The following are the years when no Pulitzer was awarded in different categories

Drama: 1917, 1919, 1942, 1944, 1947, 1951, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1986, 1997 and 2006.
Fiction: 1917, 1920, 1941, 1946, 1954, 1957, 1964, 1971, 1974, 1977 and 2012.
Music (First awarded in 1943): 1953, 1964, 1965 and 1981.
History: 1919, 1984 and 1994.
Biography: 1962.
Poetry: 1946.
Editorial Writing: 1919, 1921, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1981, 1993, 2008 and 2012.
Public Service: 1917, 1920, 1925 and 1930.
Breaking News Reporting: 2011
Reporting: 1919, 1928; telegraphic reporting, 1943; national reporting, 1951.
International Reporting: 1977.
Feature Writing (First awarded in 1979): 2004
Criticism: 1992.
Cartoons (First awarded in 1922): 1923, 1936, 1960, 1965 and 1973.
Photography (First awarded in 1942): 1946.

Source: Office of Public Affairs, Columbia University

Crisis and Turmoil at The New York Times: A Book Review

Do you ever wonder if the Murders’ Row of New York Times lions, namely, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Arthur Ochs ``Punch’’ Sulzberger Sr. , Anne O'Hare McCormick, James ``Scotty’’ Reston, Meyer "Mike" Berger, A.M.`` Abe’’ Rosenthal,  R.W. ``Johnny’’ Apple Jr. , and Red Smith are tossing and turning in their graves right now wondering what has become of their sacred institution?

In this digital age of fewer subscribers to their print edition, plummeting advertising revenue, and editors racing to adapt to readers mad dash to the Internet, has the Times lost its moorings while sinking to the level of Timeslite or Timestrash?

Daniel R. Schwarz, a Fredrick J. Whiton Professor of English Literature and Stephen H. Wise Presidential Fellow at Cornell University tries to answer this in his new book: ``EndTimes’?: Crisis and Turmoil at The New York Times, 1999-2009.’’

Schwarz spent seven long years talking, emailing, and traveling the country interviewing a galaxy of past and present senior editors at the Times in an attempt to unravel how such a world-class newspaper lost its footing in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, including letting its reporting being influenced and badly manipulated by White House operatives during the Iraqi War, most notably with Judith Miller (some say recklessly) giving credence to questionable sources confirming Saddam Hussein had indeed been stockpiling weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

By the time the dust had settled after one of the gloomiest eras of the Gray Lady (2001-2003), Blair, executive editor Howell Raines, managing editor Gerald Boyd, national correspondent Rick Bragg (Judith Miller with one foot out the door, she resigned in 2005) had been jettisoned; and it was up to Bill Keller, a former managing editor (who was once passed over for executive editor) to restore the Times damaged credibility, while reviving the morale of the newsroom, which had sunk to historic lows during the stormy Raines years.

If the Raines regime (known to be bombastic, dictatorial, megalomaniac, misogynistic, promoting favorites over more qualified journalists), was ``Stalinesque’’ as one Times’ staffer described it–Keller ushered in the counter-reformation in which the new executive editor made a ``serious and sometimes effective effort to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. ‘’

It was under Keller that the Times for the first time in its history hired a public editor who would be charged with taking a sharper look at the Times news coverage and questioning editors directly if the paper wasn’t giving a fair and balanced line of attack to a particular story. Daniel Okrent was named to the newly created position in October 2003; and in June, 2010, Arthur S. Brisbane became the fourth public editor appointed by The Times. 

Allan M. Siegel, hired as the new standards editor by Keller to resolve any ethical and conflict of interest issues, was yet another concession to concerned readers that the paper was indeed living up to the highest journalistic standards and restoring  its reputation as the ``newspaper of record.’’

Keller even started a question-and-answer forum (Talk to the Newsroom) in April, 2006, which was followed by a succession of editors taking turns fielding questions from readers during the entire week.

Under Keller, Schwarz writes, more emphasis was placed on listening carefully to different viewpoints, instilling a strong sense of community and working together among its staff, while relying on a diverse network of editors to help him better manage the newsroom.  Despite the sense of ``calm’’ and ``equilibrium’’ Keller undoubtedly brought to the newsroom after the ``Raines of Terror’’, some staffers nonetheless consider Keller a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. 

Two years into his editorship in 2005, metro columnist Clyde Haberman told Schwarz: ``What I haven't figured out about Keller is how much of some of the changes that taken place...is a true vision he'd had all along, and how much he had to be reactive to his immediate processor Raines.''

Whatever the final verdict on Raines successor (Keller experienced his share of hiccups), he undoubtedly brought sweeping changes to the content of the paper, including placing more emphasis on scrupulous analysis and investigative journalism, while working with the online side of the paper, stressing more graphics and digital journalism, such as the 2006 Election Guide in which dazzling maps showing safe and contested Democratic and Republican seats were colorfully displayed.

Still, by the time Keller passed the baton to Jill Abramson in September 2011,  the Times was left in a state of ``perpetual crisis’’, though  in areas completely outside of Keller’s area of control, namely loss of advertising revenue from its print editions and not enough ad revenue from its digital side to make up the difference.  Beginning in March, 2011, the Times placed a pay wall on its website in which it charges online visitors between $15 and $35 a month (after 20 free articles) for access to its content.

Readers hoping to learn more of the back stories, sharp elbows, and power grabs of the mighty and  most powerful editors inside the Times’ newsroom, certainly won’t be disappointed by ``EndTimes.’’ But the reader should bear in mind that the main thrust of the book is the daunting economic challenges the Times is facing as it devotes more and more effort to its website. Schwarz traces the beginning of the Times financial despair back to 2005, when its third-quarter 2005 SEC filing showed a significant loss in operating profit due predominantly to higher wages and benefits, outside printing expenses, and higher newsprint expenses, among other factors.

In his interviews with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Schwarz believes the publisher of the Times has some ``Pollyanna moments’’; tone deaf to the financial straits of the paper, believing things aren’t as bad as they appear.  In his 2005 interview, Schwarz says Sulzberger boasted of rising ad revenue on the website and the increased number of page views,  while skirting the issue of whether that was enough to compensate for rising costs and lost revenue.  Schwarz describes Sulzberger as ``controversial, proactive, prickly, defensive, and self-confident to the point where a listener wonders if he is a tad delusional.’’

Sulzberger or ``Arthur’’ as he is known around the newsroom, wanted to make a profound impact on the direction of the paper when hiring his first editor back in 2001. He wanted a strong personality, someone akin to Abe Rosenthal who was hired by his father, Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger, Sr.  It was under Rosenthal, many argue, when the Times cemented its strong liberal voice.

His choice of Raines over Keller was badly flawed even according to some staff members; more damaging still was that Sulzberger seems to have been out of touch with the level of animosity that staffers felt toward Raines, including Judith Miller, well before the train wreck occurred.

Deputy Managing Editor Jonathan Landman told Schwarz: ``With Howell there was no reformation. It was all bullshit. It was all gas; he transformed nothing, through he talked about it a lot.'

Will Sulzberger ever be replaced despite his family controlling Class B voting stock?

Probably not, Schwarz makes clear, since he seems to have the support of the 13 member board of directors.  But if the declining stock prices continue apace, the only possible successor might be his cousin, Michael Golden, vice chairman of The New York Times Company and president and chief operating officer of the Times Regional Media Group. But even Golden would be a long shot since he turned 62 in 2011.

After devoting a good chunk of material to the financial obstacles facing the Times, Schwarz pretty much goes down his personal shopping list of likes and mostly dislikes of different sections of the paper. 

For example:

• Schwarz doesn’t seem to have taken to the lifetime appointments of its op-ed columnists. Tom Friedman, according to the author, is still turning out old material, has a tendency to repeat himself and has run his course (despite his three Pulitzers) as the Times’ Foreign Affairs columnist. 

• Schwarz has reached his tipping point with Maureen Dowd and her half-truths, rhetorical bullying, distortions and name calling.  ``Sometimes I think Dowd should read and think more’’ Schwarz writes, ``and watch fewer movies.’’

• The Arts section has succumbed to TimesTrash by sprinkling its section with more sexually provocative  stories, bordering at times on pornographic subjects, posing as ``cultural criticism.’’ Ditto for the Sunday Magazine, which has resorted to its share of ``tasteless moments.’’

