November 2, 2021 • 19 mins
The journalist Cokie Roberts left behind a tremendous legacy when she passed away in 2019. Her late husband Steven Roberts, who is also a journalist, grieved and honored her in his own way — by reporting on Cokie's life and work at organizations including NPR and ABC, and writing a book about it. "Cokie: A Life Well-Lived" chronicles the career, values, and personal faith of a journalist who proved to many other women that they had a place in the newsroom.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the recount on Marina nine in and you're listening
to the Recount Daily Pod. Today's Tuesday, November two. She
had become a feminist, Rena because she read books. She
became a feminist because she lived her life as a
woman and saw the obstacles and saw the difficulties she
(00:27):
and so many others face. That was Steve Roberts, husband
to the late legendary journalist Coke Roberts. I spoke with
him about his wife and his new book about her,
COKEI A Life Well Lived. It's out today, but first
your morning headlines. The U n s Climate Change Conference,
or COPY six, is underway over the weekend. We're leaders.
(00:49):
At the G twenty meeting that preceded this summit failed
to approve any binding climate measures. But at COPY the
Prime Minister of India, country that's a massive carbon looterer,
pledged the nation would reach net zero emissions by seventy Meanwhile,
in the US, Democratic Senator Joe Mansion is refusing to
guarantee support for President Biden's spending bill that's part of
(01:11):
Build back Better over fiscal concerns. None of us should
ever misrepresent to the American people what the real cost
of legislation is well. I've worked hard to find a
path to compromise. It's obvious compromise is not good enough
for a lot of my colleagues in Congress. The Giants
spending bill includes more than half a trillion dollars on
policies to cut carbon emissions that contribute to accelerating climate change.
(01:37):
In hearings on Monday, Supreme Court justices asked pressing questions
about SP eight, the Texas law banning abortion after six
weeks of pregnancy, after allowing the law to take effect
on September one. Even the conservative justices appeared skeptical. The
law is unusual, allowing private citizens to sue anyone who
assist a person and getting an abortion. Justice at Kavanagh
(02:00):
Conservatives said it exploited a loophole. The Supreme Court usually
takes a few months after hearings to hand down a decision,
but on December one, the Court will hear a more
direct challenge to abortion rights concerning Mississippi. In New York City,
nine thousand city workers are on unpaid leave after refusing
the jab. The city's COVID nineteen vaccine mandate went into
(02:23):
effect on Monday and did lead to a jump in inoculations.
Of NYPD staff are now vaccinated. That's up from sevent
a few weeks ago, but another twelve thousand employees have
filed for exemptions will stay on the job while the
city reviews applications. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he didn't
expect any disruption to city services as a result of
(02:44):
the six percent reduction in the city's workforce. In Chicago, meanwhile,
a judge paused a similar vaccine requirement for city police
until their union's objections can be heard by an arbitrator.
The mandate would take effect on December thirty one. Journalist
Cokey Robert's left behind an outsized legacy when she passed
away two years ago. Her work as co host of
(03:05):
ABC News is this week Sunday morning broadcast inspired me
to study politics and to become a journalist. But today
I'm speaking with someone who truly knew her beyond the
immaculate presentation she delivered on screen and over the radio
to report the news. Steve Roberts, her husband, my longtime
professor and mentor, and the man who taught me about
(03:26):
journalism in Washington. He's out with a new book about
his late spouse, Cokie, A life well lived. Prof Thank
you for joining us. What a pleasure to see you.
I finished this book and I can't tell you I
just felt so fulfilled. She was really a mentor. She
championed women's representation in media. Her career was extensive, and
in the book you say she wasn't a full time
(03:49):
journalist until she was thirty four, but she made up
for lost time crashing through glass ceilings at NPR and
ABC with her impressive mind. Impish with an infectious laugh.
Tell me about those glass ceilings. When we first got married,
she actually was hosting her own TV show in Washington.
She was twenty two years old. But it was life
(04:09):
in nine six, Stree. You know that we didn't even
have a conversation about whose job was more important. I
had gotten a job as a reporter on the New
York Times City staff, and we just assumed that she
would leave her job and moved to New York and
be with me. And we moved four times from my
job to New York, to California, to Athens, Greece, and
back to Washington over eleven years. So the first glass
(04:32):
ceiling was simply the culture. It was the assumption that
men's lives took precedent, men's career took precedent. But also
as we moved around. You know, she was such a
talented and energetic person that she always sought out, worked
and had a great deal of trouble finding jobs. You
could have a job being someone secretary. You have a
(04:53):
job making copies on his xerox machine, you know, making coffee,
but actually doing important work. It was largely closed and
by the time we came back to Washington, some things
had changed, but not a lot. There were pioneering women.
