Letters
Letters Morality check Gossip is as old as human nature, but when a reputable publication such as yours leeringly speculates about romantic relationships between government officials, it elevates...
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...I was—I am—-astonished by the smarmy, patronizing, and self-serving tone of this "apology...
...Preventative gossip" indeed...
...Believe me, I do not need this or any magazine to watch the president for "unmistakable manifestations of interest...
...This belief that ideal family and moral values existed and require the government to restore them once again is just Religious Right propaganda...
...The Monthly was among the few members of the media who thought Bill Clinton got away with quite a lot during the Gennifer Flowers episode...
...But when you do gossip, you must phrase it as carefully as possible and not imply more than you have actually heard...
...The fact that most newspapers and magazines indulge in such speculation routinely is no excuse...
...L.M...
...But other affairs did have a public effect: Kennedy's liaison with Judith Exner, the mistress of a mobster, exposed him to the 2 The Washington Monthly/May 1993 possibility of blackmail both by the mafia and by J. Edgar Hoover, who knew of that affair and others...
...Cowed by James Carville's admonitions, the media, we felt, abdicated its duty to pursue a legitimate story that reflected on the character of the candidate...
...If they ever asked you if you talked to me about it, you can say no...
...For that poor phrasing, we owe, and offer, Ms...
...And we believe that the media, by pointing out possible signs of trouble in advance, can help keep Clinton out of Kennedyesque hot water...
...In 1970, the biological research was cut off and 26 biochemists were fired...
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...American fundamentalists blow up abortion clinics and kill doctors...
...The last thing this country needs is another JFK-style womanizer who might jeopardize the national interest while knowingly being cozy with Sam Giancana's good friend, Judith Exner...
...Tyson did anything to attract Bill Clinton's attention...
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...Now comes Jon Meacham ["What the Religious Right Can Teach the New Democrats," April] to tell us that, despite the almost uninterrupted rule of the fundamentalist world view for the last 25 years (from Spiro Agnew to Dan Quayle), it is still not enough...
...For reprint rights for all or part of an article call S. Tallapragada at (202) 462-0128...
...Our fear is that then-candidate Clinton came away from that experience with the sense that he had slipped a noose—and might be able to do so again...
...two years, $66...
...Don't stop policing Bill Clinton...
...There is genuine danger in that message...
...The editorial specifically criticizes ABC-TV's reliance on the accusation of a disgruntled former employee in a segment on the tobacco industry...
...That same individual was heavily relied upon by Justin Catanoso as a source for the article in your publication...
...On the Rowers tapes, in language reminiscent of Richard Nixon discussing Watergate with his cronies, Clinton told Flowers: "I just think that if everybody's on record denying it, you've got no problem...
...His relationship with Ben Bradlee's sister-in-law, for example, probably only resulted in Bradlee, then of Newsweek, receiving more favorable treatment than his press competitors...
...While not every religious fundamentalist is a bomb-thrower, the fundamentalist world view—that there is one Revealed Truth and they have it—sets the stage for these acts and nurtures those who commit them...
...Keep those elected and appointed officials honest...
...Second class postage paid at Mechanicsburg, PA...
...To corroborate Colucci's version of events, I interviewed two other scientists at Reynolds and obtained a confidential company document which independently evaluated Reynolds' smoking-and-health program in the sixties...
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...We can't afford another S&L debacle because the press and media sit on their hands...
...Cover charge To my chagrin, I was recently bamboozled into paying $3.50 for your March issue, which featured a Rooseveltian cover of Clinton and a large headline, "A NEW FDR OR ANOTHER BUSH LEAGUER...
...Muslim and Hindu The Washington Monthly Editor in Chief Charles Peters Publisher Mary T. Beiro Editors Christopher Georges, Jon Meacham, David Segal Contributing Editors Jonathan Alter, Thomas N. Bethell, Tom Bethell, Taylor Branch, Matthew Cooper, Gregg Easterbrook, James Fallows, Paul Glastris, Mickey Kaus, Phil Keisling, Michael Kinsley, Nicholas Lemann, Suzannah Lessard, Arthur Levine, Timothy Noah, Joseph Nocera, Leonard Reed, John Rofhchild, Jonathan Rowe, Walter Shapiro, Scott Shuger, Steven Waldman Editorial Advisory Board Graham Allison, James David Barber, Edgar Cahn, David Halberstam, Murray Kempton, Richard Reeves, Hugh Sidey Production Manager Sridhar Tallapragada Advertising Director Jennifer L. Schindeler Assistant to the Editor Pam Matthews Interns Marion Davis, Jennifer Elsea, Rebecca Evans, Ann O'Hanlon, David Smyth, John Zebrowski Proofers Gladys Banta, John Kalajian, Jack Shellenberger, Nina Teicholz,Valerie Worthington Subscription rates: U.S...
