[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 23 (Monday, February 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2148-S2149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ALAN EMORY, DEAN OF WASHINGTON-BASED NEW YORK REPORTERS
Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the dean of
Washington based New York reporters, Alan Emory. Mr. Emory, a writer
for the Watertown Daily Times, has been covering Washington for the
last 43 years. His personal style and fabled wisdom have allowed Mr.
Emory to provide his readers in upstate New York with a window to
Washington.
Deemed a small town by some, Watertown's success stories include
three former Secretaries of State: John Foster, John Foster Dulles, and
Robert Lansing. Other notable Watertown residents included Roswell P.
Flower, former Governor of New York State; and Frank Woolworth, founder
of the five-and-dime store.
Having been voted president of the prestigious Gridiron Club in
recognition of his many years of reporting excellence, Mr. Emory now
joins the list of celebrated Watertown residents. Alan Emory was sent
to Washington in 1952 when his distinguished publisher, John B.
Johnson, decided to give his readers more for their money. He has
certainly done that. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an
article from the Watertown Daily Times celebrating Mr. Emory's
accomplishments and years of service be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Watertown Daily Times, Jan. 29, 1995]
Alan Emory, Dean of Washington Reporters
(The following article by Jonathan D. Salant is reprinted
by permission from the January edition of Empire State
Report.)
At one of U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's infrequent
gatherings for the Washington press corps from New York
newspapers, a New York Times reporter attempted to sit in the
front row.
``No, no, no,'' Moynihan sputters. ``That's the dean's
seat.''
The ``dean'' in this case refers to Alan Emory, the 72-
year-old correspondent for The Watertown Daily Times. Most of
the reporters who join Emory weren't born when he came to
Washington 43 years ago, the result of an effort by his
publisher to give the readers something more in exchange for
a price hike. The rest of the New York press corps watches
Emory take his seat in front and pour a cup of coffee for the
senator. They sit silent deferentially to allow Emory to ask
the first question, much as the senior wire service reporter
opens presidential news conferences.
Emory began covering Washington before Moynihan, who later
served in the administration of four presidents, began his
career in public service as an aide to then-Gov. Averell
Harriman. Emory has covered Govs. Thomas Dewey, Harriman,
Nelson Rockefeller, Malcolm Wilson, Hugh Carey and Mario
Cuomo. He has covered Sens. Irving Ives, Kenneth Keating,
Jacob Javits, Robert Kennedy, Charles Goodell, James Buckley,
Alfonse D'Amato and Moynihan.
Emory has reported on the administration of Harry Truman,
Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard
Nixon,
[[Page S2149]] Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and
George Bush.
Come March, he'll be dining with Bill Clinton.
``It's a very exciting prospect,'' Emory says.
In December, Emory was elected president of the Gridiron
Club, an association of powerful Washington journalists. Some
of his predecessors include David Broder, Helen Thomas, Carl
Rowan and Jack Germond. Emory says he can't remember another
reporter from a small newspaper being elected club president.
Each March, the Gridiron Club holds an ultra-exclusive
white-tie dinner featuring the president, his cabinet, and
most of Washington's top public officials and politicians.
Like the Legislative Correspondents Association's annual show
in Albany, the Washington reporters write parodies poking fun
at Republicans and Democrats alike. As club president, Emory
gets to dine with Clinton and must keep an eye on him
throughout the show, the better to report back to the
membership on how he reacted to the skits.
Clinton gets to deliver a rebuttal following the show. Next
year's speakers also include Moynihan and former Education
Secretary Bill Bennett.
It's been a long journey between dinner with the president
and Watertown, where Emory first was hired in 1947 after
graduating from Columbia University with a master's degree in
journalism. (He attended Harvard University as an
undergraduate.)
Emory was covering the Dewey administration in Albany when
his publisher, John B. Johnson, called him in August 1951.
``We're going to raise the price of the paper. We owe the
readers something,'' Emory recalls Johnson telling him. ``How
would you like to go to Washington?''
Emory jumped at the chance. He and his wife, Nancy, packed
up and moved south. Shortly after arriving in Washington,
they found a house on a lake in a Virginia suburb. They've
been there ever since, raising three children. They now have
four grandchildren as well.
He's traveled with presidents, covered the White House, and
written on foreign affairs. But his bread-and-butter is the
local, day-to-day coverage of New York affairs in Washington.