When COKEI first got hired an NPR, she was still unusual.
(05:14):
And when she when she joined ABC eleven years later,
she was still the first woman to be a regular
panelist on a Sunday morning TV show. So she lived
through a revolution and there were times when it was
very hard on it. There are times when she talked
about being depressed and being thwarted and being sidelined. You know,
(05:37):
she she was two people at the same time. I
went hand. Because of the age she was, she never
believed she would have a career, certainly not a career
anything approaching the scale that it became, But at the
same time, the talent was always there, you know, the
driver was always there. So when she did become, you know, breakthrough,
I was the last person to be surprised. She was
(06:00):
just such a huge force. But you talk about the
revolutions that she was able to live through. She was
able to champion causes without being mean or gruff or bracive.
And I think we are looking at America today the
need for diversity, pushing for women to be in higher positions.
How was Kokeie Roberts able to champion causes without coming
(06:21):
off as being crough or intrusive or isolated. Well, some
of it was her Southern was just an inherent graciousness there.
Some of it was her religious faith was very important
to her, and there was a sense of charity and
the generosity. But boy, when it came to defending and
promoting women, she was absolutely determined, partly because of the
(06:45):
difficulty she herself had faced. She had become a feminist,
reener because she read books. She became a feminist because
she lived her life as a woman and saw the
obstacles and saw difficulties she and so many others face,
and that created this determination to use whatever leverage she
(07:10):
had to fight for other women and to promote other women.
Tell us a little bit about the role of motherhood
and faith in Cokey's life. That was a big deal
for her. Well, motherhood was very important to her, both
in terms of her own life and in terms of
her advice she gave to other young women, as you
well know, as a mother yourself. She always said to
(07:31):
young women, don't give up this possibility, don't give up
this dimension of yourself. So, I mean, no matter what
else she did, she always put her kids first. She
always made time for them. She this one story about
our daughter. Becca was in the sixth grade, and Cokeye
had gone out to her elementary school, you know, for
one of those bring a parent to school days to
(07:51):
tell us what kind of work you're doing. So Cokey
at the time was covering Congress for NPR. So she
brought out her tape recorder and her press badges and
showed the girl what it was like to be a reporter.
So a couple of weeks later, it was Halloween, so
Cookie goes tearing out to Secca's elementary school to watch
the kids in their Halloween costumes marched through the neighborhood
and Marina. There were all these sixth grade girls wearing
(08:14):
blue suits and caring tape recorders, and they were all
dressed up as Cokie Roberts for Halloween. That must have
been incredible for her to see. We're gonna posit. Take
a quick break, and we'll be right back with journalist
Steve Roberts, who's out with a new book about his wife,
journalist Coke Roberts Cokeie, A Life Well Lived. Welcome back
(08:42):
to the Recount Daily Pod, a podcast from the Recount.
I'm joined by journalist Steve Roberts, a longtime mentor who
has a new book out about his late wife, iconic
journalist Cokee Roberts. She was such a big believer in
unearthing stories of women in American history. She pushed hard
for the sign outside of Mount Vernon to read Home
(09:02):
of not just George Washington, but Martha Washington as well.
She wrote books on the subject of women that we
have forgotten, Founding Mothers. Why was that so important to
her to go back and relook at American history from
a female lens. I think there were several reasons for it.
One was she had seen in her own life the
(09:23):
roles that her mother and other women of her age
had played. Her mother and Lady Burr Johnson and Pauline
Gore and Betty Ford were the modern incarnations of Abigail
Adams and Dolly Man. She saw the enormous impact that
they had. In fact, there's a great story in the book,
(09:43):
like when her father had been in Congress for thirty
years killed in a plane crash in nine two, Lindy
decides to run for his seat after he died, and
so she calls Lady Burd Johnson, her life long friend,
to tell her before she read about in papers, and said,
I just want to tell you announced that I'm running
for Halsey and Mrs Johnson's a malinious darling. That's that's great,
(10:06):
But how are you going to do it without a wife?
