Jeff Greenfield, 70 Years a Political Junkie

Pro Politics with Zac McCrary

Who's lived a more varied, interesting political life over the last 6 decades than Jeff Greenfield? Aide and speechwriter to Senator Robert Kennedy...staffer for NYC Mayor John Lindsay...successful political consultant with the famed David Garth...and then as an omnipresent political commentator at CBS, ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN...5 time Emmy Award Winner...author of several books. This is a great, wide-ranging conversation with one of the most respected, enduring, and distinctive voices in American politics.

IN THIS EPISODE

How the New York Yankees are responsible for Jeff’s political obsession…

The serendipitous path that led Jeff to become an aide to Senator Robert Kennedy…

Jeff’s memories of the U.S. Senate of the 1960s…

Jeff on the political savvy of RFK…

The stories behind two of RFK’s most memorable speeches in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr’s Assassination…

Jeff talks how the 1968 election might have played out had Senator Kennedy lived…

What it was like writing a speech for Robert Kennedy…

Jeff’s theory on the right match of speechwriter and speaker…

Jeff’s time working with famed political consultant David Garth…

The ad Jeff wrote as a media consultant of which he’s most proud…

Jeff talks his connection with longtime friend William F. Buckley…

The story of Margaret Thatcher insulting Jeff on national TV…

Jeff’s move from political consulting to working in television…

The media job Jeff held that was the most fun…

Jeff's approach to interesting television commentary…

Four of Jeff’s pet peeves about contemporary political punditry…

The “single most powerful event” Jeff ever attended…

Recommendations from one of Jeff’s favorite restaurants and favorite band…

AND Aeschylus, Muhammad Ali, Barney Greengrass, the Beatles, Tom Bettag, Beyonce, Big Pink, Tom Bradley, the Bronx High School of Science, Ron Brown, Buggs Bunny, bullshit measurements, Hugh Carey, William Sloane Coffin, communist cigars, computer manuals, Daffy Duck, Richard Daley, doo wop, Fred Dutton, Peter Edelman, Dwight Eisenhower, elephants, Firing Line, Joe Frazier, John Kenneth Galbraith, John Glenn, the Grateful Dead, Averell Harriman, Lester Holt, Hubert Humphrey, Inspector Javert, Irving Ives, Jacob Javits, journalistic utopias, jut jaws, Murray Kempton, Henry Kissinger, Ted Koppel, John Lindsay, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Lil Nas, losing altitude, Russell Long, the longest slogans in the world, Al Lowenstein, the Making of the President, Eugene McCarthy, Joe McCarthy, George McGovern, Stephen Miller, mock primaries, Bill Moyers, the National Review, The New York Times, Richard Nixon, Lee Harvey Oswald, particle physics, personal antipathy, Ronald Reagan, Robbie Robertson, Howard Samuels, Ted Sorensen, Aaron Sorkin, Adlai Stevenson, Norman Thomas, Donald Trump, two doses of herpes, Unconventional Wisdom, the unit rule, V-E Day, the violence of institutions, Adam Walinsky, wartime correspondents, Watergate, Billy Wilder, wretched ironies, Sam Yorty & more!