• The  Times Book Review section has resorted to shameless self promotion, such as in 2005 when publishing a list of 100 books, it included six books by Times’ staff writers.

• Throughout the book, Schwarz peppers his criticism with terms like Timeslite (meaning TimesFluff) or TimesTrash –taking the Times to task when it diverts its coverage from important national and international coverage in favor of celebrity gossip, sensational murders or innocuous tales of Manhattan’s superrich.

• Fluff sections, lacking any redeeming literary value such as the Sunday ``T’’ Magazine, Escape, ThursdayStyles, and SundayStyles, (obvious advertising magnets but chasing away core readers) are heavily attacked by the author-whose opinions, by the way, are shared by several retired Times’ editors he interviewed.

• The Times’ Sports section under Keller and carried out by Sports editor Tom Jolly (through 2010) has much improved from its coverage from three and four decades ago, particularly the way it has left the box scores and breaking news stories to the Internet;  while focusing more of its attention on feature stories and in depth analysis on some of the larger issues: such as performance enhancing drugs, recruiting methods by colleges and delicate pop psychology problems affecting professional athletes.

Taken together, Schwarz criticism of the Times shouldn’t be confused with a personal vendetta or waging a war against a institution which is easy to criticize since it is constantly being held up to the glaring light by friend and foe alike. Rather, the reader will quickly come to appreciate Schwarz, like many of us news junkies, is a long time passionate Times reader, who is seeing the newspaper he mostly closely identifies with skimp on its news coverage at times; other times give into advertising pressures and feed its readers a little too much fluff at the expense of quality and hard driven news.

Personally, although presenting an informative financial account of the Times spanning a decade, I get the feeling Mr. Schwarz is having a hard time letting go of the past.

It is clear the Times, and that includes Mr. Sulzberger and Ms. Abramson, the new executive editor, are doing everything within their power to keep the Times relevant, maintaining its long storied tradition of journalistic excellence, while still meeting its financial obligations and preparing for the time in the unforeseeable future when it will segue into a standalone digital operation without a print edition. We all hope that is still very far into the future, but the Times wants to prepared when that day does arrive.

We all long for the old days, but as Abraham Lincoln said in his second annual address: (December 1, 1862): ``As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.’’

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
March 7, 2012

Michelle has No. 44's Back in Jodi Kantor's ``The Obamas''

If you picked up a copy of ``The Obamas’’ by New York Times political reporter Jodi Kantor expecting a catalogue of abuses in the West Wing of the White House, similar to the sensational tales being reported about the clandestine and lavish Halloween party; or explosive verbal exchanges between First Lady Michelle Obama and Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs—you might come away greatly disappointed.

Those events, minor as they were, has peppered the headlines of most news outlets, both on the cable channels and web sites.  But don’t fall for the off speed pitch. This is more a tale of Michelle Obama‘s voyage from entering the White House armed with top chic and glamorous designer labels before transforming herself into sporting more main street attire, such as a $34.95 dress from H & M, the fast fashion clothing company; while valiantly trying to restore her husband’s image of being shaped by a ``sense of purpose’’ and acting as a `transformative figure’; important characteristics that slipped away from the president soon after assuming the presidency.

The First Lady saw it as her mission to get no. 44 back on message.

Michelle Obama accompanied Barack to the White House in January, 2009, reluctantly as it turns out. The first lady, as Kantor notes, wanted to remain in Chicago with children Sasha and Malia so they could finish out their school terms and gradually make the leap to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue later in the year.

Such a scenario was determined unthinkable by the West Wing brain trust; so came they did to the nation’s capital. The White House was a jolt at first, it wasn’t exactly their $1.65 million historic brick mansion back in Chicago; there were too many security personnel buzzing around and invading their sense of privacy. Then again, any house which has 132 rooms, six levels, 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, and three elevators, like the White House has, takes some getting used to.  But the Obama’s eventually adapted to their new digs, including the first lady.

It’s somewhat surprising that Michelle Obama has taken such a dim view of the book; she reportedly has complained ``The Obamas’’ has portrayed her as an ``angry black woman’’, rather than a supportive wife and accomplished first lady.

While slices of the book, unquestionably, document her assertiveness; ok, bitchiness if your prefer (questioning staff for inviting guests to a White House dinner without being asked first), avoiding meaningless ceremonial first lady duties and embracing more national issues in which she could bring about profound change-such as her obesity campaign.

And it was no secret that the first lady growled at Emanuel, the chief of staff,  for booking her (without asking her first) to campaign with Allen Boyd, U.S. congressman from the 2nd congressional district in North Florida in exchange for his vote on a key energy bill that the White House wanted passed.

The first lady soon made it clear in no uncertain terms, that she would not be an ``easy sell.’’ If the West Wing wanted her out on the campaign trail (during the mid-terms when the president’s popularity was plummeting ) ; they would have to ask her properly and more importantly, she didn’t want to campaign for congressional members she knew little about. Congressman Boyd, as it turns out, voted against the health care bill. Besides, unbeknownst to the first lady and the White House, she was being used to ``head off a potential black challenger for Boyd’s seat.’’

Overall, Kantor delivers a fair and balanced treatment of the first lady, far from coming off as an angry black woman, ``The Obamas’’ shows Mrs. Obama to be an important element of the White House machinery, especially in reminding her husband of his sense of purpose and to change the culture in Washington, important themes that brought Obama to Washington with such high expectations.  The highly publicized horse trading on display over the health care bill (e.g., the infamous ``Cornhusker Kickback’’ to secure passage of health care) was one subtle reminder how Mr. Obama fell victim to the ``business as usual’’ approach instead of changing the culture like he promised. 

Mr. Obama's increased disengagement from the cries of the American people during the Great Recession, partly attributable, some argue, to being so hemmed in by a coterie of advisors (Gibbs, Emanuel, and David Axelrod, Obama’s top political advisor) alarmed the first lady that her husband was losing touch with the pulse of the American public.  As Axelrod told Kantor, ``when she [Michelle Obama] thinks things have been mishandled or when things are off the track she'll raise it, because she's hugely invested in him and has a sense of how hard he’s working and wants to make sure everybody is doing their work properly.’’

Another fascinating slice of ``The Obamas’’ was the degree to which the First Family, Mrs. Obama in particular, drives Sasha and Malia hard not only with academic distinction, but with other extracurricular activities as well, including piano, and flute lessons,  excelling in basketball and scheduling tennis lessons. At first glance,  you might think Michelle Obama is in ``Tiger Mom’’ country, but once you appreciate Michelle, much like her husband, attended college in the age when affirmative action was in full swing; the high standards they expect of their children comes into sharper focus.

Kantor reports how Mrs. Obama while attending Princeton often endured suspicious glances from white students, wondering if she entered its prestigious Ivy League halls because of a quota system. Even as the Obama’s both made great strides in their professional careers, the presumption seemed to always follow them that they got there because of their race.

So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Sasha and Malia are being pushed and shaped and driven- even to the point of overachieving- to prevent wild accusations many years from now that they rose to their respective professional careers because they are the children of Michelle and Barack Obama and not because of their own hard work and academic success.

Unlike so many mismatches with First Family marriages, (consider Richard and Pat Nixon, FDR and Eleanor), Michelle and Barack are cut from the same cloth: both are highly educated, both share similar perspectives of the world, share the same friends, want to portray black Americans in a positive light, while longing for a meaningful change of culture in Washington.

In the end, if Mr. Obama loses in 2012, questions will be raised time and again why Michelle Obama wasn’t incorporated more effectively into getting the president’s message out to the American people by articulating a profound sense of purpose, a sense of hope, while helping her husband build the bridge of comprise and bipartisanship so sorely needed with the U.S. Congress.

Unless the economy improves dramatically, Mr. Obama is now in danger of having fallen victim to the same set of circumstances that undid Jimmy Carter; in that he came to Washington with a mountain of ideas he wanted put into action, but because he never understood the inner-working of the U.S. Congress, including keeping powerful congressional members at arm’s length, he gave voters the impression that he was nothing more than a highly educated policy wonk who didn’t understand Washington.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
January 17, 2012

A Departing Q & A with George Vecsey

                                                     The New York Times

I always hoped this day would never come.

