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Hedley Donovan had as much influence on the political coverage of the magazines as Luce had when he was alive?

Oh no. No no no. No, as a matter of fact you could really say that the Carter infatuation was nearly an aberration in Hedley's general attitude. In general he was much more objective and distant. Not, sort of, personally involved. Interested in everything, but at no time showing any particular stripes of his own.

Anything that you recall about the 1980 election?

Yes. Drove me crazy. I felt that the choices were becoming more and more difficult. Parenthetically I'm stepping back. Carter appears again in 1979 with the caption, “Carter's Bold Mission.” Another cover, Carter and Brezhnev. Of course presidents always appear on the cover. “Carter at the Crossroads.” Plenty of attention paid to him. We pay so much attention to presidents in this country. You know, we've built up the presidency to such a high point that we'll never have a president that satisfies us again. Here's Jimmy Carter in 1980. I guess that's when he was running against Reagan.

All right. You wanted to move on to President then-elect Reagan?

Yes. But you were saying that the choices had narrowed for you personally in that election.