LU Moment: An Interview with John Dickerson

Introduction

Shelly Vitanza: Welcome to the LU moment. Thanks for listening. I'm Shelly Vitanza, the Director of Public Affairs at Lamar University. Each week we showcase the great events, activities, programs, projects, and people at Lamar University. Every couple of years, Lamar University hosts the Judge Joe J. Fisher Distinguished Lecture Series. And this year on Monday, March 9th 7:30 PM we are welcoming reporter correspondent and news anchor John Dickerson as the 13th speaker in this series.

Shelly Vitanza: Currently a correspondent for 60 minutes, Dickerson joined CBS news in April 2009 as an analyst and contributor. His previous positions include cohost of CBS This Morning, Chief Washington Correspondent, and anchor of Face the Nation and moderator of the two CBS News Presidential Debates during the 2016 presidential campaign. He's also a New York times bestselling author and his latest book, The Hardest Job, is due out June 9th, 2020 by Random House.

The Dickersonian Way

Shelly Vitanza:Mr. Dickerson is joining us by phone. Welcome sir.

John Dickerson: Well thank you so much for having me.

Shelly Vitanza: Hey, have you ever been to Southeast Texas?

John Dickerson: I have. I covered the Nick Lampson race in 1996, which I believe is in that district.

Shelly Vitanza: Absolutely.

John Dickerson: Yeah, so yeah, so I think that was the Congressman Brooks was retiring and that was the first race to fill his seat if I'm not mistaken.

Shelly Vitanza: That's exactly right. Yeah. Two legacies here in Southeast Texas. So you're familiar. Well, we're glad to have you back and I'm excited to welcome you for the day. Reading about you, you're famous for your Dickersonian style, basically embarrassing or catching politicians flat-footed. And so the industry has called it the Dickersonian style. But you've also said that you try to be restrained and mindful of every person's humanity and of the overwhelming challenge of pride. So there are times, I guess that you step back and you don't push hard. Can you give us some examples of that and talk about that?

John Dickerson: Well in politics, particularly today, where there is so much questioning of other people's motives, where partisanship and which team a person's person happens to be on in terms of their political party affiliation tends to stop us from listening to what they have to say. And that's really the way a lot of political conversations take place and it's ruining our public discourse. And so nobody has ever had a conversation really that's been of much profit where they prejudged what somebody had to say. And so I try to give people as much of a chance as possible to explain what they have to say and make their case for what they believe. Because my job is to try to put information out there for people. And the best way to do that is to give people a chance to talk.

John Dickerson: And now it also means though that you have a responsibility to frame and ask questions in a way that elicits some information. And then the responsibility is on the lawmaker or the person you're interviewing to participate in good faith as well, which is to give you an answer and not just a response to a question they've been asked. And hopefully if we do that, we might stumble on a better sense of what's happening in our world.

Shelly Vitanza: And not shut down and really listen to them. And you seem to be able to anticipate the line of talk that it's just interesting to me and watching some of your interviews that you always are kind of ready for the next line of questioning. I don't know how much time you put into preparing, but it just must be an inordinate amount of time.

John Dickerson: It does. Yes. There's a lot of time and a lot of effort that goes into thinking through what somebody is likely to say. Thinking through how to ask a question in a way that illuminates what they're going to say. Sometimes, even if we believe something strongly or perhaps most in the instances where we believe something strongly, we don't necessarily always articulate it in the best way. And so one of the jobs of an interview is to try to bring that out. And then in politics when people aren't necessarily always encouraged to say the most candid or the most helpful thing, if you do a lot of work beforehand, you can help excavate what the truth of things is a little bit more when the people that you're interviewing might not be inclined to give that to you on the first try.

Shelly Vitanza: So of all the hundreds of interviews you've conducted, what is the most memorable and why?

John Dickerson: Oh wow. Well, I guess, I mean, it depends what the context is. There were some early in my career that were memorable just because you're still trying to figure out how to do this and interview people. And so when they turn out well or you learn something, then that's ...