Breaking into journalism as a sports reporter back in 1960 with Newsday on Long Island, then beginning in 1968, landing at The New York Times as a general assignment sports reporter, with subsequent  tours of duty as a national correspondent, Metro reporter, and religion writer before moving back to the sports department in 1980 and assuming stewardship of the ``Sports of The Times’’ column two years later (after the death of Red Smith), George Vecsey  has decided to hang up his spikes and close his notebook for good after recently accepting a company buyout.

Mr. Vecsey has been such a fixture on the sports pages of the Times for so many years and admired by so many colleagues, competitors, and loyal readers-it’s hard to imagine not seeing his byline hanging under the ``Sports of the Times’’  logo.  Although this marks a sad end of the George Vecsey era at the Times-readers can at least take heart, knowing the current Sports editor of the Times, Joe Sexton, will be splashing Vecsey’s opinions and signature analysis on its pages from time to time.

In addition to his prolific contributions as a sports columnist, Vecsey has authored over a dozen books, including ``Baseball: A History of America’s Favorite Game’’, ``A Year in the Sun’’, and most recently, ``Stan Musial: An American Life’’

For those interested in a ``Cliff Notes’’ version of Vecsey’s distinguished career at the Times, I refer you to his farewell column  which was published on December 16, 2011.

Before departing the Times’ building at 620 Eighth Avenue, turning to the rapturous crowd, and tipping his cap for the final time, Mr. Vecsey was gracious enough to answer some of my questions.

Q. Do you plan to work immediately on a book centering on your 43-year career with The New York Times; or do you have other projects in mind?

A: I just finished and promoted the Musial bio this past year and have avoided any thought of another book...I did a book in 1988 called A Year in the Sun, and think I may have told some of my best stories...but a "memoir" (heavy word, that) is possible...thanks for asking.

Q.  Did you ever miss a deadline as a Sports columnist?

A: I don't think I ever missed a first edition when they were waiting for a column. I'm sure there were a few times when I missed a subsequent edition because of events beyond control -- sudden early deadlines at the NYT or Mookie madness or Kenny Rogers walking everybody in the ball park on edition time. It is a terrible feeling to have a friend in the office say, 'we'll catch you on the next edition." although these days, with the 24-hour web, we are all in the wire service business.

 Q.) Who has been the most influential during your career in preparing you to be Sports columnist?

 A  Wow, it takes a village. My Dad, working at the AP and Daily News, was always on my side, even talking about a column. My wife has given me freedom to pursue my madness. An editor named Stew Kampel -- now retired, but around, -- asked me to write a regular Sunday column in the Long Island section, which sharpened my sense of telling a story.

Lots of editors. Lots of people were nice to me, starting with Jack Mann and Stan Isaacs at Newsday.

And as I mentioned in my farewell column (sort of), Abe Rosenthal land Arthur Gelb knew me as one of their Metro guys -- a huge thing in any business, to be one of the boss' people -- and remembered my interest in sports. I think I mentioned a column to Abe once or twice. He never forgot anything.

 Q. Any particular reason why you’ve done so few television interviews over the years?

 A  Being on TV implies sitting in front of a camera. That sounds contradictory to my work, which is being out somewhere, and writing, and traveling. It never meant much to me, and was intrusive, plus, I am a child of the radio generation; I still think TV is on a tryout.

For a while, The New York Times discouraged -- hard to believe -- giving it away for free on the tube. Then I looked up and saw other NYT people preening and pontificating. Not for me.

I would quickly add, that I have had a mild case of stage fright and shyness that seems to have vanished in the past decade, to the point where I can babble on live TV, and conducted live interview with Agassi for the NYT lecture series, and recently, when a guest did not show up for Tim McCarver's syndicated show, the director talked me (and Tim) into having me interview Tim, which really worked well, since I know and like him a lot. In my old age, I have become a bit of a ham -- particularly promoting my book, I should add.

Q. You've interviewed a number of compelling figures during your illustrious career, including the Dalai Lama, Tony Blair, Muhammad Ali, Martina Navratilova, Archbishop Oscar A. Romero of El Salvador, Joyce Carol Oates, Casey Stengel et al.  Which newsmaker had the most profound impact on you?

 A. Oh, gosh, that would be hard. For inner goodness, surely Romero (I asked him if the church and the Pope's pronouncements on activism had set him up to be assassinated. He said yes -- I speak some poor Spanish -- and a year later he was knocked off.) The other day I saw Charlize Theron -- not hard to pay attention to her -- talking about Mandela's sense of moving forward -- I truly believe in that. But if I keep going on this thought, I would say the person who guides me the most is Jesus Christ (I never ever say that in public, but the fact is, he is, at the very least, a role model and guide for behavior under pressure, for seeing the good in people.) 

Then again, I can hear Casey pounding his chest and proclaiming, "I can make a living telling the truth," circa 1962. I think of the Old Man every day.

Q.  Have you taught your younger brother, Peter Vecsey, sports columnist for the cross-time rival, The New York Post, everything he knows? Do you two ever share notebooks from time to time?

  A: It is pretty well known that Pete and I do not share much these days. Probably, back a few decades, he offered more to me than I could offer to him -- he introduced me to basketball people he knew -- Walton, Bird, Erving, and some rogues he knew. He is very generous that way. Pete's mentor was our father, George Vecsey, a career sports writer and copy editor, and Guild organizer. (Our mom, May Spencer Vecsey, was also a Guild organizer in 1938....) My father had a lot of contact with Pete, getting him some early jobs in the business, and constantly advising him and teaching him. My father broke in a lot of people. Pete is a tribute to himself, but also to our dad.

I should add, we have one sister who is a retired prep school headmaster, and another who was an official at that prep school in Georgia, and our youngest sibling, Christopher Vecsey, is a professor and author at Colgate - "the educated one," our mother called him.

Q. How has the culture of journalism changed since you first stepped into the Times’ newsroom over 40 years ago?

A. The 24-hour cycle means there is no natural rhythm of trolling for contacts, details, writing a first draft, wandering out to lunch, revising -- the cycle that still makes sense to me. Somebody always wants your copy for the Web. So you rush -- maybe not at the expense of basic accuracy, but surely at the cost of writing and structure and fullness. On the other hand, we live in a 24-hour cycle, so I guess journalism needs to reflect that.

  Q. Have the inflated salaries professional athletes earn, the shameless use of performance enhancing drugs, and the never-ending charges of spousal abuse and recreational drug abuse off the field-caused you to be turned off by professional sports? 

 A: I can't say it has. As the child of union people, I am glad to see athletes making money, lots of it. Why not? The money must be there. Better the athletes have some money, than all of it go to Steinbrenner or Dolan. The drugs are a scandal, but there were probably more blatant alcoholics back in the day - and uneducated louts, too.

The big change is that when I was breaking in, I had the same economic scale as people who became my friends -- Ruben Amaro, Ed Charlies, Bill Robinson, Steve Hamilton, Ron Swoboda, Larry Bearnarth. We socialized sometimes. Of course, we were the same age, 20s and 30s. I don't think ball players and writers have much in common anymore. I'm glad I can see Ruben or Charles and give them a big hug....

Q. Was there any sports figure in particular that took issue with your column, enough to verbally abuse you; or threaten to harm you physically?

 A: Really, only one. During the week of Watts in 1965, the Dodgers were pretty shook up, particularly African-American ones. A young pinch-runner named Willie Crawford missed 3B...costing a run, and, as I recall, a game. Afterward, in the clubhouse, we went to ask him about it. From the far end of the clubhouse, Willie Davis said (in the most gorgeous baritone), "Leave the kid alone." I said, rather nicely, we had a job to do. Davis did not agree, and pretty quickly charged down the aisle of the clubhouse, looking like a man about to take a swing. From his own locker, John Roseboro stepped in and took the charge, as he did at home plate, saying, "Ummm, gentlemen, this is not the time or place for this." (Or something like that, very calmly, in his own mellow voice.) Davis never got to me, for which I am grateful.

A day or two later, Roseboro got hit on the head by Marichal. Larry Fox of the Telly and I found Roseboro at the Dodger plane at the airport (we knew the clubhouse guy) and his bandages were covered by a Giant cap -- Willie Mays' cap. Willie was disgusted with what Marichal did. I tell this story often, to make the point of what a wonderful man Roseboro was. He should have been a manager.

