Brinkley's Beat: People, Places, and Events That Shaped My Time

Legendary newsman David Brinkley's final book lacks the narrative sweep of his autobiography or of "Washington Goes To War," his highly recommended history of the District of Columbia's growth during World War II. But "Brinkley's Beat," published shortly after its author's death in June 2003, retains the trademark of his six-decade news career: a walk along the fine line between wry humor and casual, near folksy storytelling, all told with an insider's sense of detail. It's basically Brinkley clearing out his lengthy, valuable notebook, remembering people he knew and sharing a few pages at a time about them. In chapters no more than a few pages each he recalls infamous icons like Senator Joe McCarthy (with some personal remembrances of Brinkey's sister, who worked for McCarthy), FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, and Teamsters Union boss Jimmy Hoffa. He also shares his views on presidents from Clinton to John Kennedy. Brinkley candidly assesses each man's career and their enduring popularity and legacy. Along the way he speaks of personal disdain over Johnson's allegedly wiretapping his phone during the Vietnam war, shares a moving account of the days following Robert Kennedy's 1968 assassination, and even chastises himself for publically criticizing Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election victory speech. (It would be Brinkley's final covered campaign even as another chapter addresses the 24 political conventions he reported at and how television changed the conventions' intent and approach.) But "Brinkley's Beat" shares its spotlight with smaller, more intimate reminiscences. He writes brief histories of a rogue's gallery of forgotten political figures including bigoted Washington mayor Theodore Bilbo, Roosevelt-era reporter May Craig and long-winded Senator Everett "Wizard of Ooze" Dirksen, describing their foibles with touches of quaint sentiment mixed in with the deserved ridicule. Brinkey extends his personality studies to places he visited during a series of travelogues he hosted in the 1960s. He writes of Vienna trying to reclaim a past of classical music and rich food, and of Florida beaches and hotels beginning their decades-long, pre-Disney reputation as tacky playgrounds. Brinkley also shares a personal portrait of Normandy at D-day in 1944 and at its 50th anniversary, keeping his wry humor while praising those who fought there and citing the horrid conditions they endured. Many see NBC's Tom Brokaw and, soon, CBS's Dan Rather leaving their long-held anchormen's chairs as the end of an era in news coverage. To that end, Brinkley's final reflections are his most valuable as he says, "The news becomes not just what happened but what a familiar face and voice says happened, and the meaning of it is to some extent determined by how he says it." David Brinkley's unique approach to the news, from his cadence to the angles he reported it from to the rapport and credibility he gained presenting it, endeared him to two generations and made him an icon

with short essays of varying degrees of perceptiveness. I thought Brinkley's best essays are the ones about relatively obscure politicians like Theodore Bilbo and Martin Dies. (He notes that Dies accused Franklin Roosevelt of PLANNING Pearl Harbor- far worse than anything even Michael Moore said about Bush - and Dies was a congressman of FDR's own party!) By contrast, he doesn't tell me anything I don't already know about Clinton.

He arrived in Washington at the height of World War II in 1943. And there he would remain for more than half a century. David Brinkley would become part of the fabric of that town. He would cover the administrations of eleven different American Presidents. He was involved in the medium of television from its infancy and by the end of the 1950's he was one of the most recognizable faces in the nation. "Brinkley's Beat", completed shortly before his death in June 2003, discusses some of the people, places and events that shaped his time. Among the people he remembers are Martin Dies, J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy, Jimmy Hoffa and Presidents Johnson, Reagan and Clinton. But two of my favorites had to be May Craig and Sen. Everett Dirksen. May Craig was the very first female White House reporter. The fact is that when Brinkley came to town in 1943 she was the only female White House reporter. You are sure to get a kick out of some of the tales Brinkley has to tell about her. And then there was Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois, a true American original. The country could sure use a few like him nowadays.Among the places Brinkley recalls none is more important than Normandy. Brinkley served with the 120th infantry for about a year before being discharged for medical reasons. Many of the men he trained and served with would lose their lives at Normandy. In 1994, Brinkley went to Normandy with a film crew from ABC News to report on the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion. His poignant recollections of that moving visit are included here. On a much lighter note another of the places Brinkley remembers well is Vienna, Austria. He visited there during the height of the Cold War in 1962. Austria had declared its neutralilty and while the rest of the world was living in fear of a nuclear confrontation Brinkley found that the primary concern of Austrians in those days was food. In fact one of the big issues in Austria at that time was who was the rightful owner of a tort recipe. Hilarious!The final section of the book is by far the shortest. Here David Brinkley reflects on political conventions, the exciting and newsworthy events they used to be to the boring and overblown productions they have become. He also recalls a State Visit by Ehiopian President Haile Selassie. We forget that State Visits by foreign leaders used to be a big deal in Washington replete with banners and marching bands. Again, how times have changed.Finally, Brinkley discusses the heartbreaking events of November 22, 1963 and its aftermath. Just about everyone in the country is familiar with Walter Cronkites recollection of those events so it is really fascinating to finally hear David Brinkley's version of the story. All in all this one is a very enjoyable read. Recommended.

This was Brinkley's last book before departing to the Great Studio in the Sky, and he saved some of his best for last.His takes on the late, not so great Theodore G. Bilbo and the endearing Everett McKinley Dirksen represent the best "Brinkley-esque" strains, but the author also does an exceptional job of capturing the essence of the Casbah and the early-Sixties zeitgeist of Vienna. Brinkley always displayed incredible powers of observation, and they shine brightly in the "Places" section.Another dividend of "Brinkley's Beat": you get a good sense of what David thought of our presidents during the last 40 years - good, bad, or fairly indifferent - and a bit of a window into his personal politics.To sum up, this is highly enjoyable reading with a delightful aftertaste.

Broadcast journalism lost one of its truly unique voices in 1998 when David Brinkley hung up his microphone for the last time. He had spent more than a half century in the nation's capital, observing and commenting on the powerful and the not-so-powerful, always with a slightly jaundiced eye and a true gift for slicing through the mire of pomposity and hypocrisy that so often threatens to bury Washington, D.C. In this book, Brinkley serves up a series of portraits of some of the most people he encountered in Washington; some of the most interesting places he visited; and some of the most memorable events. His word portraits are vivid, memorable and uniquely Brinkley. Among the people profiled is long-time FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. In Brinkley's view, Hoover was not quite the hero his supporters thought he was nor quite as evil as his detractors claimed him to be. The real tragedy of Hoover, in Brinkley's eyes, was that he stayed in power too long until he became irrelevant. Three presidents, five congressmen, journalist May Craig and Teamster's President Jimmy Hoffa round out Brinkley's gallery of people. Although Brinkley enjoyed his anchorman role, he says he also found it important to get out around the nation and the world from time to time to help maintain a sense of perspective. The travel documentary may be a staple of television today, but it was Brinkley and his NBC colleagues who invented the form in the 1950s. He tells that he always loved exploring the ordinary even as most of his colleagues were proccupied with the great events of the day. The travel documentaries, he suggest, helped convey the message that the news is more than just great events--it's also "about the way ordinary people go about the business of life." Recollections of the political conventions he covered and the shock and turmoil that followed President Kennedy's assassination help to round out the book. In a final rumination on the role of the anchorman, Brinkley suggests the newsreader gives the days' events a unique presentation, mediated "through his own voice and character and personality." Ultimately, that's my one regret about this otherwise enjoyable book. Brinkley on paper just doesn't quite pack the same punch as Brinkley on the air. I miss the voice, the face, the unique inflections. But I still appreciate this final farewell from one of the medium's true pioneers and innovators. Good night, David.--William C. Hall