Society ofthe Silurians EXCEU.. ENCE IN JOUIL~AUSi" AU'ARns Hf\~'qU.:T 17,c Notional Arts Club 15 Grt/mercy Pork Soil/II Thursday, May 19th Drinks: 6 p.m. Dinner: 7:15 p.m. MoooJdjriends Merrimem e-mail: [email protected]:om Reserl'(lIiOIlS: Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc. an organization of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 (212) 532-0887 by Charles Edward Russell, William O. Inglis, Perry Walton, and David G. Baillie. Price: Members and Glles{s S95

THE OLDEST PRESS CLUB IN THE UNITED STATES MARCH 2011 From the Pinnacle ofTelevision News to the Montana Skies B)' Bctsy Ashton

Tom Brokaw turned 71 on FebnJary 6, 20 II, but thc boyish good looks and dccp, mcllifluous voice seem unchanged from what we saw and heard when he as­ cended to the anchor chair of thc NBC Nightly News in 1982, nearly thirty years

ago. He has, for years, been the personi­ fication ofNBC News - the only person 10 have hosted all three of NBC's major news programs: The Today Show and Meel Ihe Pre.~s, in addition 10 Nightly News. Brokaw "retired" from that an­ chor chair in 2004 to become a Special Correspondelll for the network, which keeps him busier than most people less than half his age. On the January day before he spoke to the he de­ Silul'ial1s, Tom Brokaw at his 640-acre Dude Ranch, looking out at the Montana skies. scribed his work schedule: "This week alone J went out to South Washington to have lunch with Admiral I'm going to Chicago and coming back. with unemploymcnt and training a new Dakota and back on Sunday to profile a Mullen, the Chaimlan ofthe Joint Chiefs, I'm working on a series for The Today generation ofworkers. And then in April, military family because I'm doing a tap­ to talk about that. Tomorrow night I'm Show and Nightly News on 'America at I'm going to go back to lraq to catch up ing with Oprah on Friday with Mrs. going to Boston to kick off a year-long the Crossroads: about the still difficult with people that we intervicwed al thc Obama about military families and their series on the 50th Anniversary ofthe In­ economic conditions that exist in tllis coun­ beginning of the war. One of them we needs. So, yesterday I went down to auguration ofJohn F. Kennedy, and then try, especially when it comes to dcaling Continued on Page3

York Statc Attorney 'CallMeLouie' General for an impres­ By L.aurence I. Barrett tate Wide Totals sive tenure - 22 years, ~ ~lhou until he chose to retire Talking about extinction ofthe Repub­ ~ in 1978. But he held lican Party's liberal wing - and its mem­ that post before it be­ bers were liberal on most issues, not mod­ came identified with eratcs - amounts to beating a dead el­ 6. Wall Street whacking ephanl. Still, when the subject comes up, and other magnets for I do a mental roll call ofthose I knew and national headlines. In occasionally wrote abom in TIME or the fact, he bccame A.G. Herald Tribune. The most interesting per­ accidentally and one sonalities on that roster: Jacob Javits, John reason he held the of­ Lindsay, William Scranton, and ofcourse fice so long was his tal­ the fraternal governors, Nelson and ent for making friends Winthrop Rockefeller. rather than encmies. But the liberal Republican I remcmber J cannot claim to best, and fondly at that, is Louis J. have been his friend. Lefkowitz. New York political wonks of Truth be told, we wcre a certain age will recall the improbable barely acquainted. I rise ofthe guy from the Lower East Side, never did a full-blown the one who urged strangers to "call me story about him. Louie," the sidcwalk campaigner reputed Rather I consulted him to have introduced Nelson Rockefeller to occasionally and men­ both the potato and the kasha knish while tioned him in print a few showing the wasp candidate around times, only fleetingly, Delancy Street. over decades. Jlow­ Lefkowitz never got his mug on a news LIFE ever, the last of thosc mag cover and wasn't pursued by Sun­ The great liberal Republican triumverate: New York senatorJacob K. Javits, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, conversations, which day talk show producers. He was New Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz, election night, 1962. Continued on Page 4 PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS MARCH 2011

movie reviews for Sholl' Magazine, con· tributed articles 10 Life Magazine and ArthurSchlesinger Jr: A Son Reflects Vallily Fair and E.\·quire, served as a Dy Stephen Schlesinger monthly columnisl for The IVall Streel JOllrnal. The New York Post and other My father, the late historian Arthur publications, and regularly wrote Op-Ed Schlesinger Jr., might have seemed like pieces for a variety of newspapers. the classic, bOYMicd, cloistered, aca­ Through his work as a speechwriter and demic, but he secretly yearned to be a aide toAdlai Stevenson, full-time Special journalist. He was brought up in a family Assistant to John Kennedy in the White in which teaching American history was House, later as an occasional advisor to the main business, a tradition begun by Robcrt Kenncdy and Democratic presi­ his father, Arthur Schlesinger Sr, who was dcntial candidates ranging from George one of the leading US historians at McGovern to Waltcr Mondale to Bill Harvard University. My father faithfully Clinton loAI Gorc to John Keny, he kcpt followed his father into the same field, abreast of the central issucs of his timc joining the Harvard history department and WTOle incisive commcntaries on them. after World War nin his rnid-20s, despite I-Ie sought out newspapers and magazines never earning his Ph.D. Yel throughout that reached the largest audiences in or· his life, he was allracted 10 the work of der to have the widest impact on the na· reporters. This was nol entirely surpris­ tionaI debate. Part ofthe enjoyment he ing as his own father was active in the took in this arena was stirring up verbal Neiman Fellows, an organization that fisticuffs ovcr his views. Toward thc cnd brought newsmen to Harvard for a year. ofhis lifc, in his late ROs, he lcamed how My father felt that journalists, with their to blog and addcd commcntaries for the fingers on the pulse ofthe nation, had in­ HII.!finglollpO.H.com to his editorial ar· teresting, rough and ready, careers, lead­ senal. ing cosmopolitan and intrib'lling lives, of­ Oddly enough, within his own acadcmic ten more so than academics. "The Froni carecr, such worldly ventures earned him Page" was his favorite movie. And, from quizzical stares from his professional col­ his historian's perspective, reporters were leagues. Many fellow scholars felt that it all writing the first dmfis ofhistory. was