Q. Outside of the Times, who have been some of your favorite Sports columnists, present and past?

A: Dick Young (in his Daily News days; plus, he was always very helpful to me when I was breaking in), Jimmy Cannon (I felt very close to him), Milton Gross (he could get inside the heads of players), Stan Isaacs, my mentor at Newsday, the most innovative columnist I ever read. Larry Merchant of the Philadelphia Daily News,  Len Shecter for the good old NY Post.  After that, Red Smith and Arthur Daley. I was pretty much a tabloid guy as a kid.

And Murray Kempton. I loved his work, and was extremely proud to know him when I became a sports columnist. I think of him every time I cover a trial or hearing or any public event.

Q. Do you have some important words of advice to any young person out there aspiring one day to become a widely read Sports columnist?

 A: Seriously? Minor in something else. This business is slipping. There may not be much future for the kind of sports column I did. The NYT’s has gone from five general sports columnists writing regularly.. 

 
Q. The New York Times is lucky enough to have been one of the few U.S. newspapers still thriving despite the mass migration to the Web. Do you think the Internet has taken a particularly hard toll on the Sports Pages of many U.S. newspapers, considering so much sports information is so easily available on the Web?

 A: Sure...papers do not have the money to send columnists places..or even to subsidize their heads...and people can get results on line, but a thoughtful column would seem to be a priority. My advice would be to aspire, but if you think you are not getting anywhere after a year or three, have a fallback position. Patience and talent and good clips may not matter much; actually do not matter than much now, if I read papers around the US.

Q. How optimistic are you for the future of the U.S. Newspaper Industry?

 A: Not. Newspapers are the engines that drive the Web. Without editors planning assignments and copy editors fixing mistakes, reporters quickly deteriorate into Underwear Guys writing blogs from their den. The sad thing is that everybody knows it -- even politicians and business people know they need some source of actual information, even if they get whacked once in a while. But the economics and timidity of the newspaper business are working against that future. And the bloggers brag about knowing how things work from the sanctity of their dens.

    -GV

****
Bill Lucey
[email protected]
December 28, 2011

Remembering Some Christmas Traditions

It's only 5 days until Christmas, which means I have plenty of time to finish start my Christmas shopping.

What I'm most grateful for this season is that I'm so close to making it through the season without once having the sound of José Feliciano's ``Feliz Navidad'' or ``Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer'' reach my ears. 

I hope I haven't spoken too soon.

For those lucky enough to have the gifts wrapped and cookies baked already, I thought you might enjoy a collection of historical nuggets on the origins of some of our Christmas traditions.

Have a Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays!

• The original Saint Nicholas was a wealthy 4th century bishop of Myria in Asia Minor (now Demre, Turkey), known for his kindness and works of charity.

• St Francis of Assisi, Italy constructed the first Nativity scene in a cave near Greccio, Italy on Christmas Eve, 1223.

• In Scotland, The Kirk (The Church of Scotland, or the Presbyterian Church influenced by the Scottish Reformation) beginning in 1560 produced the First Book of Discipline (later adopted by an Act of Parliament) abolishing Feast Days, including Christmas, which  did not become an official holiday in Scotland until 1958.

• In 1647, under Oliver Cromwell, an Act of Parliament prohibited the observance of Christmas.  The holiday was restored by Charles II after the Restoration in 1660.

• The Puritan government in Massachusetts made it illegal to celebrate Christmas between 1659 and 1681.

• By the end of the 16th century, indoor Christmas trees were a common fixture in most German homes; by 1610, thin strips of silver, later to be known as tinsel, began to be used as decoration.

• J.S. Bach’s Christmas oratorio premiered in Leipzig, Germany in 1734.

• The world premiere of Silent Night was performed in the Nikolaus-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria on Christmas Eve, 1818.

• Sir Henry Cole, an English civil servant and founding director of what is now the London’s Victoria & Albert Museum approached a painter in 1843 to devise a series of holiday cards which would read: ``A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.’’ By 1860, Christmas cards became wildly fashionable in England.

• In 1847, Placide Cappeau, a wine merchant, amateur poet, and mayor of the village of Roquemaure in Rhone Valley wrote the lyrics to what would eventually be known as ``O Holy Night’’ a French carol, titled: ``Cantique de Noёl’’ or literally, ``Song of Christmas’’; the carol was set to music by Adolphe Adam and first performed at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass of 1847 in Roquemaure with Madame Laurey performing the solo.

• Jingle Bells was first published by Oliver Ditson and Company in Boston in 1857 under the title: ``One Horse Open Sleigh’’, but was later reissued as ``Jingle Bells’’ or ``One Horse Open Sleigh’’ in 1859. Today, the song is simply known as ``Jingle Bells’’ written by James Lord Pierpont, a native of Meford, Massachusetts.

• ``O Little Town of Bethlehem’’ a sacred carol written by the Rev. Phillips Brooks, pastor of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia , was first performed by children of the Holy Trinity Sunday School on December 27, 1868.

• Edward H. Sears, pastor of First Church Unitarian in Wayland, Massachusetts  wrote the lyrics to America’s first prominent carol ``It Came upon the Midnight Clear’’ , which was originally a five verse poem first published in the Christian Register on December 29, 1849. The poem was set to music by Richard Storrs Willis who later became a music critic for the New York Tribune.

• George Frideric Handel’s ``Messiah’’, a composition so firmly fixed to the Christmas season, was actually first presented as an Easter oratorio at Dublin’s New Music Hall in Fishamble Street on April 13, 1742

• In Ethiopia, Christmas Day is celebrated on January 7th  on day called ``Ganna.’’ Worshipers are given a candle and walk around the tree three times before standing for the remainder of the three-hour service.

• Filipinos celebrate the Christmas season with nine pre-dawn masses known as Misa de Gallo or ``mass of the rooster.'' It begins on December 16 and ends on the midnight mass of December 24.

• The first image of the St Nicholas sliding down a chimney appeared in the New York Mirror on January 2, 1841.

• In 1836, Alabama became the first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

• The first department store to feature a Santa Claus was in Philadelphia on December 24, 1841 at the J.W. Parkinson's store. The next Santa Claus wouldn't be spotted again until 1890, this time accompanied with his own white beard at the Boston Store in Brockton, Mass.

• In a poem published in Harper’s Weekly on December 26, 1857, ``The Wonders of Santa Claus’’, the poem makes one of the first references to elves making toys.

• Thomas Nast, a German immigrant, age 22, publishes his first depiction of Santa Claus speaking to Union troops in the January 3, 1863 edition of Harper’s Weekly.

• Based largely from the German and French models, the first English gift book or literary annual, ``The Forget me Not: A Christmas and New Years Present for 1823. was published by R. Ackermann, a publisher of illustrated books.

• The first illustration of a Christmas tree was in an American book, published in 1836,  ``The Stranger's Gift. A Christmas and New Year's Present’’ written by a German immigrant, Herman Bokum.

• The London Illustrated News in 1848, published a woodcut print of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children gathered around a Christmas tree.

• Charles Dickens first wrote about Christmas in ``Sketches by Boz’’ (1836). His last chapter, ``A Christmas Dinner’’ is undoubtedly a foreshadowing of Cratchits’ Christmas Dinner in a Christmas Carol.

• On June 26, 1870, Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States.

• In 1883, Sears, Roebuck & Company began offering the first artificial Christmas trees – 33 limbs for $.50 and 55 limbs for $1.00.

• In 1897, an 8 year-old girl, Virginia O'Hanlon, who lived at 115 West Ninety-Fifth Street in New York City, wrote a letter to her local newspaper, The New York Sun, asking if there really was a Santa Claus after some of her friends told her there is no such thing as Santa Claus. The editor, Francis B. Church, responded to her letter, which was published on September 21, 1897, with the heading: ``Yes Virginia There is a Santa Claus.''

• Great Britain’s King George V delivered his first Christmas broadcast by the BBC radio in 1932 with the messaging reaching an estimated 20 million people; while the first televised broadcast of a Christmas message was delivered by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.

