Dan Rather’s surprise that Donna Martinez would be interested in the fake documents story that cost him his CBS career reminded me of something my first city editor once said. In 1973 I had been negotiating for two weeks, via notes left on his door at the BOQ at Fort Benning, for an interview with James J. Pelosi, one of the few cadets ever to undergo “the silence” at West Point.
He finally agreed to an interview, but said that I could not ask him about West Point or “the silence.” Now, you have to understand, this had been big news. They later made a TV movie about it. When we read his note with the stipulation, my city editor remarked: “What the hell does a brand new 2nd lieutenant think we want to talk to him about? Military preparedness?”