Shelly Vitanza: You celebrate.

John Dickerson: That's good. Yes. And you feel like you're doing kind of the fundamental part of your job. I think interviewing, there've been key political moments when interviewing John McCain after he won the 2000 primary New Hampshire. It was an enormous political moment. And I interviewed President Trump on his 100th day and that was quite a notable interview. I interviewed President Bush on Air Force One. But then there've been lots of interviews in between with just regular people in their lives. When I worked at time magazine, I covered a whole host of different issues. And so some of those interviews were memorable, in hospitals and in things that have nothing to do with politics. And then last year I interviewed the musician John Prine. I spent a day with him in Nashville and he's an amazing songwriter and a very interesting person. And so that was a very memorable moment as well.

Shelly Vitanza: Are you going to talk about some of those interviews when you're here? What can people expect when they come to the Judge Joe Fisher Lecture Series on March 9th?

John Dickerson: I think. Yeah. Well, yes. I'll talk about those interviews. I'll talk a little bit about my process for interviews because I think the process for interviewing and writing, which really tries to get at the why of things and not just the what. And what I mean by that is we spend a lot of time in the news business and in life kind of talking about things that happened. And we don't spend as much time on why things are taking place in the way they are.

John Dickerson: And so that's one of the things I always try to do in interviews. And people might experience this in their own lives, which is that somebody will tell them some interesting piece of news that they heard or event that's taken place. And the person to whom they're talking will say, "Well, why did that happen?" And they'll often say, "Well, gee, I don't know." And that's frustrating. So and my feeling is that it is if you cultivate the why that it you don't just have to be a journalist. It tends to lead to a richer experience in life.

Shelly Vitanza: In conversation and understanding and yeah.

John Dickerson: Exactly, and in conversation and understanding about politics or religion or anything else that you might be involved in.

Shelly Vitanza: Got it. We're looking so forward to having you and appreciate you taking the time with us this morning. We'll see you on March the ninth. Thank you sir.

John Dickerson: Sure. Thank you. Take care.

Shelly Vitanza: You too.

Judge Joe J. Fisher Lecture Series

Shelly Vitanza: Now this is a free public lecture that will be moderated and allow questions from the audience with a reception following in the Dishman Art Museum. Dean Terrebonne boon is the acting chair of the Judge Joe J. Fisher Lecture Series and also Chief of Staff there at Lamar University. He's with us to tell us a little bit more. Dean, real quickly, tell us what was the purpose of this why was it created? What are we trying to do here with this lecture series?

Dean Terrebonne: Shelly, this series was created in 1986 to to honor Judge Fisher's contributions to Southeast Texas and Lamar University. The series features individuals known nationally or internationally who can make significant contributions to the university community. In the past we've had president Gerald Ford, Antonin Scalia, John Huntsman, in 2016 Itzhak Perlman. So this year we're really excited about John Dickerson joining us.

Shelly Vitanza: Oh my gosh. I mean, yeah. What a coup. I know those of us journalists in the community are just buzzing. We just can't wait. It's a little bit intimidating though to interview someone who's written the Art of the Interview. But it's very exciting and the public of course is encouraged to attend. Give us kind of the logistics of this event.

Dean Terrebonne: This is a great opportunity for our students and our community. So we hope to see everyone at the lecture, the free lecture, at the university theater. Immediately following the event will be a reception in the Dishman Art Museum.

Shelly Vitanza: And he's going to be there.

Dean Terrebonne: Yes, he's going to be there.

Shelly Vitanza: Wow. This is the big time. Okay, so March 9th Lamar University Campus.

Dean Terrebonne: 7:30, University Theater.

Shelly Vitanza: All right. Thank you Dean. We appreciate all your hard work on this.

Collage Music Fundraiser Event

Shelly Vitanza:All right. We talked a few weeks ago about Lamar University going to Mardi Gras. They did that. The Showcase of Southeast Texas did that and their dynamic, brave, courageous leader, Eric Shannon, the director of athletic bands took them. But he is back to talk about another event on the campus. It is Collage, really a unique event, Dr. Shannon, right, because it's a fundraiser and you show off all the music.