• John Adams was the first U.S. president to celebrate Christmas in the White House; while Calvin Coolidge was the first president to light the National Community Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in Washington D.C. on Christmas Eve, 1923

• The First Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show was launched in 1933.

• In 1939, Chicago retailer Montgomery Ward introduced Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

• The radio broadcast of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel was the first opera to be broadcast by radio from New York City’s Metropolitan Opera on Christmas Day in 1931.

• On December 7th, 1898 Canada issued the world's first Christmas stamp, showing a map of the world in 1569 by the Flemish cartographer Gerhardus Mercator inscribed with ``Xmas 1898.''

• Eggnog originated with the British from posset, a hot drink consisting of eggs and milk with nog (strong ale) or wine added.

• The motion picture ``A Christmas Carol’’ premiered as a silent film in 1914 starring Charles Rock as Scrooge; the first sound version was made in the United States (1938) starring British actor Reginald Owen as Scrooge.

• The televised broadcast of the Midnight Mass from St Peter’s Basilica in Rome has been an annual tradition since 1948.

• In January, 2003, President Hosni Mubarak issued a presidential decree authorizing the celebration of Christmas as a national holiday, making it the first time that the Egyptian government recognized a Christian holy day.

Bill Lucey
[email protected]
December 20, 2011

Source: ``The Christmas Encyclopedia’’ (Second Edition) By William D. Crump; ``Inventing Christmas: How Our Holiday Came to Be’’ By Jock Elliott; ``Life Christmas Around the World’’ (Published by Life Books)

 

Most Popular Online News Stories for 2011

It’s that time of year, again, when news organizations are scrambling to determine which stories and screaming headlines attracted the most attention from its readers.

As a way to get the ball rolling, I contacted some leading news organizations and asked them to provide the online story that generated the most page views on their Web Sites over the last year.

Here, then, are the responses that came back from those organizations considerate enough to return my emails.

• The New York Times: The story with the most page views on NYTimes.com between January 1 through Dec 5, 2011 was ``Sustainable Love'' By Tara Parker-Pope, an essay on what makes a happy marriage. The article appeared in the Times' print edition on January 2, 2011.

• The Wall Street Journal:  The most popular story at WSJ.com for 2011 was an essay entitled: ``Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior’’ which were excerpts from author Amy Chua’s new book: ``Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother", a book that caused a great deal of controversy earlier this year.

• New York Daily News: The most popular story of the year on NYDailyNews.com was a story about a Brooklyn Housing Authority worker killing a giant rat with a pitchfork. The article, according to Editor-in-chief Kevin Convey, generated 907,057 page views since it was published in August.

• CNN: The biggest traffic day at CNN was their first day of coverage (March 11th) of the earthquake in Japan.  According to a CNN spokesperson, CNN.com generated 135.9 million page views throughout the day.

• FOX News: At FoxNews.com, their most viewed story as of December 5, 2011 was a story about American socialite and reality television star Kim Kardashian being placed on an official Australian Immigration Department watch list after breaching her visa application as many as three times.

• NBC: At MSNBC.com, the top online video story of the year was the earthquake and tsunami in Japan  which generated more than 40 million online video streams in one day, setting an all-time one day site record, according to an MSNBC spokesperson.

• ABC: According a company spokesperson, the top story for 2011 on ABCNews.com was a story about the 50 most popular women on the Internet. The article was originally published on May 6, 2010.  The two other top stories for 2011 at ABCNews.com was the killing of Osama bin Laden published on May 1, 2011; and the obituary of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs , published on October 5, 2011.

• At TVNewser, one of 16 blogs at mediabistro.com,  their number one story of the year (so far) was a report about Jared Loughner, the suspect in the shooting of Arizona U.S. Congresswoman, Gabrielle Dee "Gabby" Giffords

• The most viewed story at FBI.gov for 2011 with more than 1.4 million page views was their posting about the murder of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick whose dead body was dumped in a field in St. Louis. Police found two encrypted notes stuffed into the victim's pockets, but have been unable to break the code, which remains a mystery to this day.

• ESPN:  According to an ESPN.com spokesperson, their most popular story to date was an article first published on January 13, 2011 about New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie unleashing a battery of harsh words for New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady. 

• The most widely read story at TechCrunch.com. a leading technology media property,  was a story about the new Facebook Timeline on September 22, 2011. The posting generated 1, 201, 589 page views according to John Briggs, editor of TechCurnch Gadgets. The second most popular story at TechCrunch for the year was news of Steve Jobs resignation as CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011, a breaking news story which generated 847,889 page views.

• According to a company spokesperson, the most popular television show, not necessarily this year, but of all time at Hulu.com is ``Family Guy’’,Fox’s American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane.

• Finally, at Nexis, a subscription-based database that offers a comprehensive collection of news, public records, and legal and business information- tells me that they were unable to reveal their top search terms for the entire year; but they were kind enough to disclose their top 100 search terms for the past three months. Nexis provided me the results in alphabetical order, so they are not rank-ordered or listed by the most popular.

Another thing to keep in mind about these results is that Nexis, due to confidentiality concerns, doesn’t archive search strategies from its customers; so these results are based on the most used LexisNexis SmartIndexing terms.  SmartIndexing is the company’s own classification (or taxonomy) of subjects, industries, geographic areas, people and companies.

100 Most Popular searches over the past 90 days from LexisNexis.

1.) AAA
2.) ACLU
3.) Afghan conflict
4.) Africa
5.) Amanda Knox
6.) American Enterprise Institute
7.) Americans for Tax Reform
8.) Americans with Disabilities
9.) Anderson Cooper
10.) Antitrust
11.) Asset Management
12.) ATV
13.) Biometrics
14.) Black Friday
15.) Brookings Institute
16.) Center for American Progress
17.) Central America
18.) China
19.) Church sexual abuse
20.) Climate Change
21.) Columbia University
22.) Commercial Construction
23.) Congress
24.) Corporate Malfeasance
25.) Credit Watch Agencies
26.) Criminal Justice
27.) Cyber Security
28.) Debates
29.) Disney
30.) Employee Benefits
31.) Employment
32.) Energy Recycling
33.) Engine Technology
34.) Equity Markets
35.) Executive Moves
36.) Food Contamination
37.) Food Industry
38.) Food Insecurity
39.) Greece
40.) Health Savings Accounts
41.) Healthcare
42.) Heritage Foundation
43.) Herman Cain
44.) Hopstop
45.) Human Rights
46.) Illegal Immigration
47.) Income Trends
48.) India
49.) Insurance
50.) Ira conflict
51.) Iran
52.) Iraq
53.) Islamic extremism
54.) Israel
55.) Japan Economy
56.) Jimmy Fallon
57.) Job Creation
58.) Layoffs
59.) Mexico
60.) MF Global
61.) Michael Bloomberg
62.) Motorcycle
63.) Mutual Fund Market
64.) Net Neutrality
65.) NHL
66.) North Korea
67.) Nuclear
68.) Obama
69.) Occupy Wall Street
70.) Olympics
71.) Organized Crime
72.) Pakistan
73.) Payroll Processing
74.) Persian Gulf States
75.) Political Violence
76.) Private Equity Markets
77.) Railway Infrastructure
78.) Reinsurance
79.) Religion and Environmental Policy
80.) Religious Bigotry
81.) Retail Industry
82.) Rick Perry
83.) Romania
84.) Romney
85.) Sales Compensation
86.) Sandusky
87.) Schumer
88.) Scientology
89.) Sean Hannity
90.) Securities Markets
91.) Social Security
92.) Solyndra
93.) Steel
94.) Steve Jobs
95.) Tax policy
96.) Teach for America
97.) Terrorism
98.) Tim Kaine
99.) Tribal governance
100.) Turkish politics

Source: LexisNexis® Business Insight Solutions

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
December 7, 2011

 

New Hampshire Union Leader: Presidential Endorsement Scorecard

The St Louis Cardinals stunned the world, winning the 2011 World Series as a wild card team; so maybe there’s room for another wild card in 2012.

