Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

John B. OakesJohn B. Oakes
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 512

Q:

Yes, I think we'd like that.

Oakes:

I see no reason not to - yes. This memo of Punch's - raises a lot of questions. I did not draft the memo, but it obviously is a response from him to my agitation about that we really ought to get down to do something about it. And it's to Punch's credit that he finally took me up on this, and set up a committee, or a study group, as he refers to it, in September, 1966.

September 26, I wrote Punch that - excuse me, on September 23rd, I got a note from Cliff Daniel, then managing editor, starting out, “I see that I am on your committee to study the pros and cons of an Op-Ed page,”: and then going on to say that he was about to go to Mexico, and couldn't - and from there maybe to Cuba, and so on.

And so I immediately wrote Punch that I was all set to call the first meeting, this week. “Unless I can go on without E.C. (that's E. C. Daniel), it looks like we will have to postpone for another couple of weeks. May I have your OK to start the discussions without him?”

And I only quote that little memo to Punch, which is dated September 26, 1966, as an indication of how anxious I was to get going on this, and how happy I was that finally the wheels had started.

Punch thereupon asked Harrison Salisbury to serve as Cliff Daniel's deputy on the committee. “I would appreciate if you would serve as an alternate member in Cliff's





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help