somehow demeaning or improper for He had an extraordinary circle of a highly influential and respected profes­ friends in the journalistic community. Tbcy sor like my father to write for popular includcd such luminarics as his Harvard publications. This attitude carried over, ill classmate and best-selling author, Teddy some respects, even to the success of While, The New Yorker political writer his best-selling books abollt such cel­ Richard Rovcre with whom he wrote a ebrated presidents as Andrew Jackson, book aOOm Tmman's firing of Genera[ Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kelilledy. Douglas MacAnhur entitled "The Gen­ Certain academics regarded the bravura eral and the President" as well as other reviews, enormous sales, and, 011 at least New Yorker worthies like the golf ana­ two occasions, Pulitzer Prizes he received, lyst Herbert Warren Wind, John Hersey, as proof of unscho[arly work. But he Edmund Wilson, EJ Kahn and Elizabeth never cared what his colleagues thought Drew; colulTlnists like Joseph Alsop, and he never flinched from playing a pub· James "Scotty" Reston, Walter lic role. He wanted to be an authoritative Lippmann, Rowland Evans, James figurc in the Amcrican marketplace of Wechsler, Murray Kcmpton and Mary ideas, both as an obsclVcr and partici­ McGrory; editors likc Washington pant. He did this for over seventy years. The Doug Holt Photography Post~· Ben Brad[ee, The 80SIOII Globe $ He became a historian/joumalist in the Tom Winship, Time Magazine:S Henry Stephen Schlesinger and his beloved father, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.. finest scnse of both words. Gnmwald and Newsweek sOz E[liott and John Meacham; Washing/oil Post pub­ 80Sl01l Globe sWashington officc and is lishers Phil and Katherine Graham, and now editor of thc Opinion pagc of US TV anchors like John Chancellor and News alld World Reporl wcbsite. As for Walter Cronkite, and many others. myself, despite having a law degree, I He cncouraged all of his sons to go started free-lancing for The Village Voice intojournalism (though not his two daugh­ after graduation. Later I founded and ed­ ters). My younger brolher Andrew was ited my own Illagazine, The New Demo­ a reporter for 711e Nashville 7bmessean cral, a monthly publication on the liberal­ and The Rocky MoulI/ai" News and later left of the Democratic Party in the late a producer for ABC's Close-Up. Today [960s. Evcntually I gravitated to becom­ he is a freelancer. My youngest brother, ing a columnist for 711e 80stoll Globe Robert, was a one-time reporter for The writing thc. "L'terary Life" column. At one point, my father tried to redirect me to The Nell' York Times but in my youlhful arrogance I for­ sook a chance to selVe as deputy to Harrison Salisbury as he was setting up the New York Tillle.~ Op-Ed page. Later I worked for Time Maga­ zine. [n 1978, I brieOy re­ ported on politics for The New York Pas/ and worked 011 editorials with Rupert Murdoch who was then promising to keep The Post a liberal daily. [n the 19905, [ became pub­ lishcr orthcquartcrly pub­ lication, The World Policy Journal. Though my father was well-known for his schol­ arly works, he, in Illany ways, practicedjournalism ~J almost as much as aca­ Associated Press demics. In his extra hours, Photo by Art Rickerby Arthur Schlesinger, special assistant and "court histo­ away from teaching and rian" to the Kennedy's, 1961. book-writing, he wrote Arthur and Jack in a moment of contemplation, the White House, July, 1962. MARCH 2011 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3

ent, tough and self-controlled character. vision set at that time and I was able to the same time, there was, 1 think, much A Nation's Voice "He was through and through a Rus­ see things over the horizon ofSouth Da­ more ofa commitment to providing a por­ Continued from Page 1 sian nationalist and he had enonnous pride kota in a way Ihat I never thought that I trait of the world evetyday - what was know has been killed in the interim. He in what the country was, and his KGB COUld, so it was a natural liL. I was vcry going on in foreign areas. The Chinese was an Iraqi who fled Saddam and then DNA was pretty self-evident from the interestcd in politics and what was going premier's visit to this country will not gel a went back to try to rebuild his country first time 1met him -very strong willed­ on inthc world, and I wcntoffthc college lot of anention, my guess is, in the next and he was kidnapped and killed, so we and it was clear that he was going to run and majored in political science and his­ couple ofdays. It would have in the old need 10 lake a look at that, too.'" the modem Russia as a tough cop. And tory, but I workcd for television and radio days. As ifthaI waSil', enough, he added thaI he has." stmions as an undergraduate and wrote "The big change, however, is that net­ he's trying to finish a book. ThaI would Thomas John grew up as far removed for newspapers and the student newspa­ work news is increasingly a niche in this be his sixth in a series that started with from great maners of state and foreign per, so it just evolved." vast universe of cable, the internet and "The Greatest Generation" in 1998, a best­ policy as a kid could be - far out on the It was the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Cam­ blogging and so on. We still have a big seller about the generation that came of Grcat Plains ofSouth Dakota in towns SO paign, the first one televised in detail, that audience. Katie (Couric anchoring U,e age during the Greal Depression and small that thcy didn't have a daily ncws· showed Brokaw what he could become. CBS Evening News) is third among the fought in World War II. Brokaw says papcr or even a radio station. "I was 20 years old, and we couldn't three, but she still has twice the audience writing that book was one of the most "But I was curious as to what was go­ vote yet - you had to be 21 - but I hung that Bill O'Reilly does on a nightly basis. meaningful events in his life. He got the ing on around me, and I was kind of a on every word of that campaign. That People dOll't stop and realize that. She's idea while in NOmlalldy, covering the 40th lown crier. I'd pass along stories that I'd election night, watching it untiI8:000'c1ock at about 6·milliOIl viewers. Brian (Will­ Anniversary of D-Day for NBC News. heard up and down our neighborhoods and in the lllorning- it went on alillight long. iams on NBC Nighlly News) is 9~million What he didn't realize at the lime was so on, and my mother was the assistant At the end of that long election night I nightly - he's got a big lead, and Diane lhat he was giving