Before Bill Clinton broke the string in 1992, losing to Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, beginning in 1952, every candidate who won the New Hampshire primary went on to the win the presidency. In 2000, George W. Bush won the presidential election despite losing to John McCain in New Hampshire; as did Barack Obama who was upended by Hillary Clinton in the 2008  New Hampshire presidential primary. But though the importance of winning this pivotal New England state has been diminished slightly over the years, winning New Hampshire would be a boon to any candidate so early in the political season. Which is why Newt Gingrich, not long ago considered by many to be nothing more than a broken down relic of the 1990’s, has suddenly sprung to life and is downright giddy in winning the endorsement of the New Hampshire Union Leader, which made its preference known in its Sunday edition.

New Hampshire’s primary has been set for January 10th.

Despite all the buzz and excitement among die-hard conservatives over Mr. Gingrich’s recent surge in the polls, most of whom are still lukewarm about throwing their weight behind Mitt Romney, how influential, you might ask, is the New Hampshire Union Leader in ensuring a victory for their endorsed candidate; or for that matter, in picking the next president of the United States?

Well, their track record is not great; in fact, it’s below the Mendoza Line.

In the past 13 presidential elections from 1948 through 2008, the Union Leader has only endorsed the winning candidate (prior to the New Hampshire primary) twice: Richard Nixon in 1968 and Ronald Reagan in 1980. For those scoring at home, 15.4 percent of the time, the Union Leader endorsed the winning candidate in the presidential election.

Despite polls just three weeks before the 1948 presidential election, showed that Thomas Dewey would crush Harry Truman on Election Day, the 33rd president of the United States, ignored  such doom and gloom by continuing his whistle stop tour, brandishing his signature mantra: ``Give ‘em Hell Harry’’, while  hammering away at the ``Do Nothing 80th Congress’’  and the ``One-Party Press.’’ A majority of U.S. newspapers, including the Union Leader, endorsed Dewey; and Life Magazine almost two weeks before the election, published a picture of the New York governor, identifying him ``as the next president of the United States.’’

Even before Watergate tore him to smithereens, polls in mid 1971-showed Richard Nixon’s popularity had dipped below 50 percent, opening the door to challenges in the 1972 primaries from the left and right within his own party. One of them was a conservative congressman from Ohio, John Ashbrook, who earned the endorsement of the New Hampshire Union Leader. The other primary challenger was a liberal, Pete McCloskey.

Despite the Union Leader’s endorsement, Ashbrook received only 6 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary;  McCloskey’s anti-war campaign, garnered him 11 percent of the vote, while Nixon received a commanding 83 percent of the vote, leaving his opponents in the dust as he easily captured 1323 of the 1324 delegates to the Republican Convention. Ashbrook faded into the thin night air shortly after the Iowa caucuses (April 4) where he received just a few votes in the straw polls.

The Union Leader also placed their stamp of approval on the candidacy of Delaware Governor Pierre du Pont IV in 1988; only to see him earn 10.1 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, behind Vice President George H.W. Bush who had 37.6 percent of the vote, Senator Robert Dole received 28.4 percent, and Jack Kemp with 12.8 percent. Alexander Haig only managed 0.3 percent of the vote, while evangelist Pat Robertson was practically at the bottom of the pack with 0.4 percent. After such a poor showing in New Hampshire, du Pont withdrew from the race.

The one Republican candidate who benefited mightily from the Union Leader’s endorsement was Pat Buchanan, who in the 1992 Republican primary in New Hampshire earned nearly 40 percent of the Republican vote, collecting more than 3 million votes, not enough to beat the Vice President, but strong enough to weaken his candidacy, showing Bush as a weak vulnerable candidate once the general election rolled around. As it turns out, Buchanan’s strong showing in New Hampshire would end there. He never won a primary. Buchannan, some would argue, would only further divide the party when he delivered his disruptive cultural wars speech at the Republican Convention in Houston of 1992, when he declared: that ``American was in the midst of a ``cultural war’’, a ``religious war’’, and in a struggle for the`` soul of America.’’

Yet another poster child of the conservative movement endorsed by the Union Leader only to fizzle before he really began, was publisher and businessman Steve Forbes who managed a mere 13 percent of the vote in New Hampshire in 2000. John McCain took 49 percent of the vote; while George W. Bush took 31 percent. Polling conservative voters before the primary showed they agreed with Forbes’ core conservative issues on taxes and abortion over the other candidates, but they still preferred Bush or McCain when push came to shove. After his third primary loss in Delaware in February, 2000 (a state he won in 1996) and after pumping $35 million of his own money into the campaign, Forbes withdrew from the race, leaving Bush, McCain and Alan Keyes to fend for themselves in their pursuit of the 2000 Republican nomination.

So if nothing else, the Republican field of Romney, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and others can take heart, knowing that losing the endorsement of the Union Leader isn't exactly the end of the world.

While all these candidates, to be sure, would have welcomed the endorsement from the New Hampshire Union Leader with open arms, history shows, future presidents are not exactly at the mercy of an editorial endorsement from this conservative newspaper either, even if it has the largest circulation in the state of New Hampshire.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
November 28, 2011

****
Candidates Endorsed by the New Hampshire Union Leader Before the New Hampshire Primary.

1948: Tom Dewey
1952:  Robert A. Taft
1960:  Richard Nixon
1964:  Barry Goldwater
1968:  Richard Nixon
1972:  John Ashbrook
1976:  Ronald Reagan
1980:  Ronald Reagan
1988:  Pierre du Pont
1992:  Pat Buchanan
1996: Pat Buchanan
2000:  Steve Forbes
2008: John McCain

Source: Office of the Editorial Page Editor: New Hampshire Union Leader

9/11: 10-Year Anniversary Guide of Facts, Stats and Historic Footnotes

 

With the 10-year anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11 just days away, Americans will undoubtedly, as in prior anniversaries, mourn the thousands of innocent lives that were lost in Lower Manhattan on a day that began with clear blue skies-but in a blink of an eye-turned into a plume of black smoke when the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed like dominoes in front of millions of a shocked and traumatized television audience.

But unlike past anniversaries, this is the first 9/11 anniversary in which we take comfort in knowing the ruthless mastermind of the attacks, Osama bin Laden, is no longer lurking somewhere in the foothills of Afghanistan or Pakistan, thanks to the US Navy SEALS tracking and eventually gunning him down  in Pakistan's northern city of Abbottabad.

Americans will also remember the 9/11 anniversary by reflecting on how much the world has changed over the last 10 years; and how vulnerable we really were prior to a terrorist attack on our own soil.

So as a way to consider how 9/11 impacted our lives and shaped public policy, I assembled some historical facts and statistics related to the dreadful day that refuses to recede from our memories.

• In an effort to combat terrorism after 9/11, President George W. Bush signed into the law the Patriot Act on October 26, 2001, a bill consisting of 342 pages, 156 sections, and giving the FBI and CIA expanded powers to tap phones, monitor Internet traffic, and allow federal agents to obtain business and personal records. The Senate approved the bill (98-1), followed by the House of Representatives in a 357-66 vote.

• The USA Patriot Act is an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.

• On March 4, 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives passed revisions to the Patriot Act (280 to 138), which placed curbs on the act’s powers, including protecting libraries from government intrusion and creating judicial oversight.

• According to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, 414 local, county, and state resolutions have been passed condemning the Patriot Act as a violation of civil liberties.

• According to the New York Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, as of August 2011, out of 2753 reported missing from the World Trade Center, 1122 victims have not been identified; leaving 1631 which have been identified.

• According to ``Bowker's Books in Print'' database, in the U.S. publishing market alone as of August, 2011, there have been 1,742 books written about 9/11, which includes fiction, pictorial books, and juvenile literature.

• According to The Foundation Center, 1,339 foundations, corporations, and other institutional donors made gifts in response to 9/11, which exceeded $1.1 billion in more than 4,500 gifts for relief and recovery efforts and for issues related to the attacks, including bioterrorism and civil rights

• The September 11th Fund of the United Way of New York City/New York Community Trust received $163 million, surpassing all other organizations; the American Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund received $150 million

• Foundations and corporations in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) provided 52 percent of all giving.

• The Social Security Administration estimates that $250 million in benefits have been paid out to people affected by the September 11 tragedy.

• The World Trade Center consisted of 7 buildings, including one hotel, spread across 16 acres of land. The buildings connected by an underground mall and concourse.

• The Twin Towers (1 WTC, or the North Tower, and 2 WTC, or the South Tower) were the signature structures, containing 10.4 million square feet of office space.

