[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 149 (Thursday, September 18, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1835-E1836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO BARRY GOTTEHRER, JOURNALIST, AUTHOR, NEW YORK CITY POLITICAL 
                          CRUSADER, AND FRIEND

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                           HON. TERRY EVERETT

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 18, 2008

  Mr. EVERETT. Madam Speaker, during my four decades in journalism and 
politics, I've been blessed with many friends, but few have impacted me 
personally as much as Bronx-born journalist turned political crusader, 
Barry Gottehrer, who passed away in April at the age of 73.
  Barry Gottehrer was what all good journalists aspire to be but few 
are fortunate enough to attain--a real force for change. During the 
racial turmoil of the mid 1960's, Barry Gottehrer combined a young 
reporter's burning ambition with a mission to force America's largest 
city to confront its darkest problems. He soon directly challenged the 
world he reported on, employing his skills as a gifted negotiator to 
unite a politically fractured city.
  While at The New York Herald Tribune, Barry Gottehrer penned a 
powerful series of stories starkly but accurately profiling New York as 
a ``City in Crisis.'' According to The New York Times, his work was 
credited with bringing New York mayor John Lindsay to office. But that 
was just the beginning. Barry Gottehrer joined the Lindsay 
administration and reached out to dialogue with the unsavory from New 
York's criminal underworld to its street gangs.
  Gottehrer's efforts to keep New York's disparate and sometimes 
warring factions from turning the city into chaos are chronicled in his 
1975 book, ``The Mayor's Man.'' He summed up his work this way: `` . . 
. during those feverish days of the 1960s and early 1970s when hundreds 
of our cities went up in flames, when rebellion and disorder swept 
through our streets, our public schools, our college campuses . . . 
when the very fabric of our country seemed ready to shred, I was the 
Mayor's Man at the brink of this revolution--a white in

[[Page E1836]]

a world of black and brown, a moderate in a world of revolutionaries, 
trying to bring change where change seemed needed most, trying to buy 
time until the change would come.''
  After feeling his power to affect change had reached its limit, Barry 
Gottehrer left New York's City Hall and went on to work in government 
affairs roles in New York and Washington, DC. His legacy lives on in 
his books and in the memory of those who marveled at his daring belief 
that working for good was not impossible. I was honored to have met 
Barry after coming to Congress and I will always be grateful for our 
friendship.

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