voice to a generation. managing postmistress. She was like the thought, that's what [ want to do. [want (ABC World News wilh Diane Sawyer) "You gave them permission to speak," is about a million and a half behind him. filmmaker Kcn Bums told him. Bctwccn thcm thcy've got about 20-mil· "They hadn't talked about their expe­ lion viewcrs a night and cable doesn't evcn riences in the war and certainly had not come close to thaI. The big night the other talked much about what they expected night for Piers Morgan was 2.3 -or what­ when they came home. Now they began ever that was - and Hannity had a little to do it. It made their children aware of better number with Sarah Palin at 2.4 ­ all that they had gone through in the Great something in that margin. The article said Depression and then again in World War "A Big Win for Hallnity," but it was 100­ [I. Folks were just startled that their Ihousand viewers. A big win in the neighbor, for example - the kindly man evening news is a million viewers, so that lived next door - had landed on the people have to look at the real numbers." shores of Iwo Jima, or had Oown a four· Nevertheless, Brokaw is well aware of engine bomber deep into Europe at the the troubling fact that the young are not age of twenty. It ignited, [ think, in this \vatching thc evening news, clearly evi­ country, a national conversation about who denced by allthe commcrcials for erectilc wc arc and whcrc wc come from and dysfunction and dentures. As he sees it, why we are what we are." the young don't have time to sit down at The most difficult story Brokaw ever 6:30 p.m. and watch a program. But they covered was, he says, the collapse ofthe are getting news: on PDAs, BlackBerries, World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. iPads and PCs, off any number of "Because we didn't know where these NBC News websites. This is why Brian Williams an­ anacks were corning from, what would The SpaceShuttle Challenger explosion, a tragedy that stunned and gripped the natJon, nounces that the news will continue on happen next, and the brutality, the emo­ January 28,1986. nbcnews.cofll at the end of every broad­ tional and physical trauma visited on this cast. A more scrious issue, says Brokaw, city - wc were at war within our borders to be a network correspondent. is to help the young understand thc sources for the first time." [ then had a focus." ofthc infonnation they get on the internet, But he thinks historians will declare that He started anchoring and to discern betwccn fact and opinion. the most important event he covered to reporting in Sioux City, Iowa, and "TI1Crc are opportunities now that didn' t be the collapse of the Soviet Union - a thcn in Omaha, earning next 10 exist before, as bloggers or as contributors seminal event that could be called the be­ nothing, but lcarningevcrything. to websites - the aggregators that are out ginning of the post-modern world. "I would do the morning shows there: The Ih!ffinglon Posl or The Daily Brokaw was in Berlin when the wall was then write the noon show, thcn Beasl or other places you can carve out. tom down - an event that he found truly go out and cover stories." lie It's the new frontier. You can start an stunning. "Most ofus had grown up with went from there to Atlanta online newspaper with very linle resources. the idea that the Soviet Union would be quickly to become the 11:00 I think that journalists of my generation thcre well into the 21 st Century and that o'clock anchonnan in what was havc to be what I callthc outriders for the Communism would be this impressive one ofthe biggest markets in the plaeeofjoumalism in our life. We have to force." He laler landed an exclusive in­ country at the time, and very remind people whyjournalism is important. terview with Mikhail Gorbachev, the man NBC News swiftly got picked up by NBC The mechanics for getting the news are who changed the Soviet landscape. Tom Brokaw atthe fall of the Berlin Wall, Brokaw the because so much \vas going on changing, therc's no question about that. "What I was so struck by was - be· sole network anchor on the scene in Berlin when the in the South that he was show­ But we still arc going to have to know about cause 1 had covered the earlier Soviet historic collapse occurred, November 1989. ing up on the Huntley-Brinkley what's going on in our society, at the gov· leaders and they were men in cardboard Report. He did not go home af­ emmentallevel and in the popular culture suits who didn't have anything to say to ter the end of the late newscast. so that we can move forward - so that we the press because they had never dealt "1 would get on an airplane have reliable infonnation on which to make with us - he was so self·confident and at late at night in Atlanta and fly to a decision." case with himsclf. When I first mct him Haneyille orAmericus, Georgia, [ was changing his microphone and Ire· whereverthe latest outburst was, alizcd hat he wasn't uscd to having any· and work until three o'clock in body fiddling around with his tic, so Isaid, the morning, on radio as well." 'Mr. Gorbachev, you must undcrstand that All in all, Tom Brokaw has had this is something I had to do in my job the perfect career. He rose to every day.' And he looked at me and he the pinnaclc in television news in said, 'You would not believe what I have what is generally acknowledged to do in my job every day!' And we had as its goldcn agc, although he a big laugh about that." NBC News thinks there have been signifi­ They are still in touch. He sees Brokaw conducted the first one-on-one interview with cant improvemcnts. Gorbachev when he comes to New York, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, the year 2000. "When I was first starting, we and saw him in Bcrlin when hc went back were a duopoly. It was really for the anniversary ofthe end ofthe Ber­ only CBS and NBC. ABC was lin Wall. best managing editor in town, because ev­ not even a player in those days. I liked "He's doing well. He's a great man. erythingcame through the post office. She that. Who wouldn't? At the same time, as Hedocsn't gctthe credit in his own coun­ would comc horne at night and tell us what Ioften tell people, you think about it asthe try for what hc did, but he will at some was going on. And I think thaI pcaked glory days, but all the decisions that wcrc point get the credit from historians for my interest. madc at network news were made by white changing the face ofRussia in a peaceful "In the early days I listcned to radio middle·aged men living on the Eastern sca~ way. The tanks didn't roll. There was and heard Edward R. Murrow and alllhc board, and that