Hersh gets somewhat personal in this piece. He talks about his very brief job as Gene McCarthy’s press secretary.
I read the article with curiosity since I had been campaigning for Gene at the same time. The article didn’t tell me anything new about McCarthy, but it did provide insight into Hersh himself.
Hersh admits that he made several career-ending mistakes because he didn’t know the social rules of politics.
A few days after returning from Los Angeles I got a telephone call from the candidate’s wife, Abigail, who told me to minimize any public emphasis on the family’s Catholicism, which she thought would be a disadvantage in southern New Hampshire. I told her I worked for her husband and not for her. … Big mistake. I did not know about “pillow talk,” the political phrase for the power of a candidate’s wife. I had made her a pillow talk enemy by my second week on the job.
I would have made even worse mistakes in such a job. In fact I wouldn’t have taken such a job. I’ve always been aware of my outsiderness. But I wouldn’t have made this particular mistake.
Why did Hersh fail to recognize wifepower? Maybe because he’s Jewish?
I knew several Jewish families in those days, and one thing stood out dramatically:
PAPA IS KING.
The whole house pivoted around Papa’s needs and desires, while he sat on the throne at the center of the universe.
No father even TRIED to take charge in secular or Christian households. He might have been in charge at work, but he was just another kid at home.
= = = = =
Hersh’s outsiderness fits neatly into Batya’s history of journalism. Before 1974, reporters were working-class outsiders, cranky contrarians seeking revenge on the popular kids. After 1974, reporters were the popular kids. And popular people ALWAYS share the same fashionable beliefs.
Polistra's Mill 