That's a great story, And and so she had had
this model. Cokie had seen these women as advisors, as supporters,
as counselors, as promoters of their husbands. So that was
very much part of it, and this was a template
(10:27):
for her. But beyond that, she talks about covering Congress
and realizing she didn't know much about the family, fathers
and their families, and that led to you know, Founding Mothers,
Ladies of Liberty, Capital James, three of these extremely important
books that really retold the story of American history through
(10:53):
the eyes of these women and and documented their contributions.
And just if that's all she had ever done in
her life, it was just those three books, it would
have been a priceless contribution. And one. I talked to
a lot of historians about this, and they said, look, yes,
there had been a lot of work in the academy,
a lot of work academics, feminist historians, and you know,
(11:13):
focus on the but COKEI had the ability to bring
this story to the general public that no one else had.
In two thousan two, at the age of fifty, she
decided to step away. I would argue, in the midst
of an incredible career where people like me wanted to
see her every week and get her take on Washington
and get her to decode Washington. Why did she step away?
(11:36):
The single biggest reason was that, you know, her whole
family had been in politics. Both of her parents served
in Congress. Her older brother and sister both ran for Congress,
neither one of them one. She used to say, everybody
in my family has run for Congress, but the only
one who never lost an election was my mother. And
(11:58):
being a journal is certainly satisfied part of her deep
guyed instinct to public service. It didn't satisfy all of it,
and so by leaving her post as anchor of the show,
she transferred her contractual status with ABC from a full
time employee to a contract that enabled her, under their
(12:22):
ethics rules, to become more of an advocate. She joined
the board of an organization called Save the Children, this
worldwide relief organization. She was particularly interested in the education
of girls and young women. She deeply believed that if
you educate girls, you have this enormous benefit in terms
(12:42):
of stability of a country, and so she went around
the world learning about these programs, advocating for these programs.
We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right
back with Steve Roberts, who's out with a new book
called Cookie, A Life Well Lived. You're listening to The
Recount Daily Pod. Welcome back to the Recount Daily Pod,
(13:06):
a podcast from the Recount. I'm joined by journalist Steve Roberts,
who's out with a new book about his White Cokee Roberts.
It's called Cokie a life well lived. You know, Cookie
lived through the Trump years. We had a good friend
of yours and cookies on recently on the Recount Daily pod,
George will and I asked him about sort of these
Trump years, and he believed this was a fever that
(13:29):
would pass. What was Coke's sense about how Washington has
changed and how divided our country has become? Her view
is Trump was interesting. She alone among I think a
lot of Washington pundits actually predicted he would win. A
lot of people dismissed him in ways she did not,
(13:50):
not because she liked She just she sensed his power
and his appeal, and sense that the Democrats were far
too small, not understanding this underlying power that he was generating.
And she was always a believer in Congress as an institution.
If you have a commitment to the institution beyond parting
(14:12):
and partisanship. You believe in compromise, you believe in the
legislative process. You believe that the other side might be rivals,
but they're not enemies. And I think that that deeply
bothered her. As politics became more and more tribal and
party loyalties became more divisive. She had many reasons for
(14:35):
believing this, but she always pointed out that when she
was growing up here in Washington, a lot of members
of Congress brought their families here, that many of her
girlhood friends were children of Republican politicians. One of her
best friends was the daughter of Bill Miller, who was
Barry Goldwater's running mate in nineteen sixty four. Is a burden,
says congressman from upstate New York. And she said, I
(14:57):
used to go to Miller house all the time, and
you know, play board games in the basement. There were
other families that they went to church with, other families
as you went to school with. And so she always
felt that that had been lost in that in those
threads of relationships and respected you work with young people.
As a professor at George Washington University, What do you
hope this next generation might get from this book? I
(15:20):
think they were two things. One is public and most private.
I think as a as a public figure, as a journalist,
she embodied a deep love for politics and a deep
love for public service, and a deep belief that this
was an honorable work. So many reporters I think are
(15:43):
cynical about politics, and politicians never cynically. Was not a
cynical bone in her body. She as I say, a
lot of it came from her family, not just her
immediate family, but throughout history. But that respect, in that
mutual you know, has been lost, that that love of politics.
And many nights we covered Congress together for eight years
(16:07):
when I was in New York Times. She was an
NPR and we would leave in the evening after a
day of work and should look up at the Capital
Dome lit up at night. And she never ever fails.