was thcir prism. There were Photo by Eve Berliner not bloodshed in the streets and that was grcat radio giants and Lowell Thomas, no women on Ihe air. There were no Pictured above, Tom Brokaw, guest pretty amazing." and when I was a sophomore in high women in the decision-making process. speaker at the Silurian's January season Brokaw also interviewed Vladimir school HWllIey- Brinkley began, and that They were not producers ofanything, so opener, engaged in conversation before his Putin, whom he found to bea very differ- was a new world. We had our first tele- that's been a welcome change, frankly. At luncheon talk at the National Arts Club. PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS MARCH 2011 My Favorite LiberalRepublican: Louis J. Lefkowitz Continued from Page I Any delay - even a few of the necessary majority of270. What look about two minutes, saved TIME hours - would be costly in ifthe litigation merelydclaycd matters for probably hundreds of thousands of dol­ terms of dollars and missed a couple of days? Did TIME want mil~ lars. Thai was in 1976, when a few hun­ deliveries. When an election lions ofcopies in circulation with the pic­ dred thousand meant something. My brief threatened to be close, as the ture of the likely winner on the cover? chat with Lefkowitz also spared me a stay contest between Gerald Ford Should we scramble to put together a story in the dog house of my then-boss at and Jimmy Carter had be­ proclaiming deadlock, which would likely TlME. That would be Henry Grunwald, come, our collective anxiety be moot by the time it reached readers? a rather demanding editor whose canine level rose dramatically. Grunwald is not happy. Neither am I. quarters one rcally wished to avoid. My clection-night jobstarts In my dual capacities - New York bu­ I-Iow did Lefkowitzgct to play savior? at the offices of ABC, our reau chief and polling guru - it's my re­ It's a talc that should be told injoumalislTl partner in the new polling op­ sponsibilityto provide infonned guidance. school classes on the importance ofmain­ eration, and I report back pe­ And why hadn't I known about the taining sources and hoarding unlisted riodically what the demo­ LaRouche caper? After all, he was then phone numbers. graphic and geographic sam­ headquartered in New York and I knew Back in 1958, 1 was the Herald plings wcre rcvcaling. Soon him. (No one actually asks that nasty Tribune's youngest (and greenest) gcn~ after midnight, the pieccs are question, but [ infer it's on people's minds. eral assignment reporter, aspiring to cover falling into place. Like the In any organiz.ation, the threat ofdisaster politics. Lefkowitz had jusl emerged from pre~e1ection polls, both the creates the need for a scapegoat.) obscurity - a Jewish Republican in popular vote and electoral Well, say I, excuse me while I make a Tammany~dominated Manhattan who margins are close. But Carter phone call. I had rencwed myacquain­ wasn't going to make it on his looks or will emerge the victor. tanceship with Lefkowitz. I recall he has social connections. He was a guy who By about 3:00 a.m., I'm been his party's election-law maven. He had selVed briefly in the legislature when back in the Time Life Build­ probably knows thejudgc involved. And, AI Smith ruled Albany, and briefly as a ing. Grunwald, several other luckily, I still have his home numbcr. 10w~lcvel judge. Along the way he ac­ editors and I are going over the The sun hasn't risen, but Lefkowitz quired expertise in state election law and - material one more timc and picks lip right away. He has been expect­ a reputation for party loyalty. Javits's the lead story explaining how ingcalls.Yes, he knows about the mischief­ the winner did it is almost ascension to the Senate had left the A.G. LIFE making petition. Yes, he knows thejudge. spot open. To the surprise of many, the done. Grunwald itches to sig- And, yes, he knows what it adds up to: legislature chose Lefkowitz to serve out The great louis J. lefkowitz, Attorney General of the nal our main plant in Chicago nothing. Carter has won New York, take State of New York for 22 years -1957 through 1978­ the tern]. the longest tenure since the office was established. to roll the Cartercover picture. it to the bank. Instcad, I take it to It was rewarding to chat him up at po­ He was known as wThe People's Lawyer." Before that metaphorical Grunwald. Still looking somewhat skep­ litical gatherings because he had a good button is pushed, however, a tical, he rolls the Carter cover. A few hours ear for anecdotes. He also wanted vali­ the results as votes were still being wire selVice bulletin intrudes. Lyndon later, laRouche's suit is thrown out. dation as he prepared to run for a full counted. LaRouche, the mercurial conspiracy I retumed to Washington Ilot long af­ tenn. When a Tribune story mentioned Ifit worked, the glcanings would be in· theorist and political wrench-thrower, has ter that and covered the Carter White him favorably, he was grateful. "Call me valuable in what was the longest and most found a New York State Supreme Court House for a time. Lefkowitz retired in anytime," he said, while bestowing his difficult night the staITexperienced every judgewilling to listen to his petition to table 1978 and I never had occasion to see or home phone number. four years. TIME, like Newsweek, pub­ the state's electoral votes because ofal­ talk to him again. When his obituary ap+ Nearly 20 years later, after a variety lished a special election issue in that era. leged irregularities. The story quotes an peared in 1996, I noled that he had been ofassignments in New York and Wash~ Alternative cover portraits and SIOI)' pack­ unnamed Republican souree as saying the born during the Theodore Roosevelt Ad~ ington, I was TIME's New York regional ages were prepared. The edition was sup­ suit has mcrit. It would be hcard later ministration, the incubator for the modem bureau chiefand also the magazine's liai~ posed to go to press before dawn the on Wednesday. progressive Republican movement. It son with outside pollstcrs. As the 1976 Wednesday after the big night (as opposed Oy! While it was difficult to take any was expiring when Lefkowitz died. I election approached, TlME bccame a co­ to the normal Saturday closing). The LaRouchc gambit seriously, the hard deeply regretted that I never took the sponsor of an innovative demographic magazinc was to be 011 newsstands Thurs­ math was clear: without New York's 41 trouble to tell him that, among that crowd, analysis system that would help us parse day and ill the mail to subscribers. electoral votes, Carter would be 14 shy he was my personal favorite.