Dr. Eric Shannon: Absolutely. It's everything our department does on one concert, one special night. This is our third year to host this Collage concert where a person who buys a ticket and comes to the show gets to see everything from our top wind band, the wind ensemble, to chamber music like brass quintet and percussion ensemble, opera theater, jazz, acapella choir, grand chorus, and then also a really wonderful new work, a world premiere written by our professor of theory and composition. It's entitled In the Mornings we Studied: For Choirs and Brass Choir, by Dr. Nick Rissman and that will be the grand finale. So a world premier.

Shelly Vitanza: Wow. So talk to about some of the music. Are we going to recognize some of the music that is played?

Dr. Eric Shannon: Some of it you will. The brass choir is going to play the Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures, an exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. But some stuff you might not recognize. I would say maybe most of it you might not recognize. But it'll all be great.

Shelly Vitanza: And just a menagerie of sounds because like you say, we're going to have brass, we're going to have wind, they're going to play separately together. What's the combination?

Dr. Eric Shannon: So it's a back to back sort of concert and the concert is designed so that while one group is performing, secretly another group is getting ready. There's no other way to hear other than going to all the different concerts, to hear all the different ensembles or areas of what we offer at Lamar University except for this concert. This is the way to do that.

Shelly Vitanza: All right. Give us the logistics of this event where, how much? How can people get tickets?

Dr. Eric Shannon: Absolutely. So all the information-

Shelly Vitanza: And when is this event?

Dr. Eric Shannon: It is this coming, well, it is March 3rd. It is Tuesday evening, March 3rd. The concert begins at 7:30 but this is a fundraising concert, so we are accepting and very grateful for any donations. We have donor levels for the concert. They start at $100 and everyone, that is what's called the bronze ensemble, but it goes up to diamond. All this information, as well as schedule, how to buy tickets and possibly if you're interested in donating, can be found at lamar.edu/collage C-O-L-L-A-G-E.

Shelly Vitanza: Perfect. All right. Give a shout out for a Mardi Gras. It went well? We just need to catch up.

Dr. Eric Shannon: It went fantastic. Our students had an amazing time. There's nothing like it. It was a fantastic thing to do. Hopefully these students, I really think that they made memories that will last a lifetime and that was our goal.

Shelly Vitanza: They marched for four miles.

Dr. Eric Shannon: Actually probably closer to five and a half miles on foot that evening. The performance was over two hours and 20 minutes and they had drums on, tubas on, maybe for closer to three and a half hours that evening. They were really tired.

Shelly Vitanza: Yes, oh my God. Can you imagine? I can't imagine carrying a tuba down the hall.

Dr. Eric Shannon: I just kept asking them, "Are you okay? Are you okay?" But some of them, when I said, "You're done, we did it. It's over," they popped out of a trance. And then they felt it and they were like, "Oh my gosh."

Shelly Vitanza: Look what we did. This is awesome. memorable. All right, thanks for all the great information. Just to review on March the third at what time?

Dr. Eric Shannon: Concert at 7:30, reception at 6:00 PM for donors.

Shelly Vitanza: Perfect. Lamar University campus.

Shelly Vitanza: And then on March 9th we're bringing in John Dickerson. Google him. You'll find all kinds of stuff. You want to follow him? Well, you'll join the other 2 million people who are following John Dickerson on Twitter. He is an amazing journalist and we're excited to bring him in for the Judge Joe Fisher Lecture Series.

Shelly Vitanza: Did you know that Beaumont has an abundance of museums and historical sites? One of the most important is the spindle top Gladys City BoomTown Museum that includes buildings representative of the oil boom. Can check out the website for special events at this great site. It is located on the Lamar University campus.

Shelly Vitanza: Hey, thanks for listening to the LU Moment. I'm Shelly Vitanza, the director of public affairs at Lamar University, the pride of Southeast Texas.