Isn't a beautiful And that symbolized her faith in America
and her faith in democracy and her faith in the
(16:28):
political process. So that's one. That's the public coke, but
the private COKEI, as we've been discussing, you can be
successful at that and not forget your humanity. You can
be a celebrity, you can be a success, you can
be famous, and that sacrifice your personal and private life.
She never ever ever changed. She never I don't care
(16:51):
how famous she was. You know that she was always
the same person when the camera went off. That's when
the camera went off, and and it was a person
who lived a conspel. You've mentioned several times her faith.
It was an extremely important part of who she was.
She really did believe that every person was as she
(17:14):
was taught as a very young child, that every person
is shaped in the image of God. And that's how
she treated people, and that's how she lived her life,
so that she died. The book is called Coking, a
Life well lived. Thank you so much, Professor Roberts. Thank you.
And now let's look ahead at what's happening today. It's
election day, and it may be an off year election,
(17:36):
but the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey are on
the ballot. In Virginia, Democrat Terry mccaulliff faces off against
Republican Glenn young Kin, who's kept intentional distance from former
President Trump and from any endorsement. The former president lost
the state to Joe Biden by ten points last year,
so a Republican victory could signal a big change in
(17:56):
favor of the GOP ahead of mid term elections next year.
Over New Jersey, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy hopes to become
the first Democrat to win reelection in forty four years.
His opponent, businessman Jack Chitarelli will vy to keep the
curse intact. Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention meet today to discuss recommending Viser's vaccine for children
(18:18):
between the ages of five and eleven. The FDA approved
the vaccine last week. If the CDC does the same,
the organization's director will have to give final approval. The
White House expects a green light and has been preparing
to ship millions of vaccines to pediatricians across the country.
Shots with kid sized doses could begin as early as Wednesday,
(18:38):
and it could be a big day for more than
ten thousand employees at John Deere. They've been on strike
since October four. Members of the United Auto Workers vote
on a new six year contract after rejecting an earlier
deal last month. Reports show the tentative contract includes an
eight dollar signing bonus, an immediate ten percent raise, plus
(18:59):
a five percent increase in the deal's third and fifth years.
One of the reason John Dear workers felt they had leverage.
The company's profits have more than doubled so far this
fiscal year to four point seven billion dollars. This is
the Recount Daily pod podcast from the Recount My thanks
(19:21):
to journalist Steve Roberts for being on the show. And
if you like this episode, I hope you'll subscribe to
the Recount Daily pod and leave us a rating on
the Apple podcast app. I'm your host, Rena Nina
From the recount on Marina nine in and you're listening
to the Recount Daily Pod. Today's Tuesday, November two. She
had become a feminist, Rena because she read books. She
became a feminist because she lived her life as a
woman and saw the obstacles and saw the difficulties she
(00:27):
and so many others face. That was Steve Roberts, husband
to the late legendary journalist Coke Roberts. I spoke with
him about his wife and his new book about her,
COKEI A Life Well Lived. It's out today, but first
your morning headlines. The U n s Climate Change Conference,
or COPY six, is underway over the weekend. We're leaders.
(00:49):
At the G twenty meeting that preceded this summit failed
to approve any binding climate measures. But at COPY the
Prime Minister of India, country that's a massive carbon looterer,
pledged the nation would reach net zero emissions by seventy Meanwhile,
in the US, Democratic Senator Joe Mansion is refusing to
guarantee support for President Biden's spending bill that's part of
(01:11):
Build back Better over fiscal concerns. None of us should
ever misrepresent to the American people what the real cost
of legislation is well. I've worked hard to find a
path to compromise. It's obvious compromise is not good enough
for a lot of my colleagues in Congress. The Giants
spending bill includes more than half a trillion dollars on
policies to cut carbon emissions that contribute to accelerating climate change.
(01:37):
In hearings on Monday, Supreme Court justices asked pressing questions
about SP eight, the Texas law banning abortion after six
weeks of pregnancy, after allowing the law to take effect
on September one. Even the conservative justices appeared skeptical. The
law is unusual, allowing private citizens to sue anyone who
assist a person and getting an abortion. Justice at Kavanagh
(02:00):
Conservatives said it exploited a loophole. The Supreme Court usually
takes a few months after hearings to hand down a decision,
but on December one, the Court will hear a more
direct challenge to abortion rights concerning Mississippi. In New York City,
nine thousand city workers are on unpaid leave after refusing
the jab. The city's COVID nineteen vaccine mandate went into
(02:23):
effect on Monday and did lead to a jump in inoculations.