The Prostate Scandal ask: at what price? ticaHy is called "watchful waiting" or"ac­ Society of the Silurians 217,000 men will be diagnosed with tive surveillance.") Officers 2011-2012 By Roben Bazell prostate cancer this year. Most experts So why hasjoumalisrn or medicine been treat~ President NBC News Chief Science agree that 70 per cent ofthose men have able to contain this tsunami ofover TONY GUIDA and Health Correspondent a low grade type ofprostate cancer which ment? First Vice-President needs no treatment. But 90 per cent will One reason is the visceral terror so many HERBERT HADAD Half the get aggressive treatment- usually surgery patients and doctors fecl when they hcar Second Vice-President GARY PAUL GATES people in the to rcmovc the prostate or radiation, either the word ·'cancer." Secretary world have pros­ dirccted beams or implantcd radioactive But one ofthe great revelations in what JOAN SIEGEL tates and for sceds. lbe best estimate is that 48 men is often called our new era ofpersonalized Treasurer many they arc a get treatment for each life saved medicine is that all cancers are not the MORT SHEINMAN huge pain in the With treatment often comes serious same. That is not just so for some 200 Board of Governors LEO MEINDL ass. complications. Data show that one in 200 diseases characterized by uncontrolled GOYERNOR EMERITUS That is a glib, men die from immediate complications of growth that fall under the hcading ofcan­ LINDA AMSTER Si lurians-d irected the surgeI)'. The biggest consequence of ccr - but even within specific types of IRABERKOW EVE BERLINER lead. But in my all the procedures is impotence - 50 per cancer. Some canccrs unfortunately will JERRY ESKENAZI opinion the trcat+ ccnt in men treated by the best surgeons. oftcn kill no matter what the treatment ALLAN DODDS FRANK Impotence in this context is the per­ while others will never pose a threat to life RICKI FULMAN mcnt ofprostate RobertBazell,onthesei- cancer remains manent inability to gct an erection cven Autopsies of men who die of traffic LINDA GOETZ HOLMES entitle edge. MYRON KANDEL one of the big~ with the help ofViagra or similar drugs. accidents, heart attacks and other non-pros­ BERNARD KIRSCH tate causes show that by age 50, 30 per MARK MARCHESE gest, most expen­ Forthose treated by the best radiation spe­ ROBERT D. McFADDEN sive ongoing scandals in medicine. It is cialists the impotence rate is about 35 per cent of men have prostate cancer and by BEN PATRUSKY the prime exampleofgreed, ignorance, and cent, but there is a strong suspicion the agc 70 it is Illore than 50 per ccnt. Most Committee Chakpersons inertia combining to hann millions ofmen mte increases over time. lllen there is men wi II d ie ofsomething clse ncver f...llOW­ Awards and their loved ones. incontinence (around 10 per cent for both ing they had prostate cancer. But all too EVE BERLINER I am far from the first to poim this Ollt. procedures) and especially with mdiation, ofien these days because of an astound­ Dinner Countless newspaper and magazine ar­ lossofbowcl control. ing increase in detcction, it is found, imme­ MORT SHEINMAN ticles, op-cd pieces, TV reports, books, Putting all this togcther a group ofspe+ diately labeling Ihe man as a "cancer sur~ KEN FISHER and mcdical joumal articlcs have proved cialists at sevcral HalVard hospitals and vivor" - a life changing designation - no Membership the assertion. But what amazes is how academic departments rccently published matter what he chooses to do next. MORT SHEINMAN liule changes despite the evidence. a model in the Joumal of the American Until 1987, men learned they had pros­ Nominating MYRON KANDEL Make no mistake. Prostate cancer can Medical Association to estimate the out­ tate canccr cither after it had spread to Silurian Contingency Fund Trustees be a killer. Some 32,000 men will die ofit look for a hypothelical 65-year-old man their boncs and it was usually too late to LARRY FRIEDMAN, this year in the United States., the second diagnosed with low grade prostate can­ do anythingor when a general practitioner CHAIR cer who chooses various options. It esti­ NAT BRANDT biggest cancer killerofmen, slightlyahead felt something lumpy in the prostate dur­ JOY COOK of colon cancer but way behind lung can­ mated the number of good years (called ingthe familiardigital rectal exam. But in MARK LIEBERMAN cer which kills about 86,000 men a year. "quality-adjusted life years") he could ex­ 1987 the FDA approved the prostate spe­ MARTIN J. STEADMAN In part because of testing and aggressive pect would be 10.23 ifhe elected surgery, cific antigen - or PSA test - and diag­ Silurian News EVE BERLINER, EDITOR treatment, the death rate from prostate about 10.5 for radiation and 11.07 if he noses skyrocketed. The PSA test detects cancer has been falling. But we have to does nothing (which these days euphemis- Continued on Page 6 MARCH 2011 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5 The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing By Mark Marchese, Former Director ofMedia Relations Pori Authority orN.Y. amI N.J.

