May 7, 2022. Happy 100th birthday, dad! Why in GD? Because this is about journalism.
My dad would have been 100 years old today. Why is this in GD? Because he was a journalist. The REAL kind. Not the poor imitation that the Chuck Todds of the world present, and far removed from the Fox "News" version, which has more in common with Göbbels' Propagandaministerium than journalism.
The Soviet "news" agency, TACC, had their Washington offices on the same floor of the National Press Building as my Dad's. Igor Ignatiev, the TACC station chief in Washington, and KGB agent as well, once asked my dad if he wouldn't want to augment his income by "helping out" the Soviet Union in his spare time. My dad told him, "Igor, you have got to be kidding." Ignatiev shrugged, and said, "I am required to try." They had a laugh, finished their coffee, and quickly dropped the subject.
He was friends with most presidents, regardless of party, from Nixon through Clinton. Curiously, though Fritz Mondale was a close friend of the family, he never had much to do with Jimmy Carter. Oh, hell, I could fill ten OPs with stories about him.
He rarely made TV appearances, sticking to his job as a Washington correspondent for a small town (Watertown) in Upstate New York. But he did make this one, when C-Span asked him to comment of the rejection of one of Reagan's nominees to the Supreme Court. The show starts about 00:50 in:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?205-1/douglas-ginsburg-withdrawal.
He knew Larry Spivak and Tim Russert well, but was never interested in a permanent TV gig. Too bad. A past president of Washington's Gridiron Club, he could easily have handled Meet The Press better than anyone who came after Spivak.
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My Dad was active in local politics - he was quite active in local issues (he was manager of the power company, president of the Industrial Development Agency and involved in more organizations than I'll ever know) and got on with everyone. I know he was friends with our congressman (Republican) and the city mayor (Democrat) and I know that early on he worked with Governor Rockefeller on promoting tourism in the city of Saratoga Springs. 
I visit my Dad every week at the cemetery - he died too young, at 62 - when I bring a new candle to his perpetual light. And I tell him what's going on. My Dad may have been a "people person," but he also had strict standards, and I know for absolutely sure that there's no way he would approve of TFG. 
That sounds like a lot of fun! Maybe you'd consider sharing that photo? 
And Gerald Ford does sound like a nice guy - I know from Jimmy Carter's autobiography that they became the best of friends. I also remember that my Dad had a photo of him with Rockefeller - my mother put together a scrapbook for my Dad and she assigned me to get copies.
And I can't say that my Dad was "friends" with the then-governor, but Dad was president of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce and worked with Rockefeller promoting tourism - as if Saratoga needed it! I was a young kid back then and I wore one of the buttons that my Dad passed out - if you're familiar with Saratoga, they first became a tourist mecca because of the springs and there were numerous bath houses where tourists came to soak in the healing waters - and the buttons that my Dad passed out said "Had a Bath Lately?" He also had quite a sense of humor... 
That's my dad on the left (as you look at the photo), and my balalaika-playing cohort on the right. Ford was apparently off to the side somewhere, I forgot. He's not to be seen in the photo, anyway.
There is a tiny hot spring somewhere in Wyoming that was named Saratoga (after the first one in New York). We once visited it on a stop on a cross-country road trip when we were 29. It took me about ten minutes to lower myself into the water, it was THAT hot, and the fact that I was capable of reproduction afterward is still a source of amazement to me.
And I do remember that Governor Rockefeller became Gerald Ford's VP, looks like your Dad is introducing you and that Rockefeller liked your music... 
And, as far as I know, the springs that are all over Saratoga aren't hot, but I assume that they warm them up for those that are taking baths. There were three large bath houses from back in the day just south of town, Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt, but last I knew, only Roosevelt is still in operation. I never participated in that, I was just a kid then, but my mother did to support the promotion. But both my Dad and my grandmother (his mother) liked to drink the waters and I can remember stopping at one spring or another and getting a drink, I liked it because they did. And somewhere near where I used to live is a hidden spring. My Dad's grandparents had a house where he'd spent time and there was a spring nearby. The house is long gone, but I can remember following my Dad, looking for that spring, and he found it. But that was a long time ago... I think of that whenever I'm in the area.
Nice looking family.I supposed that comment about the DC political types could have been more specific.
and really you are a man of many talents! Jeez, you speak a bunch of languages AND you play guitar? Have you written a novel too? Maybe starred in an interpretive dance number? Bless you DFW, you are one of the many reasons i visit DU every day.
to your Dad!
As far as the dance goes--you have exceeded my capacities with that one!
Lovely post.