Of NYPD staff are now vaccinated. That's up from sevent
a few weeks ago, but another twelve thousand employees have
filed for exemptions will stay on the job while the
city reviews applications. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he didn't
expect any disruption to city services as a result of
(02:44):
the six percent reduction in the city's workforce. In Chicago, meanwhile,
a judge paused a similar vaccine requirement for city police
until their union's objections can be heard by an arbitrator.
The mandate would take effect on December thirty one. Journalist
Cokey Robert's left behind an outsized legacy when she passed
away two years ago. Her work as co host of
(03:05):
ABC News is this week Sunday morning broadcast inspired me
to study politics and to become a journalist. But today
I'm speaking with someone who truly knew her beyond the
immaculate presentation she delivered on screen and over the radio
to report the news. Steve Roberts, her husband, my longtime
professor and mentor, and the man who taught me about
(03:26):
journalism in Washington. He's out with a new book about
his late spouse, Cokie, A life well lived. Prof Thank
you for joining us. What a pleasure to see you.
I finished this book and I can't tell you I
just felt so fulfilled. She was really a mentor. She
championed women's representation in media. Her career was extensive, and
in the book you say she wasn't a full time
(03:49):
journalist until she was thirty four, but she made up
for lost time crashing through glass ceilings at NPR and
ABC with her impressive mind. Impish with an infectious laugh.
Tell me about those glass ceilings. When we first got married,
she actually was hosting her own TV show in Washington.
She was twenty two years old. But it was life
(04:09):
in nine six, Stree. You know that we didn't even
have a conversation about whose job was more important. I
had gotten a job as a reporter on the New
York Times City staff, and we just assumed that she
would leave her job and moved to New York and
be with me. And we moved four times from my
job to New York, to California, to Athens, Greece, and
back to Washington over eleven years. So the first glass
(04:32):
ceiling was simply the culture. It was the assumption that
men's lives took precedent, men's career took precedent. But also
as we moved around. You know, she was such a
talented and energetic person that she always sought out, worked
and had a great deal of trouble finding jobs. You
could have a job being someone secretary. You have a
(04:53):
job making copies on his xerox machine, you know, making coffee,
but actually doing important work. It was largely closed and
by the time we came back to Washington, some things
had changed, but not a lot. There were pioneering women.
When COKEI first got hired an NPR, she was still unusual.
(05:14):
And when she when she joined ABC eleven years later,
she was still the first woman to be a regular
panelist on a Sunday morning TV show. So she lived
through a revolution and there were times when it was
very hard on it. There are times when she talked
about being depressed and being thwarted and being sidelined. You know,
(05:37):
she she was two people at the same time. I
went hand. Because of the age she was, she never
believed she would have a career, certainly not a career
anything approaching the scale that it became, But at the
same time, the talent was always there, you know, the
driver was always there. So when she did become, you know, breakthrough,
I was the last person to be surprised. She was
(06:00):
just such a huge force. But you talk about the
revolutions that she was able to live through. She was
able to champion causes without being mean or gruff or bracive.
And I think we are looking at America today the
need for diversity, pushing for women to be in higher positions.
How was Kokeie Roberts able to champion causes without coming
(06:21):
off as being crough or intrusive or isolated. Well, some
of it was her Southern was just an inherent graciousness there.
Some of it was her religious faith was very important
to her, and there was a sense of charity and
the generosity. But boy, when it came to defending and
promoting women, she was absolutely determined, partly because of the
(06:45):
difficulty she herself had faced. She had become a feminist,
reener because she read books. She became a feminist because
she lived her life as a woman and saw the
obstacles and saw difficulties she and so many others face,
and that created this determination to use whatever leverage she
(07:10):
had to fight for other women and to promote other women.
Tell us a little bit about the role of motherhood
and faith in Cokey's life. That was a big deal
for her. Well, motherhood was very important to her, both
in terms of her own life and in terms of
her advice she gave to other young women, as you
well know, as a mother yourself. She always said to
(07:31):
young women, don't give up this possibility, don't give up
this dimension of yourself. So, I mean, no matter what
else she did, she always put her kids first. She
always made time for them. She this one story about
our daughter. Becca was in the sixth grade, and Cokeye
had gone out to her elementary school, you know, for
one of those bring a parent to school days to
(07:51):
tell us what kind of work you're doing. So Cokey
at the time was covering Congress for NPR. So she
brought out her tape recorder and her press badges and
showed the girl what it was like to be a reporter.