Shortly before the New York Press Club's 50th anniversary dinner in 1998, Gabe Pressman asked a committee of veteran newsmen to name the ten big­ gest stories ofthe last half century. The response for number one was almost unanimous-the February 26, 1993 bomo.. ing ofthe World Trade Center. That terrorist allack len six dead, morc than a thousand injured and tore a hole through five basement floors halfthe size ofa football field. Cost ofdamage was almost 400-million dollars. As incredible as it may seem, the "big­ gest" local story in fifty years has all but been forgotten except for those directly impacted by it. I recall it was midday when the quiet ofa snowy Friday was interrupled by an explosion thai rocked Tower One. I was in my office on the 68th floor talking to Tom Poster ofthe Daily News when thc blast occurred. The office sccmcd to shakc, computcr screens went blank, lights went out and I remember shouting, "Whatlhe hell was that!" ,~ ~:::~~ Colleagues complained thaI they were - "- ;"",,::::!.. unable to reach police or anyone in our - The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operations control center. The massive 1993 World Trade Center explosion in which a truck bomb was detonated beneath the North Tower. Above, the under­ None of us knew at the time that an ground parking garage in its aftermath. enormous bomb equivalent to 1,200 pounds of TNT had blown the core out lion offive rescue units. with the Port Authority'sexecutivedirec­ communication. ofour sophisticated emergency system. We eouldn'l even use portable radios tor, Stan BrezenofT, who was as perplexed Heavy smoke forced us otT at the 49th As smoke started to seep into the hall­ to get news broadeaSIS because of an as evcryone else as to what was hap­ floor, the offices ofDAJWA, a large Japa­ way, phones started to go dead. electrical field interference created by the penmg. nese banking finn. There were about a I remember exchanging infommtion by building's antennae. We joined crowds of tenanls slowly hundred persons there. Some were lying phone with reporters. Smoke now entered the office and we down the darkened staircase, lit only by down with their faces pressed against the Rich Lamb of WCBS Radio was es­ knew we had beller head for the stair­ an odd flashlight. The trek down was cold windows; others chose to breathe pecially helpful in those early moments well. surprisingly calm despite heavy smoke through wet paper towels. The breaking by alerting us 10 the progress and loca- Togcther with staffer Joy Faber, I met and uncertainty caused by the lack of Continued on Page6

I The legendary sportswriter, Red Smith. New York Times New York Times sports staffat a Knicks Playoff Game at Madison Square Garden in 1970: L-R: Tom Rogers, Frank Lltsky, Robert Lipsyte and Arthur Daley. Standing In middle: Frank Litsky Leonard Koppetl

wires and later the news wires of United 61 Years on the Sports Beat! Press before it became United Press In­ ternational. When I started at The Times, By Frank Litsk)' Arthur Daley and Dave Anderson. I have Raymond J. Kelly, the sports editor, had watched such sports eopy boys as Rob­ just retired, but the stories about him I startcd working for The New York ert Lipsyte and John Corry become dis­ stayed fresh. Times in 1958, not, as some have sug­ tinguished writers and authors. I have Supposedly, he had an elevated chair gested, when Teddy Roosevelt climbed learned from such prolific sports geniuses in the corner of the department so he San Juan Hill or when Gutenberg did as the experts~on~everything Leonard could sit on that perch and make sure all whatever he did. I retired in 2008 (l still Koppelt and Allison Danzig and the his troops were working. Supposedly, he wrile sports advance obits) after 6111/2 slotman-with-all-the-answers Steve Tyno. would walk up to a reporter on a Friday years in the business and 50 years wilh I have ~cn Ihc cmphasis in The Times evening and say, "You are on one week The Times as a sometimes editor, more sports scction ehangc from the unexcit­ of vacation starting Monday." frequently reporter of pro football, track ing results on evcrything to a slick compi­ In thosc typcwriterdays, with a messy and field, swimming, Olympics and just lation ofsharp rcporting and brisk writing ashtray on cvcry desk, most reporters about cvcry other sporl imaginable, in­ to its present collection of less game cov­ wrote in the officc. Those covering games cluding cricket, field hockey, archcl)', auto erage but more analysis (or maybe plain would file via Western Union, and I re­ racing, bobsledding, luge and morc. opinion) ofwhat it means. member my stories being sent dot-dash Frank Utsky's "Press Box" after covering I have worked with such Pulitzcr Prizc­ My professional career started with before teletype machines were utilized. an international cricket match at Walker winningsports columnists as Red Smith, 1\ Y2 years of writing sports for the radio Continued on Page 6 Park on Staten tsland, 1967. PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS MARCH 2011

to mess up his column. Many poured over Writing was generally dull and quotes LightonProstate Cancer 50-Years at tile Times it later, hoping 10 find something wrong, but were scaree. Then, starting in the mid­ Continued from Page 4 Continued from Page 5 no onc remembered anyone nailing him. 1950's. one young reporter shook up the 1101 prostate cancer but prostate tissue. The Western Union men (no women indot~ 1ne composing~roomprinters-the ones place. He did not bury the news, but at The very common condition called BPH da"h days) were so sharp that they would who set the stories in hot type on linotype the same time he did not necessarily put - the non cancerous swelling orthe pros­ fix errors without bothering you. In cases machines and the others who placed the all ofwho-what-why-when-where-how in tale that is a frequent companion of ag· when reporters (from other papers, of type in the page fomls-were extra friendly the first paragraph or two. He wrote glo­ ing, the usual cause ofan elevated num­ course) had had several drinks too many, a with us. Why not? llle sports depnnment rious features. He had an ear for quotes ber. telegrapher might write the story under the had 50 to 100 season and one-dny passes and the ability to let them tell his story. It is critical that neither Ihe American reporter's byline. to the Aqueduct, Belmont Park and no­ He was so successful that