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The genesis of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

As Yogi Berra would say, it's deja vu all over again. Watching the unfolding debate over Gen. Peter Pace's comments on gays in the military, I started thinking of how President Bill Clinton was first pressured to formulate the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy - a policy Hillary Clinton has now said should be repealed. (While campaigning in Iowa on Jan. 27.)

The issue had been simmering throughout the first Clinton campaign, but it came to a head on Nov. 11, 1992 -- Veterans' Day. I was on duty in Little Rock. Clinton had just been elected and was formulating his cabinet, but he was still governor of Arkansas. In the hopes of asking the president-elect about his campaign commitment to gays in the military, I went over to the State House to watch him salute the armed forces.

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A rare day in Washington

Politics were subordinate to the personal and the historic in this city today. Under the vaulted ceiling of the National Cathedral, Jimmy Carter was seated next to Lynne Cheney, Rosalyn Carter beside Nancy Reagan. Honorary pallbearers included Brent Scowcroft and Jim Baker, both critics of the Iraq invasion, and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, the war's chief architects. On this day, at Gerald Ford's funeral service, there was no partisan divide. Sitting in the nave, I looked out at the former presidents and their wives and thought about the inescapable sweep of American history.  Here were former combatants and their successors, victors and vanquished, now considerably older, and presumably wiser.  Over the decades, adversaries had become friends. How else can you explain Ford asking Jimmy Carter to speak at his burial in Grand Rapids?

The eulogies reflected other facets of Gerald Ford's life. George Herbert Walker Bush served with him in Congress and was then sent by Ford to China, and finally to the CIA. Being sent to Langley briefly took Bush out of politics, causing resentment in the Bush camp at the time. Today, the elder Bush instead recalled Jerry Ford's decency and sense of humor.  Bush (perhaps identifying as a fellow victim of comic barbs) recalled Chevy Chase's satires of Ford and was even inspired to imitate Dana Carvey imitating him: "But it wouldn't be prudent."

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The last word

Watergate, and the pardon of Richard Nixon, is still shadowing the principals, as I learned today digging into NBC presidential historian Michael Beschloss' fascinating interview with Jerry Ford -- to be published in Newsweek on Sunday.  (Editor's note: Mr. Beschloss' Ford interview is available today on the Web. Just click here.)

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In public as he was in private

When people talk about Gerald Ford being unassuming and modest, it is an understatement. Decisive, strong-willed, occasionally partisan, always principled, but definitely unassuming. 

I had followed the former President's career, of course, as a journalist, but in recent years had the privilege of getting to know him in a more personal way through my husband, who served as an economic advisor in the Ford White House. So, each summer, we attended Gerald Ford's World Economic Forum, a seminar on domestic and foreign policy he led near his summer home in Beaver Creek, Colo.  Typically, Democrats and Republicans would gather, along with foreign leaders and members of Congress, to exchange ideas, often vigorously. 

In the summer of 2001, we were invited to also stay at the Fords' home for the weekend of the conference.  We arrived on a Friday night, late.  We visited briefly, unpacked and went to bed. First thing Saturday morning, the President helped prepare breakfast (yes, that photo opportunity 30 years earlier was not something he put on for the cameras -- he did it every day).   We then left for the conference. 

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Cowed by Kirkpatrick

Jeane Kirkpatrick was remarkable, an Iron Lady of U.S. diplomacy who took no prisoners. I should know: I was dumb enough to challenge her - clumsily - during a live interview 22 years ago and I barely survived the encounter. At the time, Kirkpatrick was the Reagan administration's uncompromising United Nations ambassador and, among other things, a fierce defender of the Contra war in Central America. I was co-anchoring an NBC prime time news magazine show with Linda Ellerbee, a program that was memorable only for occasional moments of unintentional hilarity. During a live interview in the summer of 1984, I asked Kirkpatrick to react to a report from Fred Francis, our correspondent in the field, who had evidence that the CIA was secretly mining the Nicaraguan harbor. In what was clearly intended as a "gotcha" moment, I played Fred's report and asked Kirkpatrick to respond. Instead, she sat across from me, studying her nails and swiveling in her chair, saying nothing. Clearly flustered, I repeated the question. All I got was stony silence from the ambassador. Finally, I pressed her again to answer. That's when she put me away by saying, "I don't respond to lies."

