By Jim Heffernan
With both major political parties’ national conventions out
of the way, and Labor Day consigned to history, the 2012 presidential campaign
pitting President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is in the “home stretch,” ending
on election day, Nov. 6.
So for a couple of months we will see almost nothing but
politics on newscasts, in the papers and online. I enjoy it, although it’s a
little nerve-wracking because -- at least at this writing -- the polls all say
it’s close. I’m a strong supporter of one of them; you can guess which.
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| Barry Goldwater |
The only national attention Duluth got in that presidential
campaign came from the Republican side. Goldwater’s running mate, William E.
Miller, a congressman from New York, made a fleeting trip to Duluth, spoke
briefly to the media and hardly anyone else at UMD (on the lawn outside Kirby
Student Center) and high-tailed it out of here, all on a sunny October day.
In those days, as with today, the designated candidate for
vice president had a large retinue following him around the country, including
representatives of major media organizations, although none of the big names. I
was assigned to be part of the Duluth press corps covering this major political
event.
So, I got to ride on the press bus with all of the national
correspondents, who, it seemed to me, were a particularly unfriendly bunch.
They could spot a hick reporter (like me) from the sticks (Duluth) from a block
away and simply ignored us. Didn’t even look at us.
The national press people seemed perpetually bored with
their assignment, and didn’t smile at all. I suppose they wanted to be assigned
to cover one of the presidential candidates, and felt that it was beneath their
talents and dignity to be chasing a vice presidential hopeful around. Maybe
they were hung over. Maybe all of the foregoing.
That was the year, of course, when Minnesota’s own Sen.
Hubert H. Humphrey was Lyndon Johnson’s running mate, but I don’t recall him
coming to Duluth during the campaign. He might have. I did cover him several
other times during his lengthy career.
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| William E. Miller |
It so happened that the very week of Miller’s Duluth visit,
a huge scandal had erupted in Washington. A top aide to President Johnson,
Walter Jenkins, was arrested at a YMCA in Washington, D.C., after being
discovered engaged in a homosexual act. Believe me, in 1964 such charges were
less common than they are today, and considered more grievous.
When Miller spoke in Duluth, he didn’t mention the Jenkins
scandal. I don’t recall what he said. I took my notes and rushed back to the
newspaper and wrote my story, turning it over to a city editor.
The city editor scanned it quickly and asked me if Miller
had mentioned the Walter Jenkins scandal. I said he hadn’t, and, therefore,
there was no mention of it in my story.
He responded by cranking a fresh sheet of copy paper into
his own typewriter – always a dreaded sight to a reporter – and wrote a new top
to my story. It went something like this:
“Republican vice presidential candidate William E. Miller
avoided the Walter Jenkins sex scandal today in a whirlwind campaign visit to
Duluth.” And after a couple more sentences, it picked up on my story with a
“meanwhile” -- one of the handiest words in all journalism.
I learned a lot from that city editor, but that lesson
stands out: Tell what didn’t happen. Sometimes that’s news too.
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