several old­ CancerSociety, the American Urological The sports department had maybe 50 10nger-existingJamaica racetracks, and the time sports writers tried to write the way Association, the American Medical As­ men (many named Bill, or, as was the style printers used 95 percent ofthen. The book­ he did. One tried so hard and so unsuc­ sociation nor the federal Government's then, William). In my early days, there was keeping was so extensive that there was cessfully that a friend told him, "When Agency for Health Care Quality recom­ only one woman, Maureen Oreutt, and, someone with the title ofDay Sports Editor the world ends, you probably won't have mend that men get regular PSA tests. before her, Maribel Vinson, and their writ­ whose main function was to allot those it in the first five grars." They all olTcrthe meaningless "talk to your ing wasconfincd to the sports in which tlIey passes, make sure tlley were returned on That young reporter was Gay l'3lese. doctor about it" advice. But mosl gen­ had been nationally celebrated atllletcs­ time and keep everyone happy. He left us early in his career, and I don't eral practitioners givcmcn a PSA test with Oreutt in golfand Vinson in figure skating. In the 1950's and 1960's, the sports sec· knnw whatever happened to him or ifhe no questions orconversation. "Ille older men always wore suits., white tion, like most other parts oftlle paper, was is still writing. If the level is elevated - and I could shirts and unimaginative ties, a few without hardly exciting. Makeup was vertical. Holes One dcpressing fact was the amount write a separate article about the argu­ spots. The suits, even in swruner, were in­ at the bonom ofthe page were plugged with of space provided (or not provided) for ment over what constitutes "elevated"­ variably wool, with trousers two or three shorts. Bodyand headline types were small the daily sports section. In 1971, to pre­ the family doctor or internist sends the inches too long. Fashion it wasn·t. and photos were small. pare for our annual pitch for more space, man on to a urologist for a biopsy, Be­ We had decent working space on the There were fewer teams and spons (no Jim Roach, then the sports editor, asked cause prostate cancer is so common, a third flooroftheold Times buildingon West Devils or Islanders, no Nets, no anention to me to determine how much space we had biopsy will often find cancerous cells, 43rd Street. When otllerdepartmenlSonlle Nascar or soccer). English cricket scores the year before nnd how we distributed it The next step is the question ofwhether Times ran out ofspace in that building, the were carned daily. Boxing and dog shows sport by sport. or how to treat. Lct's not forget that paper took a floor or two in tllC Paramount were big. So were tllOroughbrcd and har­ I measured every page ofevery day of urologists arc surgeons who makc their Building around the comer on Broadway, ness racing. So was Sundny yacht racing that year and fOllnd that we had carried livingperfonningsurgcry. Ifthe man finds broke tllt'Ough the wallsand had more sp..1ce, at six or seven Westchester and Long Is­ 224,304 inches ofsports copy. headlines, his way to a radiation spccialist he will some of it for us. land clubs, with stories plus agate results photos and charts. More to the point, from usually get radiation. Hormone trcat­ It was an editor's paper then. The copy on every race. Monday through Saturday we were aver­ ments are becoming a third newcroption. desk reigned supremc, and the slotmen ­ When I stnrted at The Times, I was aging 20 1/2 columns a day. And those At thc beginning of thc PSA era of Harry Hceren and then cigar-chomping baffled by this love affair with yacht rac­ were the days ofeight columns to a page. massive diagnosis and over treatment a Steve Tyno - were, to many reporters, ter­ ing. I found the answer one Sunday night so daily sports had the equivalent oftoday's few enlightened urologists suggested the roristic. Reporters seldom checked in after via this conversation with a slotman: 2 ;12 pages. Now the New York edition has concept of"watchful waiting" or"active filing their stories, and those who did were Q. '·Why do we carry all this yacht more than twice that space. surveillance," monitoring the disease over often aghast at what was done to them. stull?" As teams and leagues grew but space time to decide whether treatment is truly Before my time. there was one excep­ A. "Who won the International Class did not, we had to keep most stories short. necessary. But even if the expert advo­ tion to all this editing. "Ille first Sports of today?" When I was laying out the daily paper in cates that approach most men gct so ner­ ·Ibe'limcscolulllnist was John Kicren, beller Q. "Rosser Reeves." Ihe late 1960's and early 1970's, my rule vous about thcir new designation that they known nationallyas tllC know-all genius of A. "Do you know who Rosser Reeves ofthumb was 300 words for most stories; push for treatmcnt. the popular radio quiz show "Infonnation, is?" 450 for game stories of the Giants, Jets, From ajournalistic standpoint, onc of Please!" He would arrive in The Times of­ Q. "No. Should I?" Vankees and Mets. George Vccsey cov· the great impediments to telling this story fice in tlle morning before anyone else, write A. "Vou should. Rosser Reeves is ered the Yankees then, and to this day he is the ever growing army of men who his colunm and, in tllOSC pre-computerdays, chainnan of the Ted Bates advertising calls me not Frank, but "450." have been treated, manyofthem well rep­ send it via pneumatic tube to the fourth-floor agency. Do you know how many millions resented in activist groups. It is very dif­ composing room to be set in hot metal on a ofdollars they place in ads inllleTimes?" ficult for a man who cannot have sex or Linotype machine. No editor had a chance I got the point. New Members control his urine to admit that he might Da~id Andelman have made a mistake. crater created by the bomb - amidst ex­ E!h'll", World Policy Journal. EXlll:l!tiveEdilor. Forbes.oom. Bus/­ So what is a man to do? The most ~ E!hOl. T1IIl Daiy~. News E"'or. ~ LP. Wa:s/nJ­ 1993 WTC Bombing ploding auto gasoline tanks and burning tOllCorr~t. CNBC.Paris~. CBSNI/W5. Re. importa.nt thing about the entire process Continued from Page 5 vehicles -to rescue survivors, including a port., T1IIlNewYork TIfII8S - NawYork, BeIopdeanl Waslqton is to think about whcther you want to take ofalmost one inch thick windows could NewVork City firefighter who fell into the Mlrty Appel each stcp. [fyou have yet to have a PSA N!k be heard as Brezenoff gave comforting crater. Pmident. Many Appel Relations. Director of Public Rela· test (a rarity these days) do you want to mos. New YOI~ Yankees. ProOOcel, V"u President of Pubic Reo assurances to the group. Some in the Shortly afler9:00 p.m., almost nine hours Iition$. WPlX·TV New5. Uilor·I!