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Studying the study group

Convening a bipartisan "study" group is the oldest trick in the Washington playbook, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Most recently, the 9/11 Commission helped us find our way out of the paralysis resulting from the attack on our homeland. Two decades earlier, the Tower Report rescued Ronald Reagan from the Iran-Contra mess. In 1968, the Kerner Commission helped Lyndon Johnson find solutions to the race riots inflaming America's cities. Less successfully, the Warren Commission tried - and failed - in 1964 to bring the nation together behind a single theory of the assassination of John F. Kennedy a year earlier. And FDR used the Roberts Commission to investigate America's failure to prevent the attack at Pearl Harbor.

Watching today's news conference, and reading this report, I wondered whether this would in fact be one of those special moments of conciliation, whether today's blunt prescription could bridge the partisan divide between both parties in Congress and the White House. Certainly that's the obvious yearning of most voters in the midterm elections.

Contrary to selective leaks, the report is very detailed. The staff work was done primarily by the U.S. Institute of Peace, one of the lesser known but more effective Washington think tanks.

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'Axis of Evil' gathers in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba -- This city is festooned with signs and banners welcoming foreign leaders to a gathering that looks like a reunion of President George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil." Cuban officials tell me the point is not to attack America, but many of the billboards here tell a different story: they portray President Bush with fangs, call him an "assassin" and even compare him to Adolf Hitler. (The Castro government is accusing the U.S. of harboring a man known here as the Osama bin Laden of Cuba  -- a Cuban exile now jailed in Texas on immigration charges, but accused in Havana of terror plots. It's part of the backdrop for the angry rhetoric against the U.S.)

Brian will be anchoring from here tomorrow night, which is a very big deal. Cuba TV -- part of the government here -- has already talked about his anticipated arrival.

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Fidel Castro turns 80

As Fidel Castro celebrates his 80th birthday today -- in both uncertain physical and political condition -- he remains the central figure in Cuban life, to both supporters and opponents. Meeting and interviewing Castro, whatever you think of him, makes you realize you are walking in the shadow of a lot of history... the revolution, his early visits to the U.S, including the tumultuous welcome in Harlem and his appearance on Meet the Press (speaking English, and denying he was a Communist).

I first met Castro when I went to Cuba in 1999 to cover the conflict over Elian Gonzalez. After days of trying to get to see him, we were finally summoned for a get-acquainted dinner. Each of us were taking the measure of the other, as you can probably gather from this photo. We talked about a lot of issues, of course, including the custody dispute over the 6-year-old boy. Many hours later we had an agreement that eventually led to his sitting down with us and talking on camera.

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What's going on with Castro?

How do you start a media frenzy over Fidel Castro? Today, all it took was this brief statement from a Cuban official, Roberto Fernandez Retamar:

"Fidel is not leading Cuba at this moment and this has not allowed disorder to take possession of Cuba. And this has set in motion a peaceful succession in Cuba."

The key words: "peaceful succession." As our woman in Havana, Mary Murray, has pointed out, in the language of official Cuba, "succession" is definitely not a word to be used casually. It denotes what happens when -- after holding power for almost half a century -- Fidel steps down for real. "Succession" is NOT the temporary handoff of power to brother Raul that was announced last week, and reconfirmed over the weekend by a top Cuban official during a visit to Bolivia.

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From the Mideast to Miami

Jet lag is one thing, but the rapid transition from focusing intently on Middle East diplomacy to today's unexpected developments about Fidel Castro is more than a shock to the system. Two hours after getting home from accompanying Condoleezza Rice on her trip to the Mideast and Malaysia, I got the call about Castro and repacked to head toward Havana.

Until the Cuban government opens the doors to American television journalists, I'll be reporting from Miami about this most enduring, and mysterious, leader. How ill is he? U.S. officials aren't sure, but think he is still alive. Privately, they are urging activists in Miami to remain calm. In extraordinary footage of Castro at his last public rallies, shot by NBC's talented Roberto Leon last week, Castro looks drawn and frail, but was still able to appear at two rallies and speak for more than six hours.  He also traveled to Argentina for an arduous summit on July 21.

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