So a couple of weeks later, it was Halloween, so
Cookie goes tearing out to Secca's elementary school to watch
the kids in their Halloween costumes marched through the neighborhood
and Marina. There were all these sixth grade girls wearing
(08:14):
blue suits and caring tape recorders, and they were all
dressed up as Cokie Roberts for Halloween. That must have
been incredible for her to see. We're gonna posit. Take
a quick break, and we'll be right back with journalist
Steve Roberts, who's out with a new book about his wife,
journalist Coke Roberts Cokeie, A Life Well Lived. Welcome back
(08:42):
to the Recount Daily Pod, a podcast from the Recount.
I'm joined by journalist Steve Roberts, a longtime mentor who
has a new book out about his late wife, iconic
journalist Cokee Roberts. She was such a big believer in
unearthing stories of women in American history. She pushed hard
for the sign outside of Mount Vernon to read Home
(09:02):
of not just George Washington, but Martha Washington as well.
She wrote books on the subject of women that we
have forgotten, Founding Mothers. Why was that so important to
her to go back and relook at American history from
a female lens. I think there were several reasons for it.
One was she had seen in her own life the
(09:23):
roles that her mother and other women of her age
had played. Her mother and Lady Burr Johnson and Pauline
Gore and Betty Ford were the modern incarnations of Abigail
Adams and Dolly Man. She saw the enormous impact that
they had. In fact, there's a great story in the book,
(09:43):
like when her father had been in Congress for thirty
years killed in a plane crash in nine two, Lindy
decides to run for his seat after he died, and
so she calls Lady Burd Johnson, her life long friend,
to tell her before she read about in papers, and said,
I just want to tell you announced that I'm running
for Halsey and Mrs Johnson's a malinious darling. That's that's great,
(10:06):
But how are you going to do it without a wife?
That's a great story, And and so she had had
this model. Cokie had seen these women as advisors, as supporters,
as counselors, as promoters of their husbands. So that was
very much part of it, and this was a template
(10:27):
for her. But beyond that, she talks about covering Congress
and realizing she didn't know much about the family, fathers
and their families, and that led to you know, Founding Mothers,
Ladies of Liberty, Capital James, three of these extremely important
books that really retold the story of American history through
(10:53):
the eyes of these women and and documented their contributions.
And just if that's all she had ever done in
her life, it was just those three books, it would
have been a priceless contribution. And one. I talked to
a lot of historians about this, and they said, look, yes,
there had been a lot of work in the academy,
a lot of work academics, feminist historians, and you know,
(11:13):
focus on the but COKEI had the ability to bring
this story to the general public that no one else had.
In two thousan two, at the age of fifty, she
decided to step away. I would argue, in the midst
of an incredible career where people like me wanted to
see her every week and get her take on Washington
and get her to decode Washington. Why did she step away?
(11:36):
The single biggest reason was that, you know, her whole
family had been in politics. Both of her parents served
in Congress. Her older brother and sister both ran for Congress,
neither one of them one. She used to say, everybody
in my family has run for Congress, but the only
one who never lost an election was my mother. And
(11:58):
being a journal is certainly satisfied part of her deep
guyed instinct to public service. It didn't satisfy all of it,
and so by leaving her post as anchor of the show,
she transferred her contractual status with ABC from a full
time employee to a contract that enabled her, under their
(12:22):
ethics rules, to become more of an advocate. She joined
the board of an organization called Save the Children, this
worldwide relief organization. She was particularly interested in the education
of girls and young women. She deeply believed that if
you educate girls, you have this enormous benefit in terms
(12:42):
of stability of a country, and so she went around
the world learning about these programs, advocating for these programs.
We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right
back with Steve Roberts, who's out with a new book
called Cookie, A Life Well Lived. You're listening to The
Recount Daily Pod. Welcome back to the Recount Daily Pod,
(13:06):
a podcast from the Recount. I'm joined by journalist Steve Roberts,
who's out with a new book about his White Cokee Roberts.
It's called Cokie a life well lived. You know, Cookie
lived through the Trump years. We had a good friend
of yours and cookies on recently on the Recount Daily pod,
George will and I asked him about sort of these
Trump years, and he believed this was a fever that
(13:29):
would pass. What was Coke's sense about how Washington has
changed and how divided our country has become? Her view
is Trump was interesting. She alone among I think a
lot of Washington pundits actually predicted he would win. A
lot of people dismissed him in ways she did not,
(13:50):
not because she liked She just she sensed his power
and his appeal, and sense that the Democrats were far
too small, not understanding this underlying power that he was generating.