-llrge. Dulrt~rIy Magamr of go dowllthat road? Ifa doctor suggests group applauded at the arrival ofthe first after the blast, the possibility of another the NltionllBaseball Hal of Filme nlMUSlUII. AUlhot a biopsy, do you choose to, given what it rescue firefighter. tragedy was narrowly averted when the O.vill Creed is likely to find? Ifyou have a diagnosis Deputy Edilor 01 News Tethnology. The New York Tmes. Copy As we made our way down the re­ newly created Central Command Post in ofcancer do you need treatment? Edilor. Assistant Cily Editor. hsista01 Managinv Editor. Man· maining 49 floors, more and more rescue the Vista Hotel Ballroom had to be aban­ ager of NI/W5 Technology. The LoU$yille [Ky.1 Courier·Joornll. lot of your answers will depend on A workers appenred and when I finally doned. Reporter. SaIIllll(Mol NeW$lIIlll Sallll1l PO!lt your tolerance for risk, your age, and other reached the street three and one half Hundreds of key and high ranking "..,...... tests such as the Gleason score, a less EditorlPubbhel, TrlielSman. Cohmrisl. Bu'jandHold.com. [I hours later, it was nblaze with the red emergency personnel, including Fire and than perfect assessment of how aggres­ mcouot brokerage lirrnL fllllllciil CokJfIIlist Syliia Perter's lights ofemergency vehicles. The news Police Commissioners, tlIe regional direc­ PIfSona! flll.1llCa Magama.lears Magazine for WOITliIIl, and PC sive thc cancer is. There is a wealth of Mllgame.AlI1hor media response was similar, with teams tor of the FBI and the Executive Direc­ information on the Internet and in books of reportcrs and photographers every­ tor of the Port Authority wcre forced to Ji'n Gabbe to help you decide. (I highly recommend Owner, Galtlegrcup,l f'ltJishing ani POOk Rlllaticm fom. Eilor where. quickly cvacuate. Engineering Director aod PlbIisher at MillOi N8WSPIPers. Repoller. The Providenca "Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers" by I thought to mysc1fin all my years as a Eugene Facullo noted that the ballroom Journal, Reporter. The Bol1on GloW. Author Mark Scholz and Ralph Blum.) You have reporter and infomlation officer, I never was directly above the crater and that the Charles Kaiser time to check it all oul. Even at its worst, Columnist, Sidney Hillman Foundation Wabsit., faced a moredifTicult and complex public rOOIll·S supporting steel colullllls were prostate cancer grows very slowly. ['F"eo.rtPrw.eoml Cokamist, Radar.cOll\ CoUrri$t. CoHn­ relations problem. unstable, leaving the ballroom in danger Ilia JtIIlr1'IM$m R..iewwebsile. Mtlro Reporler. Tile New York Recent studies reveal genetic markers Six ofour infomlation officers were in ofimminent collapse. Tmes, Media Cri,,::. NewsWllell. RlI\HIIter. The Wal Street Jour. that may make for a far bettter assess­ naI. Contrhrtor. New yo.... Magillile. The New York Obs....r. the building when the bomb went off. It [t wasn't unti I the next day thai eonfir· Vanity Fair. thllLns Angtles TIlII$. Author ment of the tme danger ofcancer. They took anywhere from two to four hours 10 mation - ofwhat everyone now suspected Barry S. Krllmer won't be ready for clinical use for sev­ reach the street. - came that it was a bomb. Sciencl Wriler. Asia Corre5ponde11t.lkp.rty F'lI"lfiWl Editor, The eral years. But perhaps that is one more W,IIStreel Joumal. ReportellNew¥k Bureau, Vie\n3fll Corre­ I was 700 feet above the blast site and Several days later, J ran into a friend, reason to take it slowly and consider all spondent, A-Vful E!hor, AssociaUd Press for four hours knew less thnn the gcneral General Manger of Tenant Services for your options carefll11y. ..101m C. Leng public. In those early hours we had no of­ the World Trade Center, Doug Karpiloff, f,ee1ance WrilerlE6t'll"l800k CoIabc<.lor. C~y Edilor·in-Chief. fice, desk, phone, typewriter or computer. who looked at me nnd said, "We were Infoonation SlratlllJia:s. "_Senior &ilOiICopy Chef. Troy Milia. Roberl Bazell is Chief Science alld loc .• Ct\1Y EdilOi. The Wall Street Journal, RllIOI1er. Copy EliIOi. We had to borrow quarters to make tele­ lucky, real lucky." Auistaot Cily Editor. AWslanlto ulDIIiva EdilOi. 01ltJudsman,. Hea/Ill Correspondenl for NBC News. phone calls. Doug, as it turned out, ran out of luck Ilesearcl1 Va Prewelll. The CourB·,b,wnal Lillis. Ky. Our first priority was to crush the ru­ when he showed up for work on Septem­ WaII.r Plaeffle freelan;e Wrilor for T1IIl Atlantic T"'*I.. Aeporter, UPI. ReUlel5. mors and correct the misinfonnation on the ber 11,2001 and lost his life. Bloomblfg. Gorman Pron Agoncy. Kuwait NOWI Agency, In Memoriam spot. We relayed infomlation on the frre­ Now eighteen years later, the bombing DlllHscha Wile Allio and Argw; Nawspapllll. South Africa. anllS search so as to dispel rumors ofmas­ tnkes its place among other notable, all but Slewl Aeid'll Paul Kolton Senior OirectOl Of CDII"fIIlI\icllions. The Amtric811 MUllIUIJ\ of sive numbers ofdeaths. forgonen, Metropolitan areastories sparked Nflur. History, Reporter. AfN (American Fortes Networkl Her· There were numerous acts of heroism by terrorist bombs. They include two 1ilI. Vietnam. Manlger. CBS TIk'vision. like the two Port Authority anorneys who members of the New York City Bomb Society of the Silurians faigi Rosenthal remained with their wheelchair-bound col· Squad killed when a bomb exploded out­ Haad RlSIalch Lilrarian. New Yoft Oaiy News. Assislaot Head PO Box 1195, RlSlarch Lilrarian. New York POll. Madison Square Sialion league and carried her down 66 floors side the British Pnvilion at the 1939 World's il~ured Joyce Wadler New York, NY 10159 through a smoke-filled stainvay. Fair and II killed and 74 in 1975 Reporte.-, New York Tnes. New Yorl< Corresptndent, Wasting­ 212.532.0887 Then thcre was the Port Authority p0­ when a bomb exploded in a locker at La tOIl POll. Reporter, OaiyNews, Aeporte.-, ~York POlt. Con· www.silurians.com lice officer who rappclled into a massive Guardia Airport. tribuling Editor. New yolt Magan Roling Stone. Author.