HAIR'S LOOKING AT YOU, KID: Veteran TV journalist Lesley
Stahl is one tough cookie.
She's had to be. Joining the CBS News team as a Washington-based
reporter in 1972, Stahl has covered every presidential administration
from Nixon to Bush. She was hired on the cusp of the Equal Opportunity
Act and the FCC's affirmative action mandate. While it may have
been her gender that shoved her foot in the proverbial door, it
is no doubt Stahl's talent and ceaseless energy which have catapulted
her to success.
But at the genesis of her career, no one (including the general
public, White House administrators or her very own CBS colleagues)
was prepared to accept an attractive young woman as a hard-hitting
correspondent. "I wanted to be a journalist," Stahl
writes, "which would mean, in the environment of the early
1970s, surmounting my femaleness and my blondness."
But word soon got out: This blonde was not easily intimidated.
Unfortunately, the hard-edged stereotype she's endured as a public
figure (primarily for the presumed privilege of invading what
had been an all-male niche in the profession) has eclipsed the
real Stahl: a multi-faceted female capable of chasing all her
ambitions with intelligence, sensitivity and integrity. This Stahl
shines through triumphantly in her recently published autobiography,
Reporting Live (Simon & Schuster, $25).
The book is definitely entertaining. Stahl is convivial, humorous
and self-aware in revisiting her 20-year career as a CBS correspondent
and Face the Nation host. She gracefully intertwines her
personal and public life with the political ins-and-outs of four
presidential regimes (Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Bush). From page
one, she exposes the person beneath the pancake make-up and securely
moored head of hair. (The hairdo eventually came under scrutiny.
In 1991, when she landed her dream job with 60 Minutes,
executive producer Don Hewitt had only one provision: "I
hate your hair. You have to change it. It's too stiff. Too Nancy
Reagan.")
While each chapter is intriguing, informative and revealing of
the political and social mores of the day, "Nixon and Watergate"
and "Ronnie and Nancy" prove the most memorable.
As a rookie reporter, Stahl unwittingly began her career with
a bang covering what her bosses deemed "a third-rate burglary":
"Most of the reporters in our bureau were on the road, covering
the presidential campaign. Thus, I was sent out to cover the arrest
of some people who had broken into one of the buildings in the
Watergate complex. That CBS let me, the newest hire, hold on to
Watergate as an assignment was a measure of how unimportant the
story seemed."
Teamed both personally and professionally with another "little
known rookie," Bob Woodward, Stahl's initiation into prime-time
news placed her at the center of Nixon's notorious scandal. By
the time the President resigned, Stahl had proven herself a proficient
political reporter. That much closer to her goals, she "went
back to Washington to be a general-assignment correspondent. Gerald
Ford was president. It was a boring time. We all missed the Trick."
Throughout the Carter years, Stahl honed her reputation for no-nonsense
reporting. Her superiors rejoiced whenever the White House complained
of her critical assessments. This, however, changed with the Reagan
administration. Stahl's copy was often edited and "softened."
And thus began the transformation of the "Walter Cronkite"
Washington-based television news to a nationally-oriented television
media.
In Reporting Live, Stahl equitably analyzes each president
and his presidency--notably Reagan. While troubled by his mismanaged
economy, attempts to reverse affirmative action, and dismissal
of unemployment highs (especially among African Americans), Stahl
admits her admiration for Reagan's ability to "have it both
ways." Whether increasing taxes, furthering anti-Communist
sentiment, or taking political asylum in his Santa Barbara ranch,
Reagan remained popular with the American public.
Anecdotally, Stahl recounts in her book one of Reagan's first
days as president: "Reagan was visiting Tip O'Neill's office,
where the Speaker showed him the desk that had been used by Grover
Cleveland. The new president noted that he had portrayed him in
a movie. O'Neill reminded him that he'd played Grover Cleveland
Alexander, the baseball player, not Grover Cleveland the president."
Though focused on two decades of Washington hi-jinx, Reporting
Live also delves into the changing roles of television news,
working women, and presidents. During her years on the White House
beat, Stahl experienced the advent of tabloid-stylized broadcast
journalism, the changing (and increasingly proactive) interest
of first ladies in their husband's political affairs, and the
ever-present struggle of being both professionally ambitious and
female.
She also talks about the instances in which gender inadvertently
came in handy: "On August 5, I was sent on an early stakeout
to the home of John Rhodes, the House minority leader. When I
rang the bell, his wife thought I was the Avon lady and invited
me in."
From adapting to "whatever the men who hired me wanted me
to be" to fashioning her own style as a seasoned journalist,
wife and mother, Stahl's life story is simultaneously down-to-earth
and inspiring. - Leigh Rich
|