...The document confirmed the extent of the biological research, its sophistication, and the conclusion that Reynolds' scientists were learning things about cigarettes' health effects that the company did not disclose...
...It might outsell the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition...
...The Washington Monthly is indexed in the Book Review Index, Political Science Abstracts, Public Affairs Information Service, the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, the Social Science Index, and Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory and may be obtained on microfilm from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI 48106...
...MARK MARQUARDT Chicago, Illinois I don't care how many irate readers complain of your noting Bill Clinton's taking a "special interest" in Laura Tyson, you were completely right to do so...
...I'm sorry, Mr...
...Given the fact that the president and spouse pop in and out of our media like birds on a cuckoo clock, my que ion is whether this glittery cover, devoid of solid internal oackup content, is a brilliant zen-like metaphor for the new administration...
...Read Stephanie Coontz's book, The Way We Never Were, and find out, among other things, that the U.S...
...And the motives of his sources, notably Dr...
...To be sure, not all of JFK's affairs resulted in public harm...
...Anthony Colucci, offered to sell his silence to his former employer in return for $5 million...
...Tyson and our readers an apology...
...No, we do not see ourselves as pious arbiters of presidential mores, but we very badly want to see this new president succeed...
...NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 4620128...
...BARRY STEIN Cambridge, Massachusetts If you are serious about appointing yourselves guardians of the president's morality to prevent possible missteps, why not have your editorial panel of sexual attraction experts identify the 200 most desirable women that Clinton is likely to have contact with in the next four years and publish all their pictures in a TWM special issue...
...Reprints of articles are available to individuals or schools at $1.50 each (prepaid...
...As evidence we note that no major newspaper printed the transcript of the conversation between Clinton and Flowers in which they discussed the Arkansas state job Flowers seemed to have been given as part of a cover up of her relationship with the governor...
...GUBRIUS-PENEMZA Washington, D.C...
...Meacham, but you are wrong...
...Nothing in the magazine answered this question...
...Who's Who" was once a very useful way to help readers keep track of personnel changes in the federal government, but it has degenerated into an innuendo-laden gossip column...
...Printed in U.S.A...
...Letters Morality check Gossip is as old as human nature, but when a reputable publication such as yours leeringly speculates about romantic relationships between government officials, it elevates rumors to the status of news and legitimates sleaze...
...John F. Kennedy, you will recall, enjoyed a pliant media which overlooked his sundry philanderings...
...That said, there is another key criterion for publishing gossip: That there be a good reason to run an item other than mere rumor-mongering...
...To explain the perils that we believe accompany that tendency, we must backtrack to the 1992 New Hampshire primary...
...Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope._ fundamentalists kill each other in India...
...Lighting up Having read "Butt Out" [January/February], I thought you would be interested in seeing the enclosed editorial from the Washington Times...
...Colucci, speak for themselves...
...1993 The Washington Monthly Co...
...In the meantime, I think you owe President Clinton, Ms...
...MAURA T. PAYNE Director, External Communications & Issues R.J...
...Bisgaard, but we've received enough letters like the others on our "Who's Who" Laura Tyson item to make us want to explain again why we published it...
...had the world's highest divorce rate in the eighties—the 1880s...
...Tyson, and your readers an apology...
...The employee, Dr...
...Send correspondence concerning subscriptions, undelivered copies, and changes of address to Box 587, Mount Morris IL, 61054...
...Irish Catholics in the IRA blow up small children in shopping malls...
...But if everybody kind of hangs tough, there's just not going to be anything...
...LINDA KAREN BISGAARD Rahway, New Jersey The editors reply: Thank goodness for Ms...
...Gossip is a useful tool in understanding the world of Washington to about the degree that we use it in this magazine—one or two pages out of 62...
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...Reynolds Tobacco Company Winston-Salem, North Carolina Justin Catanoso replies: Neither the News & Record nor the Monthly depended on Dr...
...And we had such a reason in this case: Clinton's tendency to get himself in trouble with women other than his wife—and then have to cover up...
...For change of address, please provide six weeks' notice and include old address label...
...Please cancel my subscription, effective immediately...
...MARGARET M. MCKAY Houston, Texas Susan Threadgill's extraordinary "explanation" in response to the "How Could You's" engendered by the original Laura Tyson item was infuriating...
...Colucci as a source nearly to the degree that "PrimeTime Live" did...
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...In this case, we erred in our choice of words and did not mean to imply that Ms...
...three years, $92...
...FRED FACHET Warrenville, Illinois May 1993/The Washington Monthly 3...
...Fundamentally wrong Iranian fundamentalists send their children to die in senseless combat with Iraq...
...The unquestionable bias of Catanoso has been widely catalogued in his articles in the Greensboro News & Record and should have provided your magazine with some reason to question his objectivity in preparing his article for your publication...
...Back issues, $4.50...
Vol. 25 • May 1993 • No. 5
