Jim Lehrer

And as you noted, we know from the science of learning how much this matters in classrooms and schools.

And you outline some skills that can help us know and see one another more clearly, one of which is the gift of attention that, that Jim Lehrer gave you and that Fred spoke about so eloquently.

And I, I'm wondering, can you just tell us a little bit about How to Know a Person? What was your impetus for writing it? What do you hope it does for readers, especially given all the current concerns and research around loneliness and social isolation and the fact that so many of our country's problems are downstream from our disconnectedness from one another?

Two generations ago, you asked people, "Do you trust your neighbors?" And sixty percent of Americans said, "Yeah, I trust my neighbors." Now it's down to thirty percent and nineteen percent of millennial and Gen Z.

...

it, it reminds me, was it the old, like, vice presidential debates where it would be Jim Lehrer and, and, you know, whatever-

Yeah

... old bastards running for vice president.

He was all over the stage.

He was, uh, he was rude to Jim Lehrer.

He was trying to take over the debate again, and that did not serve him well in the first debate.

And I would be interested to see how the American people react to this.

Well, they've got problems, too.

I miss Jim Lehrer and Tim Russert.

Oh.

Yeah, I mean, I think they have to rethink the whole situation.

I tell this story sometimes.

When I started being a pundit on TV, my boss and host was a guy named Jim Lehrer.

And when I said something he thought was good, his eyes would crinkle with pleasure.

And when I said something he thought was crass and stupid, his mouth would turn down with displeasure.

Right.

Yeah, they're-- I think they're all members of the Council on Foreign Relations, even, uh, the guy on PBS, Jim Lehrer.

Yeah, but there's nobody in the Council on Foreign Relations sitting there writing, chucking out these stories.

But they are all in concert together, and the news is the same on every channel, without exception.

Ruby wanted to talk to her, and no other reporter got anything like it.

Jim Lehrer, well, he was a young Dallas newsman at the time.

He was covering that trial.

He went on to anchor the PBS NewsHour.

And then we spent about an hour on the phone.

The first piece of advice that he gave me was to read a book called Tension City, which was written by Jim Lehrer, who also had a storied career as a journalist and a debate moderator.

And that book has proved to be very instructive, very entertaining.

But the other piece of advice that he gave me is, you talk about the headlines the next day.

So I want to make sure that the rules are followed exactly as the campaigns have agreed to.

And I think that if I can do that, and make sure that the candidates get equal time and equal number of questions, that that's probably the most important thing that I can do.

One of the other things that I've been thinking about is something from that book that I mentioned, the Jim Lehrer book.

He writes that you have to ask each candidate If you're going to ask one question, one apple question to one candidate, you have to ask an apple question to the other.