Rotareminder Rotary Club of Kent September 1, 2020
Meeting Opening: President Elect Kathy Myers filled in for President Randy Smith. David Dix played America the Beautiful; Kathy Myers led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and Sue Hetrick provided the Invocation.
Announcements: Nelson Burns and Kathy Myers announced that they are still seeking sponsorships for Stay Right at Home. The live portion of the event is Thursday, September 24, but bidding on the auction items begins September 17. Raffle tickets are $50 for a chance to win Ben Bassham's oil painting.
Guests: Sandy Graham was Kathy Myers guest, and Dave & Margaret Hunter were guests of Tom Myers.
100th Anniversary Moment: Jim Myers reported from the Club's Silver Anniversary book that W.W. Reed, past president of the Kent Rotary, in January 1927 was elected president of the Kent Chamber of Commerce, a position he held for eight consecutive years. Rotarian Glenn Reed was treasurer. Then Kent Rotary president Frank Elgin in congratulating Reed noted that all but nine Rotarians were members of the Chamber.
Program: Kathy Myers introduced Ted Gup, award winning journalist with the Washington Post, author of three nonfiction books (The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives, Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life and A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness--and a Trove of Letters--Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression), professor at Georgetown University for 18 years, featured contributor to numerous national publications, and Western Reserve Academy graduate and classmate of Dave Hunter and Tom Myers.
Distinguished journalist Ted Gup talked about his sources of satisfaction and gratification in his career and then the frustrations and disappointments. To better understand where Mr. Gup was coming from, he introduced himself. He was born in Lima, Ohio, in 1950. He grew up in the middle class with midwest values such as modesty and a sense of proportionality. He is Jewish and remembers being marginalized by where they could live in Canton with restrictive covenants, bigoted slurs and small stature when he started Western Reserve Academy. Hence, he said he has always been able to relate to the marginalized.
His sources of satisfaction and gratification in his career included a special relationship with Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradley; flying on Air Force One with two Presidents (Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush); tracking illegal ivory trading around the world; covering Marshall Law after the Tianamen Square Incident; writing about John Hinckley, Jr. after he shot President Reagan, and researching U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor before her confirmation. Among the notable politicians that he has interviewed are Barney Franks, Jessie Helms, Robert Byrd and Carl Albert.
He interviewed survivors of Hiroshima for National Geographic for the 50th and 75th anniversaries of the bombing. He became friends with Bud Gallager, World War II fighter bomber who was shot down in Germany and later became the thermal nuclear mushroom testor for the Air Force and eventually was in charge of Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Virginia.
He is very proud of investigating the wrongful incarceration of Maurice Williams for a string of robberies. He proved Williams's innocence and who did commit the crimes.
His frustrations and disappointments included bad editing; being alone and feeling isolated as a writer; the fickleness of Washington DC (a town of affiliation where doors open when you work for the Washington Post but are harder as a freelancer); brevity in news stories to the point that the shortness creates distortion; people reading only for their general bias; the demise of objectivity, and the realization that his work did not change the world because history is cyclical.
He said he is encouraged by the young journalists coming up as they come to topics of deception and corruption with fresh eyes.
Response was by Stacey Richardson.
Respectfully submitted by Anita Herington
