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John B. OakesJohn B. Oakes
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what was going on in it. Well, I had a story in the Post the day after that that even caused Arthur Krock to say that any time I wanted I could get a job with the Times on the basis of that story. But I didn't accept that offer, even if it was meant seriously, because, I guess, the main reason was that I foresaw that I was going to go into the Army before too long anyway.

Q:

You mean, you managed to get someone to talk about the caucus meeting?

Oakes:

Oh, sure, more than one person. Yes, but by staying there late. I would stay up at the Capitol late. I would very frequently be just about the last newspaper man around there, and I would spend a great deal of time, as I say, running through those corridors and tracking down Congressmen in their offices. And I don't say this in any boastful sense, but simply in a descriptive sense that I did this probably more than most reporters who were up there. And the result also was - it had bad results, too - I would get my stories in relatively late, I guess, to the great distress of the copy desk and of my very, very nice national news editor at the Post, who was a terribly nice man who never complained about anything. But I can't at the same time say there were any sensational scoops; there were a lot of good stories, but no sensational scoops. It might be of interest that during this period, although the first year - that is, from '37 to '38 - I lived by myself in Washington, in the fall of '38 a number of friends of mine who had been in Princeton [NJ] and had spent the intervening time at Harvard Law School came down to Washington and we set up a house [1913 S Street NW] in which we, a group of half a dozen bachelors, lived together and that house really started a tradition because we moved the following year - I think it was the fall of '39 - to a huge mansion (that belonged to friends of ours - a Naval officer, Adm.





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