And she was always a believer in Congress as an institution.
If you have a commitment to the institution beyond parting
(14:12):
and partisanship. You believe in compromise, you believe in the
legislative process. You believe that the other side might be rivals,
but they're not enemies. And I think that that deeply
bothered her. As politics became more and more tribal and
party loyalties became more divisive. She had many reasons for
(14:35):
believing this, but she always pointed out that when she
was growing up here in Washington, a lot of members
of Congress brought their families here, that many of her
girlhood friends were children of Republican politicians. One of her
best friends was the daughter of Bill Miller, who was
Barry Goldwater's running mate in nineteen sixty four. Is a burden,
says congressman from upstate New York. And she said, I
(14:57):
used to go to Miller house all the time, and
you know, play board games in the basement. There were
other families that they went to church with, other families
as you went to school with. And so she always
felt that that had been lost in that in those
threads of relationships and respected you work with young people.
As a professor at George Washington University, What do you
hope this next generation might get from this book? I
(15:20):
think they were two things. One is public and most private.
I think as a as a public figure, as a journalist,
she embodied a deep love for politics and a deep
love for public service, and a deep belief that this
was an honorable work. So many reporters I think are
(15:43):
cynical about politics, and politicians never cynically. Was not a
cynical bone in her body. She as I say, a
lot of it came from her family, not just her
immediate family, but throughout history. But that respect, in that
mutual you know, has been lost, that that love of politics.
And many nights we covered Congress together for eight years
(16:07):
when I was in New York Times. She was an
NPR and we would leave in the evening after a
day of work and should look up at the Capital
Dome lit up at night. And she never ever fails.
Isn't a beautiful And that symbolized her faith in America
and her faith in democracy and her faith in the
(16:28):
political process. So that's one. That's the public coke, but
the private COKEI, as we've been discussing, you can be
successful at that and not forget your humanity. You can
be a celebrity, you can be a success, you can
be famous, and that sacrifice your personal and private life.
She never ever ever changed. She never I don't care
(16:51):
how famous she was. You know that she was always
the same person when the camera went off. That's when
the camera went off, and and it was a person
who lived a conspel. You've mentioned several times her faith.
It was an extremely important part of who she was.
She really did believe that every person was as she
(17:14):
was taught as a very young child, that every person
is shaped in the image of God. And that's how
she treated people, and that's how she lived her life,
so that she died. The book is called Coking, a
Life well lived. Thank you so much, Professor Roberts. Thank you.
And now let's look ahead at what's happening today. It's
election day, and it may be an off year election,
(17:36):
but the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey are on
the ballot. In Virginia, Democrat Terry mccaulliff faces off against
Republican Glenn young Kin, who's kept intentional distance from former
President Trump and from any endorsement. The former president lost
the state to Joe Biden by ten points last year,
so a Republican victory could signal a big change in
(17:56):
favor of the GOP ahead of mid term elections next year.
Over New Jersey, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy hopes to become
the first Democrat to win reelection in forty four years.
His opponent, businessman Jack Chitarelli will vy to keep the
curse intact. Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention meet today to discuss recommending Viser's vaccine for children
(18:18):
between the ages of five and eleven. The FDA approved
the vaccine last week. If the CDC does the same,
the organization's director will have to give final approval. The
White House expects a green light and has been preparing
to ship millions of vaccines to pediatricians across the country.
Shots with kid sized doses could begin as early as Wednesday,
(18:38):
and it could be a big day for more than
ten thousand employees at John Deere. They've been on strike
since October four. Members of the United Auto Workers vote
on a new six year contract after rejecting an earlier
deal last month. Reports show the tentative contract includes an
eight dollar signing bonus, an immediate ten percent raise, plus
(18:59):
a five percent increase in the deal's third and fifth years.
One of the reason John Dear workers felt they had leverage.
The company's profits have more than doubled so far this
fiscal year to four point seven billion dollars. This is
the Recount Daily pod podcast from the Recount My thanks
(19:21):
to journalist Steve Roberts for being on the show. And
if you like this episode, I hope you'll subscribe to
the Recount Daily pod and leave us a rating on
the Apple podcast app. I'm your host, Rena Nina
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