The congressional delegation. The St. Lawrence Seaway. The
state lobbying office. Politics. Federal decisions as they
affect the Empire State.
The New York connection has served Emory well. At the 1960
Republican National Convention, Emory got there a few days
early and hung out with aides to then-New York Gov. Nelson
Rockefeller. They told him that Rockefeller was not going to
be nominated for president against Richard Nixon. A national
scoop.
``I got the story long, long before anyone else even came
close to it,'' Emory says.
Likewise, at the 1968 Republican convention, while waiting
to interview with William Miller, the former upstate New York
congressman who was Barry Goldwater's running mate four years
earlier, Emory found a poll that showed Nixon being more
popular than Rockefeller in New York. The two men were
competing for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination.
Emory gave his story to the Nixon folks with the stipulation
that they agree to credit his newspaper if they used the
information. Sure enough, there was Nixon a few days later,
quoting the Watertown Daily Times.
Emory spends much of this time chronicling the Watertown-
area congressman, John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor. McHugh was
3 years old when Emory first went to Washington.
``I took my first lessons about politics from Alan Emory's
column,'' McHugh says. ``I've read about his experiences and
his observations. I finally had a chance to meet with him
face-to-face and work with him. It was a thrill for me. To
most people in the north country, Alan Emory is our window on
the Capitol.''
Many regional reporters in Washington move on to greener
pastures. They land jobs at larger papers or enter the
government. Emory says he has never tired of his job or the
Watertown paper. He once had a shot at a bigger paper, but it
fell through. Otherwise, he says, he's never wanted to leave.
``Watertown treats me like a member of the family,'' he
says. He goes on vacation when he wants. He has the time to
do projects like Gridiron. The paper was very supportive when
he underwent cancer treatment a few years back.
One of Emory's friends, Allan Cromley of the Daily
Oklahoman, walks by. ``Don't believe a word he says,''
Cromley says. Emory smiles and goes on.
``When people play up to the big metropolitan papers,
there's that frustration,'' Emory says. ``But there's a
counterweight that comes if you luck into somebody from your
neck of the woods who gets way up there.''
Eisenhower's press secretary, Jim Haggerty, used to work
for Dewey. Nixon's secretary of state, William Rogers, was a
native of St. Lawrence County. Former Central Intelligence
Agency chief Allan Dulles was a Watertown native. All became
sources for Emory.
Others from the north country have passed through. Former
state Sen. Douglas Barclay of Pulaski chaired President
Bush's upstate campaign in 1988 and was named to the Overseas
Private Investment Corporation. Former north country Rep.
Robert McEwen was appointed by President Reagan to one of the
joint U.S.-Canadian commissions. Former Assistance Education
Secretary Donald Laidlaw was an Ogdensburg native.
Another official, former Republican National Committee
Executive Director Albert (Ab) Herman, had played
professional baseball in Watertown. Emory wrote a story about
him, and Herman began hearing from old friends long
forgotten. ``He was a fabulous political source from then
on,'' Emory recalls.
In the 1950s, the federal government used to publish a book
listing the home congressional district of numerous federal
workers. Anyone hailing from the north country's
congressional district could expect a call from Emory.
``I would leaf through that book, call them up and do
interviews,'' Emory says. ``These people nobody had every
been in touch with before. They started getting mail from old
neighbors who saw their write-ups in The Watertown Daily
Times. Also, it gave me all kinds of contacts. If the
individual didn't have the answer, he could lead me to
someone who did.''
A U.S. senator named Hubert Horatio Humphrey became a
source as well. Humphrey and Emory's mother, Ethel Epstein,
served together on the board of the liberal Americans for
Democratic Action.
Emory lists Humphrey and former Michigan U.S. Sen. Philip
Hart as his two favorite politicians. He came to know Hart
after an aide to New York U.S. Sen. Herbert Lehman joined the
Michigan senator's staff.
Among contemporary politicians, it is Cuomo, who Emory
landed as the speaker for the 1988 Gridiron show, who is his
favorite. Cuomo sent him a note a couple of years back for
his 70th birthday.
Had Cuomo run for president, he might have been the chief
executive accompanying Emory to the Gridiron dinner next
March. But Emory says he's not surprised Cuomo never went for
the White House.
``I was never totally convinced that he wanted to undergo
the battle,'' Emory says. ``He would have loved to be
president but he would have hated to be a candidate.''
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