WASHINGTON — Much has been written about syndicated columnist
Mary McGrory, who died recently at age 85 after a long illness. She
made her mark in Washington covering the Army-McCarthy hearings 50
years ago in July. She was the darling of the liberals. But she had
another side.
When the New Right first surfaced in the mid 1970s Ms. McGrory
made the predictable comments about the extreme right. She called
me early on and referred to me in rather unflattering terms. Not a
surprise. That continued for some time, not that she gave extensive
coverage to our movement.
The one day I called Ms. McGrory. I told her that while we
disagreed on nearly everything, I thought she was correct in her
views on Northern Ireland. She advocated that Northern Ireland and
the Republic of Ireland be re-united, a view I have long held.
“Well, bless you sweetheart,” she said. We had a fairly lengthy
conversation on the subject. I had visited Northern Ireland in 1982
and gave her my observations. She said, “This is so unexpected. I
didn’t think anyone on your side of the aisle held such views.” I
admitted that mine was a minority view on the right. I told her of
others such as Connie and Bill Marshner who were likeminded and
passionate in their views on the subject.
Thereafter, whenever Ms. McGrory referred to yours truly, it was
never again with pejorative terms. Moreover, she called me many
times to get background information on people and events on the
right and was never as sharp-edged in her writing when addressing
those subjects. Not that she ever lost her liberalism. It simply
proves that, as is with the rest of us, she had a human side. When
she learned that I agreed with her on an issue about which she
cared deeply, she found it difficult to be as sharp edged as she
had been in the past.
INDEED, I TELL MY fellow conservatives that in dealing with the
media to always remember that they are real people. Of course, most
of them are liberals. But they are also husbands, wives, fathers,
mothers, and they have varied interests.
There was a columnist who was especially nasty whenever he
mentioned me. In fact, he seemed to have so much contempt for my
views that I quit returning his calls. Later I heard that his child
had a very serious illness. I was acquainted with the illness. A
relative of mine had it when I was a kid. That child died. I wrote
him a sympathetic note. He called me and said “Washington is a
tough town. Lots of people knew of my situation. You are the
only person who bothered to contact me.” After that,
whenever he mentioned me, he never again was nasty.
When I was press secretary to the senior Senator from Colorado,
there was a reporter from our home state never missed an
opportunity to take a shot at my boss. In due course I invited him
over to my home for dinner. At the time I had small children. After
dinner I was about to put the kids to bed. He asked me if he could
play with them. He got down on the floor and he and they had a
great time. Finally I did put them to bed. When I returned to the
living room, I found this reporter with tears running down his
face. I asked him if he wanted to talk about it. He proceeded to
tell me that he had five children. His wife left him and took them
to a distant country where he almost never saw them. I expressed
appropriate sympathy. This reporter’s attitude toward my boss
changed. I’m sure he would never admit that there was any
connection between that visit and how he reported on the Senator
but I am convinced that there was. I related to the reporter as a
human being.
Sometimes I know of a reporter’s interest and when I come across
something in that field that I think he might not have seen I send
it along. It makes a difference.
FROM TIME TO TIME, there are reporters or columnists who are so
ideological that no matter what you do, even if you become a source
of stories for them, they will still attack you. But they are in a
minority. Despite the fact that most news people are liberal,
because they are trained in liberal schools and associate with
liberal colleagues and acquire a liberal value system, they are
people with the same hopes and desires and aspirations as the rest
of us. If you treat them with respect, if you look for issues you
can agree on, and better yet if you can get to know them, it will
be difficult for them to be as sharp edged when reporting on you
than if you are some abstract right winger whose views they
despise.
Mary McGrory, may God rest her soul, even as the queen of
liberalism in our nation’s capitol, still had a human side. From
all I have heard she was a kind and decent person. And like the
rest of us, when she was passionate on an issue, having found a
fellow sympathizer, she simply could not attack that person the way
she could before she knew their views on her favorite issue.
Despite our profound disagreements, I will miss her. She was a
person who believed strongly in what she did. From her perspective,
she was fighting for truth and justice. And there were times when
she ended up doing just that. May she rest in a place where there
is no pain, nor grief nor sighing but only life everlasting. Memory
eternal!