• Both towers had 110 stories, were about 1,350 feet high and were square; each wall measured 208 feet in length. On any given workday, up to 50,000 office workers occupied the tower, and 40,000 people passed through the complex.

• Each tower contained three central stairwells, which ran essentially from top to bottom, and 99 elevators.

• As of 9:00 a.m. units that were dispatched (including senior chiefs responding to headquarters) included approximately 235 firefighters. These units consisted of 21 engine companies, nine ladder companies, four of the departments’ elite rescue teams, the department's single Hazmat team, two of the city's elite squad companies, and support staff.

• According to the Congressional Research Service, the cumulative total appropriated from the 9/11 for war operations, diplomatic operations, and medical care for Iraq and Afghan war veterans is $1.283 trillion including: $806 billion for Iraq; $444 billion for Afghanistan; $29 billion for enhanced security; and $6 billion unallocated .

• According to Paul Colford, Director of Media Relations at The Associated Press, the first AP news bulletin on 9/11 moved on the A wire at 8:53 a.m with the headline: ``Plane crashes into World Trade Center, according to television reports’’; and it was AP’s own Jerry Schwartz who first coined the term ``Ground Zero’’  at 12: 29 p.m on 9/11, when he wrote: ``Emergency vehicles flooded into Lower Manhattan. No one knew what happened; the towers target of a terrorist bombing in 1993; seemed to be ground zero once again.''

• The first time the term ``9/11’’ was used to describe the terrorist attack on American soil was in a Bill Keller column in The New York Times on September 12, 2001: ``Correspondent: America’s Emergency Line: 9/11’’

• There were six Pulitzer Prizes directly awarded to journalists for 9/11 coverage and two more related to Afghanistan, which later entered the picture, according to Sig Gessler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes and a special faculty member of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

• The 9/11 Memorial will be dedicated on September 11, 2011 on the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in a ceremony for victims’ families. It will open to the public on September 12, 2011, and will welcome visitors who have reserved free advance passes.  The 9/11 Memorial Museum will open in September 2012, a year after the Memorial.

Highlights of the Museum include:

• The names of 2,983 victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 will be listed on bronze parapets surrounding the pools.

• 8,151 tons of structural steel will be used in the Memorial and Museum when complete, more than what was used to build the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

• 485,919 gallons of water will be held in each Memorial pool.

• The Memorial pools will be approximately 200 feet in length.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in the wake of 9/11 to strengthen the security of the nation’s transportation systems while ensuring the freedom of movement for people and commerce.

    • Since 9/11, TSA has screened nearly 5 billion passengers, detected approximately 50 million prohibited items, including 4,600 firearms during airport checkpoint screening.

    • Since the agency’s inception, TSA has screened approximately 4 billion checked bags. Every checked bag is screened for explosives.

    • Approximately 500 advanced imaging technology machines are deployed at 78 airports nationwide. Since the technology has been deployed, more than 300 prohibited, dangerous, or illegal items have been detected on passengers.

    • Today, TSA recurrently checks over 20 million airline passengers, flight crew and transportation-related employees on a daily basis against the federal watchlist and identifies known or suspected terrorists working in, or seeking access to, the Nation’s transportation system.

According to the New York City Comptroller’s Office:

    • Total private employment in NYC fell by 97,500 jobs from August to December 2001, and reached a low in August 2003 with a total loss of 167,100 jobs. By June 2011, private employment added 76,000 more jobs than had existed prior to the attacks.

    • Since 9/1, the manufacturing sector has lost more than 80,000 jobs and the financial activities sector has lost more than 41,000 jobs. Although the City’s financial sector rebounded after 9/11, employment in this sector has not reached pre‐attack levels. The financial sector’s share of total City jobs has decreased from 12.8 percent to 11.6 percent. The manufacturing sector has decreased from 4.2 percent to 2.0 percent of total jobs.

    • The Fire Department uniformed headcount decreased by 3.9 percent in the fiscal year immediately after 9/11 (more than 2 percent of FDNY uniformed personnel perished on 9/11) but by FY 2005 had rebounded to pre‐9/11 levels. Headcount levels dropped below 9/11 levels in FY 2010 as a result of the City's budgetary constraints and has remained below since then

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
September 8, 2011

Source: 9/11 Memorial and Museum Press Office; The Foundation Center;  Transportation Security Administration; Office of NYC Comptroller John C. Liu; The 9/11 Commission Report
***

Selection of Front Pages on September 12, 2001

U.S. ATTACKED
The New York Times, September 12, 2001

Terrorists Hijack 4 Airliners, Destroy World Trade Center, Hit Pentagon: Hundreds Dead
The Washington Post, September 12, 2001

NEW DAY OF INFAMY,
Boston Globe, September 12, 2001

BASTARDS!
San Francisco Examiner, Sept 12, 2001

Darkest Hour
Denver Post, September 12, 2001

ACT OF WAR
Hartford Courant, September 12, 2001

OUTRAGE,
The Atlanta Constitution, Sept 12, 2001

`EVIL ACTS'
The Miami Herald, September 12, 2001

IT'S WAR,
The New York Daily News, September 12, 2001

TERROR HITS HOME.
The Houston Chronicle, September 12, 2001

UNTHINKABLE
The Salt Lake Tribune

For additional front pages related to 9/11, SEE, Newseum’s interactive archive

 ****

September 11th Events Planned by NFL and MLB

September 11th had a direct impact on the professional sports world as well. The tragic terrorist attack led the NFL to cancel the second week of the season on September 16, 2001, while Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig cancelled games through September 16, making it only the third time in MLB history that games were cancelled due to war or national security reasons.

This year, on the 10-year anniversary, which just happens to fall on the first week of the NFL season, all games in each of the broadcast windows (1:00 PM, 4:15 PM and Sunday Night Football) will feature a special video introduction followed by performances of “Taps” from near the sites of the attacks, and moments of silence. For the 1:00 PM games, (the Baltimore Ravens hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers) “Taps” will be performed in Shanksville, PA while the 4:15 PM games, (the Washington Redskins hosting the New York Giants) will feature a rendition from Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA. NBC’s Sunday night game (the Dallas Cowboys visit the New York Jets) will include a performance from Hoboken, NJ, looking across the Hudson River to Ground Zero. Coaches, players and local first responders and other heroes will come together to hold field-length American flags for the playing of the National Anthem prior to each game.

It was announced recently that the National Football League and the NFL Players Association will contribute $1 million to three memorials and two charities related to the events of September 11, 2001. In addition, the NFL and NFLPA will donate all proceeds from the sale of auction items from games played on Sunday, September 11.  These items, which fans can bid on at www.NFL.com/Auction, will include game-worn autographed player jerseys, coaches and player hats, and commemorative game coins used during those games.

Major League Baseball teams, meanwhile, will be wearing flags on hats and the backs of jerseys, a special video will be played, a remembrance logo will be on each field, and each club is coordinating a service-oriented activity. In addition, each club is honoring public servants, first responders, and members of the military, while many are allocating free tickets for them as well.

Select Minutes of Events on September 11, 2001

5: 53: a.m.:  Hijackers Mohamed Atta and Abdulazis Alomari board a Colgan Air Flight from Portland to Boston, Ma.

7: 59: a.m.:  Flight 11 (American Airlines Boeing 767-223 ER, 23, 980 gallons of fuel, 81 passengers, nine flight attendants, and two pilots) takes off from Boston’s Logan Airport.

8:00 a.m.:  President Bush receives an intelligence briefing with a brief reference to a heightened ``security risk’’ having been reported during the summer, but not alarming enough for him to place a call to National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice.

8: 13 a.m.:  Flight 11 is hijacked; flight attendant Amy Sweeney witnesses three of the hijackers storming the cockpit at approximately 8: 20 a.m.

8: 14: a.m.:  Flight 175 (Boeing 767-222, 23, 980 gallons of fuel, 56 passengers, seven flight attendants, and two pilots, flying to Los Angeles) takes off from Boston’s Logan Airport 16 minutes after the scheduled 7: 58 a.m. departure time.

8: 20 a.m. Flight 77 (Boeing 757-223, with 11, 489 gallons of fuel, 58 passengers, four flight attendants, and two pilots)  departs Dulles Airport outside Washington for Los Angeles, 10 minutes after its 8: 10 scheduled departure.

8: 20 a.m.: Four hijackers from Flight 77 rise from their seats in the business class and shoot or stab passenger Daniel Lewin who was sitting in the row in front of them.

8:20 a.m.: Flight 11 stops transmitting its IFF (identify friend or foe) beacon signal.

8: 20 a.m.:  Flight attendant Sweeney uses an AirFone to call Boston’s Logan Airport to tell them that hijackers have stabbed two first class flight attendants, Barbara Arestegui and Karen Martin, while also informing them that the hijackers brought a bomb into the cockpit. Sweeney was still feeding information to the flight service manager (Michael Woodward) right up until the plane crashed.

8: 34 a.m.: Flight controllers hear a hijacker on Flight 11 tell passengers: ``Nobody move, please, we are going back to the airport. Don’t try to make any stupid moves.’’

8: 35 a.m: President Bush’s motorcade leaves for Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fl.

8: 38 a.m.:  The talkback button on Flight 11 stops working, an indication that the hijackers have replaced pilot John Ogonowski.

8: 42: a.m.:  Flight 93 (Boeing 757, 38 passengers (out of 182 seats), five flight attendants, and two pilots departs Newark International Airport bound for San Francisco, Calif.,  41 minutes late.

8: 46 a.m.:  Flight 11 slams into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, striking the 93rd-98th floors in the 110 story building, approximately 1,360 people die.

8: 46 a.m: Two French documentary filmmakers with their cameras rolling 10 blocks away from the WTC, capture a distant image of the first crash.

8: 48 a.m.:  CNN is the first major network to show footage of the crash with anchor Carol Lin saying: ``This just in. You are looking at …obviously a very disturbing live shot there-that is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers.''

 8: 50 a.m.: The last radio contact with Flight 77 is made when the pilot asks for clearance to fly higher. Six minutes later, the plane doesn’t respond to a routine instruction.

8: 50 a.m.:  Flight 175, already off course, makes a complete U-turn and starts heading north toward New York City. About this time, a flight attendant reports the plane has been hijacked.

8: 52 a.m.: ABC breaks into regular programming to report the crash.

8: 54 a.m.:  Flight 77 from Washington veers off course over Southern Ohio, turning to the Southwest.

8: 55 a.m:  President Bush’s motorcade arrives at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, a visit intended to outline his education policies.

8: 55-9:00 a.m.: President Bush first learns of the crash when advisor Karl Rove takes the president aside to inform him of the tragedy.

8: 58 a.m.: Brian Sweeney of Flight 175 calls his wife and leaves the following the message: ``We’ve been hijacked and it doesn’t look good.’’

9:03 a.m.: Flight 175 hits the South Tower (Tower Two) of the WTC; the plane strikes the 78th-84th floors in the 110 story building. Approximately 100 people are killed or injured in the initial impact; 600 people in the Tower eventually die.

9: 03 a.m.: The WTC is evacuated before the second Tower is hit.

9: 12 a.m.:  Renee May, a flight attendant on Flight 77, uses a cell phone to call her mother in Las Vegas to inform her that her flight has been hijacked.

9: 17 a.m.: FAA shuts down all NYC Airports.

9: 20 a.m.: Conservative American television commentator (and lawyer) Barbara Olson, wife of Theodore (Ted) Olson, Solicitor General at the Justice Department, calls to inform him that the hijackers (on Flight 77) used knives and box cutters to hijack the plane.

9: 21 a.m: The New York City Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in NYC.

9: 27 a.m:  Flight 93 passenger Tom Burnett calls his wife to tell her that the plane has been hijacked with a bomb on board.

9: 28 a.m.:  CNN, citing The Associated Press, report that U.S. officials think the attacks are believed to have been carried out by terrorists.

9: 29 a.m.:  President Bush delivers a speech while still inside Booker Elementary School: ``Today, we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Centre in an apparent terrorist attack on our country."

9: 32 a.m.:  The New York Stock Exchange closes.

9: 37 a.m.: Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon with approximately 125 people on the ground, later determined killed or missing.

9: 37 a.m.: Vice President Dick Cheney telephones President Bush to tell him the White House has been targeted and to stay away from Washington.

9: 40 a.m.:  Flight 93 transponder signal is turned off.

9: 41 a.m.:  Flight 93 passenger Marion Britton calls a friend to tell him two people have been killed and the plane has turned around.

9: 43 a.m.:  President Bush learns of the attack on the Pentagon as he reaches Sarasota Airport.

9: 45 a.m.: The White House is evacuated.

9: 48 a.m.: The Capitol Building is evacuated.

9: 57 a.m.: Passengers and hijackers struggle in the Flight 93 cockpit.

9: 58 a.m.:  Passenger Todd Beamer aboard Flight 93, indicates on a phone call they plan ``to jump’’ the hijacker in the back of the plane who has the bomb.

9: 59 a.m.:  Richard Clark, counterterrorism tsar orders all prominent land mark buildings and all federal buildings in the U.S. evacuated; and all harbors and borders closed.

10: 00 a.m.: Flight 93 passenger Elizabeth Wainio tells her stepmother, ``Mom, they’re rushing the cockpit. I’ve got to go, bye.’’

10:06 a.m.: Flight 93 crashes into a Pennsylvania countryside, just north of Somerset County Airport about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh and 124 miles or 15 minutes from Washington, D.C.

10: 06 a.m.: According to Newsweek, U.S. intelligence pick up communications among bin Laden associates relaying the following message: ``We’ve hit the targets.’’

10: 08 a.m.: Armed agents surround the White House.

10: 10 a.m.: The U.S. military is put on high alert.

10: 13 a.m.: More prominent buildings in Washington are evacuated.

10: 15 a.m.: The front section of the Pentagon building hit by Flight 77 collapses.

10: 28 a.m.:  The WTC North Tower collapses, 102 minutes after hit by Flight 11.

10: 53 a.m.: New York’s Primary elections, already in progress, are postponed.

11: 00 a.m.:  More skyscrapers and tourist attractions are evacuated, including Walt Disney World, the Philadelphia Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Seattle’s Space Needle and the Gateway Arch in St Louis.

11: 45 a.m.: Air Force One lands at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport Louisiana.

12: 36 p.m.: President Bush delivers a second speech, which airs 30 minutes later, saying: ``Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward. And freedom will be defended.’’

1: 02: p.m.:  Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls the President and calls for war: ``This is not a criminal act. This is war.’’

1:02 p.m.: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani orders an evacuation of Manhattan, south of Canal Street.

1: 27 p.m.:  A state of emergency is declared in Washington.

1: 30 p.m.:  Air Force One leaves Louisiana and flies to Nebraska Offutt Air Force Base, the location of the U.S. Strategic Command.

4: 00 p.m.:  CNN reports there are good indications that bin Laden is involved in the attacks, based on ``new and specific’’ information since the attacks.

4: 10 p.m.:  The WTC Building 7 is reported to be on fire.

4: 30 p.m.:  The WTC Building 7 area is evacuated.

4: 33 p.m.: Air Force One leaves Nebraska and heads toward Washington.

5: 20 p.m.: The WTC Building 7 collapses; no one is killed.

6: 54 p.m.:  President Bush arrives at the White House.

7: 00 p.m.:  Secretary of State Colin Powell returns to Washington from Lima, Peru.

8: 30 p.m..: President Bush delivers his third speech of the day on live television in which he outlines the Bush Doctrine: ``We will make no distinction between terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.’’

11: 30 p.m..: Before retiring for the evening, President Bush writes in his diary: ``The Pearl Harbor of the 21st Century took place today…We think it’s Osama bin Laden.’’

Source: ``The Terror Timeline: Year by Year, Day by Day, Minute By Minute: A Comprehensive Chronicle of the Road to 9/11-and America’s Response.’’ By Peter Thompson and the Center for Cooperative Research (Harper, 2004).

****

Web Sites to Keep in Mind:

9/11 Memorial

September 11th Anniversary Events in NYC

September 11 Web Archive (Library of Congress)

September 11 Television News Archive

A Memorial List of Victims at the World Trade Center

The 9/11 Commission Report

Legislation Related to the Attack of September 11, 2001

World Trade Center Statistics (Skyscraper Museum)